Escapade à Helsinki

Fish market, where the ferry to Suomenlinna leaves from.Well well, Off for a week of tree-hugging in Finland... After rushing directly from work onto a flybus, to the airport and onto the plane, I got to Helsinki on a beautiful sunny Monday afternoon, with just a taste of Indian Summer...

My first view of Finland indeed seemed to prove I was right in choosing this destination for my Autumn spleen, trees upon trees upon trees clad in their Autumn colors. Finland holds the luxury of still having many many many green areas, forests, and etc. In that sense it sort of reminds me of Canada.. It s really funny that after such a short time in Iceland, I felt such a difference on coming here. Am I "Icelandicized" already? Ok, for the Icelanders who read his, I know they ll say no. But still. The "culture shock" I felt on coming here is definitely a "post-Icelandic" one...

Sky was pretty low at times..

Arriving in Helsinki, I felt really overwhelmed by the size of the buildings, the beauty of the architecture, but above all, the density of the population and the traffic. One of the first things that sprang to mind, is how "European" this all looks.. Helsinki has a certain air of bourgeoisie fin-de-siecle, 19th, of course. Elegant buildings, an esplanade, cobbled streets, a tram, market halls, key sides with old ketches, very picturesque... I can quite imagine the Swedish bourgeoisie flouncing around in their frocks on a sunny afternoon at the turn of the century, as pictured in Albert Edelfeldt's paintings.
Lutheran cathedral in Hell's inky. There are moments when it really looks like Gotham City here. A lot of very humorous details on the 19th Century facades.

Next to where Antti lives there is a really cool church that somehow looks like a mixture of 1) a planetarium 2) a KGB headquarters 3) a UFO.

I liked it very much and also very unfortunately did not photograph it, as I thought my pictural talents would not do it justice. Next time. (famous last words)

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Wednesday I cycled from Helsinki to Porvoo, only about 60 km, but it was really nice.. I think it's the longest I have cycled since we left the bikes in La Serena last year.. Oh, yeah, by the way, just if you wondered... the wind is also always in your face in Finland, as well. Some guy had told me I would have backwinds from Helsinki to Porvoo.. well of course mate! In your dreams! And as for asking people for the way.. yup, it's like everywhere.. ask 17 people, and be sure to cross the information, then you might end up with something reasonable. Most of the time I just got the "yup, easy, straight on." Until 20 seconds later I got to a T. :o)

Of course.

I did get to Porvoo in the end, not even dishevelled, as I was surprised to notice. Muscles didn't even ache in the morning, mist have done something strange. Very pretty little town, also loads of cobbled streets, hometown to the famous (so they say) poet Runefeld and his tribe. His wife Frederika was one of the most dedicated activists for women's rights and I believe the first female finnish journalist.

I was staying with Pekka and his kids. We had a nice ramble through the old town and its Swedish quarter. There are a majority of Swedish speaking Finns around the South of Finland. Consequently there is signing in both languages (Helsinki= Helsingsfors for example) and the placement of the sign depends on the number of speakers: more Swedish speaking people, the Swedish sign is on top of the other and vice versa. Probably on of the most famous views of Porvoo, painted into celebrity by THE Albert Edelfeldt..

This is a gossip mirror.. apparently very fashionable the century before last.

The Finns seem to have a certain and distinct sense of humour I quite admire..

Inevitable..

Of course I decided actively NOT to learn anything of Finnish. It-s slightly distressing for me not to speak any of the lingo, but what the hell. I'm only here for a week, and if I start mixing Icelandic and Finnish, there's just no end to it. Ok, I can say kiitos, thankyou. That's about all I need anyway. Moi moi means bye, as opposed to the German moi moi which means hello. :o)

Also I learnt yesterday that Finland was the first European country to give women the right to vote in 1906, but I have to check that out 'cause it seems I heard it before about other countries :S
But anyhow, apparently Finland was always very progressive about women's rights.

I like Scandinavia.. :o)