Today I traveled from Turku to Helsinki, the long way, via Tampere. It is sort of like traveling from Bristol to London via Birmingham, except much more fun.

The first leg was a road trip through more beautiful Finnish countryside. Marianna, Karo and I were busily brainstorming ideas for next year’s Finncon for most of the trip.

In Tampere Karo handed me off to Jarmo, who gave me a guided tour of the Secret Base at which post-production on Iron Sky is being done. It is packed with processing power, giant screens and talented young men. Norm Cates would doubtless sniff with derision, because there’s no way the Iron Sky boys can match Weta’s money, but it was still very impressive. I wish I could tell you what I saw, but they’d kill me.

The second leg was by train through yet more beautiful Finnish countryside. I have photos for Kevin. It was a lovely train. Otto met me at Helsinki station (where we were just in time to see the daily Moscow train pull out).

Since then we have eaten curry and sat in the sauna. (Yes, Finnish homes often have their own saunas.) Tomorrow will be yet more travel, and if all goes well I will be back home in about 24 hours time.