Rainy day in Helsinki

Wednesday, 29.04.

Today is not a good day for touristing or harvesting. It is wet and 6C. However, we have a 24 hour tram ticket which is valid until 10am and we might as well use it to get into the centre of town. L also needs a new watch battery which gives us an excuse to do some shop browsing.

Opposite the central station tram stop is the Athenaeum, the city’s art gallery. Why not spend some time there while the rain clears? Regrettably, most of the gallery spaces are closed because the building is being restored. 

The gallery as classroom!

The main exhibition is of a highly celebrated Finnish photographer Ismo Holtto who has documented in beautiful black and white images, taken with his Rolleiflex camera, of Finns during the mid 1960’s. He is certainly a master. The portraits are unposed and down to earth. Finland 50 years ago was a simpler and tougher place to live than today. To us, certainly in those days, the Finns also appear a rather dour unsmiling people, perhaps taking life too seriously. But out in Karelia, it was no doubt hard. The Finns we have met and interacted with have been most helpful. However, they don’t appear to be particularly exuberant or joyful. Perhaps that is because most of them are Lutherans.

While photography inside the galleries is not allowed, I am highly impressed by some of the contemporary detailing of the museum’s refurbishments.

A beautiful light fitting on the stair well wall.

We emerge from the Museum about midday. We might as well find something for a snack. The railway station is dry and offers simple choices. As we sit and observe the locals come off longer distance trains, we wonder why there is not more colour around. Most people are in dark plain colours. When the sky is so dull, one might have expected people to lift themselves up with some bright tones. Perhaps their mood reflects the weather.

The rain does not look like clearing. We might as well head back. If the weather does change its behaviour, there are still quite a few hours of daylight for some outdoor activity.

Oh the fun you have food shopping when the language is strange and the graphics on the pack is of little help. I dodged the rain to the supermarket for some tea. It took too long to find. I also fancied some fruit yoghurt. After endless study and decision-making, I came back with a rice pudding which in the end, was not all that bad. I nearly walked out with a tub of cheesecake mix until I found a small clue. The other day we thought we bought butter. It looks like butter but sure is not the real thing. We have managed.

We have had to spend the afternoon indoors. The rain is light but penetrating. It gives us a chance to pack by daylight. We have to be at the ferry dock for an 8.30am departure so it will be an early start. For dinner we decide to try Thai, just across the road. No raw herring there tonight.

It is excellent Thai fare. I engage the Chef / owner in conversation. What is a Thai lady doing so far from home? Twenty five years ago, she married a Finn who worked for Nokia in Thailand. She has been here for 15 years and is happy, running the small and very well patronised business.

It is still raining although the Internet forecast shows a sun icon with light cloud over it. We hope they are right. 

Tuesday,  28.04

The weather is almost everything to a tourist and a farmer. As the day is forecast to be gloomy and wet, we buy an all day tram pass which enables us to go anywhere and as many times we like for 24 hours. That way we can either shelter from the wet by riding trams all day or getting to a number of indoor venues. The value is superb.

We know that most Australians still aspire to a large house in the suburbs. But there is no doubt that if we and the rest of the world are to be serious about sustainability, we have to take many pages from the Finnish book on city making. Helsinki is a very fine, civil and urbane place. That is not to say that it is perfect in every way but we should learn a lot from how they have done it.

Without too much commentary, here are some further visual reasons why we like Helsinki.

And when hunger pains overtake you, you can do worse than a Sub, even in far away Finland.

The little object in the centre is a very unassuming green box which is the loo.

That is why we like Helsinki - in the spring anyway.


Much to our delight, the weather people are wrong today. Once we get going, the sky is beginning to clear and comes up what would be described as a fine day with a good deal of sunshine. About half way around one of the tram loops, we stop at what is certainly the single highlight of our visit here.

In the mid 1930’s, a congregation wanted to build a church on a rocky site, surrounded by residential buildings. Plans were made but the start of WWII in 1939 interrupted plans. Then, some years later after it was all over, a couple of very game young architects produced a breathtaking design. Instead of building on top of the rock, they built inside it. Here is the inspired and masterly end result. The images tell the story.

The 'site'.

The unassuming and down played entrance.

And then you emerge, quite breathless, into the real world.

This building has restored my interest in the power and the value of all the fundamental architectural skills and devices - the use of site, space, light, colour and texture etc. As a young architect, I was quite impressed by the magazine photos and story. The experience surpasses all that I can remember reading.

As we are soon to leave this modest country, I am embarrassed to acknowledge that the internet here is a lot faster than we have at home. Good on you Finland!

More Helsinki days

Sunday, 26.04.

We wake up to a very sombre and dirty gray sky – true to forecast. The bleak light is quite shadowless. The street outside is wet. It has been raining lightly overnight. Unlike back home where we could hear the even light rain, the thick walls and double glazing has cocooned us from the outside. We have no oilskins so it looks like an inside job for a while – reading maps, making plans for a better day to come. Some sun is promised between now and our departure on Thursday. 

By early pm. the rain has almost stopped – enough to venture outside, although it is still only 8C. On my exploration yesterday, I spied through the window what looked like a promising eatery, literally minutes away from here. 

Don't let the outside deceive you!

We will call it a late lunch and perhaps make do for the day’s energy supplies. We are agreeably surprised that it is open on a Sunday. The problem is, we are told we should have booked. But as no one likes to turn business away, we are asked to wait a while for a possible cancellation. As people start to stream in, much to our gratification, someone has decided not to come. We are in and seated.

We discover that this is a Sunday special Smorgasbord lunch at Sandro – eat as much as you like for a set price which includes a glass of bubbly and everything else, right through to the cheeses, coffee, deserts and all for about A$36 each. It is not a cheep lunch but an excellent experience. We do not know how to classify the selection of food. We like to think it is hybridised Finnish but it turns out that it was meant to be a Middle East selection. 

Anyway, the quality was good, the range interesting so what does it matter. However, while the menu includes some meat and fish dishes, it is largely salads and carbs with not all that much protein. It seems that it is a rather special occasion for many locals to ‘do’ Sunday lunch. We are reminded of Sunday roast lunches at any number of Oxford pubs.

As we wind up, we start a conversation with the family at the next table – Mum, Dad and two grown up children. They have come some 70km out of town for this. We get a few insights into Finnish life. Unemployment is about 11%!!! It seems the welfare system is able to deal with that. They don’t seem to have had any vociferous demonstrations. However, youth unemployment is up to 24%. It could have implications in the future. Tertiary education is pretty well free, including postgraduate courses. Students even get state stipends. In a round about way, we discover that they (at least this quite well educated family) have heard nothing about the AJ journalists. It seems the Finns are quite provincial and after that, European.

The rain has ceased. Our bellies are full. We need fresh air as well as burn up some of our replenished energies. We do a walking tour of our Kallio neighbourhood. Some of the guidebooks refer to it as hip. As we stroll and make observations, we have conclude that it is really a euphemism for modest socio-economic rank. Some streets are bleak and less endearing than others but there are also some very colourful and engaging clusters.

Oh what a few more trees would do. It is not as if they cannot grow. There may be some sound or reasonable explanation why they are not welcome or cannot be provided.

Seeing so many very flat facades, I am reminded that it is largely to do with light. In very flat and diffused light, you must either have very prominent protrusions and deep recesses to have any visual effect or one might as well leave it all on one plane and play with surface pattern, proportion and colour. For heavier sculpting, you must have the potential of bolder and freer form which tightly planned residential buildings often do not allow.

This highly sculpted corner looks very flat in the completely diffused light.

As we roam, we draw some conclusions about the food culture, at least in this part of town. It seems there is very little by way of indigenous cuisine. We know that Northern European food can be a bit bland. In this area of town, almost every café and restaurant offers exotic menus. 

May be by now there is no such thing as Finnish food.

We try a local supermarket for some evening snacks. We fancy some smoked fish or herrings. One might have expected this kind of produce in abundance here. There was not a sign of anything like that in this shop. We will have to hold ourselves until Riga where last time we completely lost our heads over the almost endless range of delectable smoked and cured seafood.

As daylight dims, the city is enveloped in a twilight fog. We are more familiar with morning fogs. The temperature reads 7 degrees. I sneak outside to record the eerie feeling of knowing that the lofty church tower is just at the end of the street but it is completely obliterated by the mist. A little later on, the street lighting becomes quite theatrical.

 

Monday, 27.04.

I know we have been here only for a few days but even so, it appears that this city does not have a traffic problem. It is not that there are no cars. However, it also has a Metro system, an excellent coverage of trams and a bus service that runs to the more distant parts of the city. With fares, the trams have an honour system of paying. The driver handles cash and sells tickets. You can also buy multiple trip electronic tickets. There are very few ticket ‘police’. There is also the one fare wherever you travel. Could it just be that you can deal with traffic issues with good planning?

Connecting buses at the main Railway Station.

We stroll into the city, now the familiar route. The civic square is one of the most impressive for any city this modest size. Its centrepiece is the Cathedral with other buildings of national importance around the other edges. It reminds me of the Spanish colonial planning book.

The Finns love their flag and nationhood. They won it after hundreds of years of domination by its various imperialist neighbours. This morning flags are flying everywhere. We enquire and are told that it is war heroes’ day. When you have to fight for your nationhood, it is much more precious than when the territory is there, just for the taking.

This morning is very dull and gray but the forecasters are easy on the chance of rain. It seems that the best option might be to take the short ferry ride to Soumenlinna. When Finland was part of the Kingdom of Sweden, a defence post was commenced in the 1700’s on a number of rocky islands just off the coast. For 300 years, it has served that purpose for the Swedes, Russians and the Finns. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage site of significant military architecture.

Little did the generals and admirals know that today it would become a peaceful haven of recreation and delight as well as a venue for some history lessons – thankfully at last. 

As we stroll and slowly explore what was once a whole little settlement in its own right, another heavy fog envelops us. It is a veil over the landscape which sometimes is so heavy that we almost loose our way. 

There is great variety of building form and type. The random rubble granite fortifications stonework is colourful and impressive. To the joy of the Finns, none of it helped the Swedes or the Russians to keep their Empires.

The frigid mist penetrates us but some hot salmon soup brings us back to life.

It is very popular with visitors to Helsinki.

About the time we are ready to head back, the fog clears. The short ferry trip back offers new views of the city and the harbour.

The enormous ferries dwarf the 19th century harbour-side.

Some random and unresearched observations 
about Helsinki.

It is a joy to see segments of the original natural landscape incorporated into the fabric of the city. It is as much part of the urban heritage as any building. In many other places, under development pressure, these small lumps of rock would probably have been considered a hazard, a maintenance problem and thus cleared.

There is often a blurring of the edge between private and public space. It is of great value for all of us to be able to do it.

A small gem of an ‘original’ wooden building in the middle of a high density neighbourhood. I wonder just how it dodged and managed development pressures.

However, to achieve these above qualities, no doubt it requires greater control of development by the city planning authorities, state ownership of land or both.

Helsinki has some of the most engaging Art Nouveau buildings anywhere.

We continue to be impressed by the trams and their service.

 And it is spring in Helsinki!