Travelog for: Etwas

Here's the Baltic Sea! There is a lot of archipelago around so we don't see straight to Estonia  The creator of Moomin spent her summers on one of the islands. That's why Moominpappa loves the sea  We didn't walk on the sea eventhough there was thick ice. The ice wasn't thick all the way to the shore.

As I'm visiting the land of sauna I naturally wanted to see one.  Sauna is a heated room where you throw water on hot stones to keep heated/get it more heated. My host said that 60-80C is good, lower isn't warm enough and hotter is too hot. She also explained that sitting in sauna opens your pores and relaxes your muscles. Humans tend to take a shower before sauna, anfter sauna, and even between sauna... I guess I looked a bit lost as she explained that they only wash after the sauna (sometimes before) - the rest of the showers are taken just to get yourself wet and cooler as the sauna is quite hot.

Some people use a "vihta/vasta"; a bunch of birch twigs (with the leaves on) with which you hit yourself. Those bunches are sometimes made during the summer, not everyone is a fan of them. My host said that it doesn't hurt because of the leaves. It does good to your blood circulation or something. And it makes the sauna smell good. The sauna wasn't on when I sat there as the steam wouldn't do good for the camera. This sauna is heated with electricity but some people have saunas that are heated with wood. Now I feel much wiser!

I got to help my host to make cakes for her daughter's birthday party. The celebrate the same time but my host still wants to make a cake for both of them  I say make because she doesn't bake. She bought the stuff needed from the store, all the stuff. Here we're making a "playing blocks" cake for the youngster. We couldn't quite get them to look like blocks... but it's the taste that counts anyway, right 

And here we're making the crown cake which is for the elder girl. This one my host designed herself! Just like the "snake" one which is made of left-overs of the crown  We also had popcorn, cookies, snacks - and childrens' "champagne". The marzipan figures are made by my host's sister who obviously is the most talented on Earth!

Oh yeah, and we did blow some balloons too!

Today I got to visit the capitol of Finland, Helsinki! Here I am looking at the possibly prettiest place to ghost around: St. John's Church. It's built in 1893 and designed in Neogothic style by the Swedish architect A. E. Molander. It's the biggest church in Helsinki!

Here are some older houses close to the St. John Church. In the third photo happens to be the Design Museum which we unfortunately didn't visit. I think museums are good places to ghost around too! Maybe I get to try it another time...

We walked to the Esplanade Park which is very pretty and eventfull in the summer. On the other end of the park is the Havis Amanda fountain statue which is washed by university students as the prelude to the city's May Day (Vappu) celebrations.

...and after Havis Amanda we crossed the road to get to the Market Square. It was very quiet there today, it won't be in the summer! This is also the place where big ferries leave to Stockholm (Sweden) and Tallinn (Estonia) - and small ferries to Suomenlinna Sea Fortress. 

There was that tall interesting statue apparently dedicated to a former Russian emperor. Behind it you can see the Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral .

There's also the Presidential Palace where for example  the Independence Day Ball is held. Two guys were guarding it inside the fence... 

Oh yes, and here you can read a short history of Helsinki.

Here's probably the most wellknown sight in Helsinki: The Cathedral. There are about 42 steps there... That little reindeer we met close by - he was guarding the green telephone booth. It's most likely the only green (or otherwise colorfull) telephone booth in the whole country. Everyone has a cellphone nowadays that even uncolored phone booths are very rare. The reindeer was very very still but I could talk to him anyway, maybe it's a ghost thing...

This is the main street (Mannerheimintie - "Mannerheim's street") in Helsinki city center. It's a very long street as you probably can imagine. The statue of the Three Smiths was designed by Felix Nylund. The guys who posed for it were a brick layer, stone cutter - and the designer. On eof them has the face of a poet Arvid Mörne (my host whispered that she had never hear of him).

Then I saw the Main Railway Station. Those statues holding the roundish lamps are very lively in the tv commercials - it's really funny  The company that runs the trains is called VR - short for Valtion Rautatiet which simply means "state railways". You can get straight to Russia by train too!

Next to the railway station is the Main Post Office and next to that the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma. There are all sorts of weird exhibitions in Kiasma.

Next to Kiasma is the statue of Mannerheim, a former president and
Field Marshal. On the other side of the street you can see the Parliament and a bit further away the National Museum of Finland.

Did you notice that the buildings are all made of stone?

Last but not least: a break at Wayne's Coffee! It was not just us there: we attended a "Post-xmas-party-meetup". Finnish postcrossers like to meet for a chat, coffee and tons of postcards! The duck is their official "meetup-duck"!

After the meeting I heard that someone had fallen in love with me  although she did think I was a hat... 

Today I had a chance to see the Old Town of Porvoo! We started at the oldest bridge. Next to it was a cannon from the World War 2. I'm glad it's not in use anymore. In the third pic I'm looking at the Castle Hill where used to be a castle hundreds of years ago. Now there are just woods and castle moats. My host says it's a great place to play Robin Hood in! For me it might be a good place to haunt too...

The red shore houses by the river are the most wellknown sight of Porvoo. They used to be ware houses - and some still are as well as some are living quarters. They were painted red first time in 18th century to honor visiting King Gustav III.

This year the town is more excited about the coming festives: it's been 200 years since the Porvoo diet. At first I wondered why people would celebrate food or losing wight but apparently this diet was something the Russian emperor Alexander I gathered. Bunch of important people talking and Finland ending up as "nation among nations". They say that that decision was a turning point and made it possible for Finland to become independent later.

We walked the streets in the Old Town and saw this little toyshop (they sell only wooden, fabric and tin toys, nothing of plastic). They had a snowman ice skating in one window and a Moomin house in another!

In the summer these streets (and all the streets next to them) are full of tourists. I'm glad I got to see them in the calmer winter 

Today I climbed up the "sightseeing tower" to get an overall look at the town of Porvoo. It was way cool! I also mean literally as it was -15C. The river (that is frozen) runs through the town down to the Baltic Sea. On the second pic you can see the local skiing slope on the right. In the pics you can also see the previously mentioned red shore houses and the church.

We walked a bit further away on the hill to see the old town from a different angle. There are the church and Castle Hill again. My host took some "postcard photos" from the location, hoping she'll get great shots to make postcards of.

Thank god we got into the car! I was freezing my butt off! Figuratively speaking of course... We drove to the church (or cathedral as they officially call it) to take a look at the surroundings. Porvoo Cathedral gained its present form at the end of the 15th century. It's dedicated to Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Max 800 people fit in it. It's also the third most popular church in Finland by number of visitors! The small red church beside it is called The Small Church (d'uh). It was dedicated in 1740 and 170 people fit in it.

The (dark) yellow building in the first pic is the Bishop's House, built in 1759. This is where Tsar Alexander I opened the previously mentioned Porvoo Diet and there was also held an imperial ball. The house was used as a high school untill 1850. Now it's in private use.

In the second last picture is the red-pink "Poet's House". The town rents it for an artist for a certain period of time, with lesser money. It's a honor to get to live there.

In the last photo is a monument on the church yard. It's a monument for the independence and people who fought for it.

The map is just a map of the church yard.