Mark and I are with my friends Leslie and her husband Ismo in Espoo, the city to the immediate west of Helsinki. This is the first time I have been at a computer since our arrival in Berlin on Wednesday. I will use this opportunity–at 02.00 local time Saturday–to let you know we have arrived safely and are facing a heatwave in Europe right now. Rain is forecast for tomorrow so I might use that opportunity to stay inside and catch up on E-mail and to write a longer blog entry. Then on Sunday straight through Wednesday the forecast is sunny and 30-32 degrees. Mark and I went on a self-guided walking tour of Helsinki and I did something that I have never done at all on six prior Helsinki visits: go to the top of the Olympia Stadion tower, and looked out over the entire city from the highest observation point.