Helsinki Ramble

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It´s a bit changeable outside today, occasional downpours and the odd spot of sun so I thought I´d write something before I head out.

Yesterday I had a lovely stroll down to the marina and along the sea until I found a rocky outcrop (you might remember these featuring in my blog from last summer). For once I didn´t have my ukulele and just stared out to sea in a contemplative manner. Every so often my nerves were jangled by a ripping noise and shrieks of fear as just along from me people were jumping off a crane attached to elastic to get their thrills. Each to their own but it did disturb what would have been a nice peaceful moment. I walked up to Observatory Hill which affords a great panoramic vista ideal for me and my Sony Cybershot Panoramic Sweep function. Sadly there were some massaging hippies in the way, but otherwise it was a good view. I walked through the park and down to the Olympia dock where my next ferry will leave from, I´m pretty excited about that already. This time I even have my own cabin. If it has a port hole I will be over the moon.

From the dock I walked up past the fish market to the cathedral (with a WiFi link up to the holy ghost). I like Helsinki, it´s a stocky city; buildings all quite low and chunky, not too much fuss. The Esplanade is pretty good, like a massive avenue with a great park running between the carriageways. Apparently it was where the Russian cavalry used to practice their charging (she said proving she had, after all, taken in some of the historical background provided by Jukka). The other piece of information I retained was that the architect who built much of Helsinki had applied to do St Petersburg, but came second and was given Helsinki instead. Well I think he did alright, though I´ve not been to St Petersburg I gather it´s quite a sight to see.

Then I gambled back to base camp to bake a pizza and enjoy and couple of beers.

Now I´m going to look at the Northern part of the city center. It seems to have dried up a bit out there and there´s a bit of sunshine glimmering down.

By the way I will be adding some pictures at some point. This computer has no USB connection, which is an outcry, I´d say, but when I find a decent computer I´ll stick some photos up.

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Photos

Panoramic shot from the Observatory Hill
Including massaging hippies (far left) and crane for mad jumpers.

The Cathedral
Where I could get my free internet...

Comments

[Hilke]

Have just caught up on all your blogs, back in London myself now...very nice to read! apart from your train-missing incident it sounds like a lot of fun and cool travels! And I like the fact that ukuleles get you in contact with people, wherever you are! Say hello to Sweden for me when you get there ;)

[pickles]

that's very interesting about the architect who designed helsinki, when i was there i thought to myself how very st petersburgian it appeared (not that i've been but i have an image of what it would look like, and helsinki lived up to it. that big train station in particular. i remember eating some good cake in helsinki but i can't remember where otherwise i'd recommend it to you. look forward to pictures. xxx

[Clarification]

Hi Hilke! Welcome back- I hope you had an amazing time in Japan... Look forward to hearing all about it! I'm about to set off for Sweden! Cxxx