We've started so we'll Finnish

Europe » Finland
February 10th 2018

Published: February 10th 2018

Edit Blog Post

airwaves

DSC08144

Ice fishng

As we said in the previous blog 'seemed like a good idea at the time' it was cold in Helsinki. 0°C and below on Thursday, around -6 on Friday. So both days we basically went from sight to sight, on foot, interspersed with hot coffees/chocolates.
We also walked it all, foregoing public transport, raking up about 12km each day, in the snow. But they take it in their stride in Finland. Footpaths cleared of thick snow and well gritted. Large piles of snowploughed snow loaded into dumpers for transport to who knows where. The place certainly doesn't close down just because of a dusting, like back home. The schools were open!!
We headed for the Sibelius monument to start. On the way we passed a frozen lake with a couple of blokes sat ice fishing - ever tried that Will M?
Sibelius is regarded as Finland's greatest composer. 5 points if you can name another. The monument is in 2 parts - a set of distressed organ pipes, and a flat facial statue. Quite striking in the cold where at first it looked like the distressing was actually ice formations.
Next was the Temppeliaukio "Rock" Church. The design was a competition

DSC08145

Ice fisherman

winner in 1969 and is literally hewn into the solid bedrock with a copper roof over the top. A beautiful piece of slavic design. We were also lucky to arrive as some full-on organ music was being played.
After an art gallery lunch stop - we had the sandwich breakfast that came with our hostel stay, delivered to our room! - we headed towards the water front, taking in the Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral. The complete opposite from the rock church with practically no adornment inside, but they did have a M Luther statue!
Walking around, the Russian influence is clearly visible. Finland was an autonomous Russian territory until 1917. The main square has a particulary imposing statue of Tsar Alexander II, and another column topped with the double headed imperial eagle.
An afternoon coffee stop was overlooking the Allas Sea Pools. This is a sauna and bathing complex. 3 pools outside. One clearly heated - there is a city centre power plant nearby - one totally iced over and the third being used, sparingly, by individuals probably after a sauna. We watched many men descend the steps and effectively dip and exit, but a more hardy lady did 8 widths.

DSC08152

Sibelius monument

Go girl power!
As we are not splashing out food wise over the next 3 months we treated ourselves to a slap up meal at a very good restaurant. Built over, we found out later floating on, a lake but that was frozen. An intrepid lady walked her dog on it whilst we were there.
Paul had blinis with roe, ceviche and shrimp followed by reindeer calf which cut like butter. Pip had smoked beetroot moose with deep fried goat's cheese followed by herb crusted roast char.
Our flight to Bangkok on Friday was very late evening so we left our bags at the hostel for another walk around the city, but the cold was more biting.
On the way we went through the main square, just below the Lutheran cathedral and it was full of Finnish arnaments - tanks, guns, anti aircraft batteries. We put photo on Facebook and asked what Trump announcement had we missed? Phillip, Paul's brother, asked what direction they were pointing. We checked, therefore, and best we can see it looks like it was South West, which is over water to Germany ?
We made it to the Uspenski Cathedral first - we had got

DSC08149

Sibelius organ pipe monument

there yesterday just after closing - the largest Orthodox Cathedral in Western Europe. As expected, very ornate, icons everywhere, at times looking like a bric-a-brac stall.
Final target for the day was the Kamppi Chapel of Silence, a wonderful piece of Finnish design, completed in 2012.
It is intended to be a place to "calm down and have a moment of silence in one of the busiest areas of Finland". Lots of wood, spruce, alder, and beautiful light. They also have a permanent presence of experienced counsellors on hand, in case visitors would "like to talk".
We are now in Bangkok Airport, after an overnight flight, waiting to catch flight on to Chiang Mai for 3 days before we return to Bangkok. They have a concession here for Leicester City FC, Thai owned we believe.

Additional photos below

Photos: 27, Displayed: 24