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Dear all, Knowing that many of you will visit Finland for the first time I'll provide some information which may be of use. 1. How to get from the Helsinki airport to the Conference hotel, Grand Marina? 1.1 Take a taxi. The price will be about 30 USD. Pricing is not dependent on the number of people entering the same taxi, or amount of luggage. Taxies are very reliable - it is very unlikely that they charge extra. Tipping is not obligatory, but it will make the driver happy (this applies to any services in here). Although you can usually pay with VISA, it is a good idea to get some cash from ATM machines in the airport, in case you have not exchanges it in advance. 1.2 Take a yellow line minibus. The price 70 FIM (15 USD) for one person, 100 FIM for two, 120 FIM for three, 140 FIM for four, 160 FIM for five and 180 FIM for six or more. Provided that you arrive on Saturday you should not have to wait for too long to get a minibus. Contact salesperson on Yellow line desk close to the exit from customs control. 1.3 Take a Finnair airbus. For 5 USD it will take you to the Helsinki railway station, from where you can take a taxi to the hotel which is about 1.5 kilometers away. The price should be less than 10 USD. Adventurers may either walk or take tram 4 southwards to Katajanokka, where the hotel is located. 2. How cold is it? Not too cold (I hope). Take a look at: http://www.yle.fi/tvuutiset/eng/w_infinland.html Never mind the depressing image they use to symbolize October ;-). As of yet there is no weather forecast for next week, but you should prepare yourself with reasonably warm clothes. Radar image of the current weather is available at: http://cumulus.helsinki.fi/radar.html and detailed information on temperature, air pressure and humidity at: http://www.fmi.fi/SAA/SAA/kaisaniemi-en.html 3. How to find information about Finland? Customs guide to travellers is available at http://www.edita.fi/tulli/esite/trav1596.html Lots of information is available in the Web in English. Those who stay in Finland after/before DC-5 may find something useful from these sites: 3.1 Virtual Finland, by Ministry for Foreign Affairs http://virtual.finland.fi/ 3.2 Finnish Tourist Board http://www.mek.fi/ The tourist board has also a decent list of links at http://www.mek.fi/mekinfo.nsf/WebIndex/CountryInfo 3.3 Finland Online (maintained by Ministry of Finance) http://www.finland.fi/ Finally, one of my favourites :-): Beer in Cyberspace http://beer.tcm.hut.fi/default_gb.html This is a definitive guide on Finnish beer! BTW, tap water in Helsinki is very clean - you can drink it without problems. This does not apply to large amounts of Finnish beer - it may cause you headache in day after. I will be offline until Friday this week. Any questions related to the DC-5 arrangements can during my absence be sent to Mr. Ari Alkio ([log in to unmask]), who is helping me in getting the practical background work done. Looking forward to seeing you all in Helsinki, Juha Hakala ***************************************************** Juha Hakala, Library Network Specialist Helsinki University Library / Library Network Services National development and Library Co-ordination fax +358 9 753 9514 internet: [log in to unmask] P.O. Box 26, FIN-00014 Helsinki University *****************************************************