Sunday, June 24, 2018

Finland Day 2

This morning we toured and shot footage in Helsinki, including a famous orthodox church built by the Russians after WWII. 

Uspenski Cathedral, Helsinki
Later, we visited a shopping mall so Bill could pick up clothes and toiletries, since his bag is still missing in action.  Were surprised to see how expensive everything is here.  For example, a standard pair of Lee jeans was over $100!  Later, we checked in with our contacts at Quark Expeditions, the team that will be taking us to the pole.  We have a wakeup call set for 4:30 AM, so we are prepping our gear now in order to move efficiently in the morning. 


Oh, and we've just been told we are NOT allowed to capture any footage of the port in Murmansk because it is a military facility.  Since we don't want to end up in a Russian prison (as compelling as that sounds) we will keep our cameras stowed until we are out in the open ocean.  On board the icebreaker we have access to everything except the nuclear reactors, which are off-limits for security reasons.