I miss blogging. Sharing old and new stuff on Instagram now:

a bit of this + a bit of that

 

[free printable for setting goals]

 

[a quick trip to Helsinki, Finland]

Flying over the Netherlands.

Recently, I returned from a very quick trip to Helsinki, Finland. The city I grew up in. 

The travel there was horrendous - 19 hours altogether. During the time I'd normally be sleeping but of course, it's impossible to get any sleep when squished into those teeny tiny airplane seats. I had the worst jetlag I've ever had while in Finland. 

Normally I like to go to Finland in the summer so I can do touristy stuff and enjoy the season when Finland comes alive. This trip was a different kind of trip but I managed to take some photos and thought I'd share some here, my deader than dead blog. :) 

Some fun graffiti art on an underpass. If there's any kind of street art, I'm known to snap quick photos of it.

Vintage posters at a Fazer Cafe. Fazer makes the best chocolate and candy. 

Oodi - the gorgeous modern downtown library. Google it. Truly a cool building. You can even rent a laser cutter there.

As seen on a building near Oodi:

Stockmann "Stocka" is the main department store in Helsinki. I used to skip phys ed classes and go browse at Stocka. Whenever I made plans to meet up with a friend, we'd meet under the Stocka clock, "tavataan Stockan kellon alla". Love the Christmas lights. Everyone was admiring the Christmas window displays.

Yes, I took a picture of the Marimekko napkins. Love all the Marimekko patterns, especially the Unikko.

The lights inside Stockmann.

The famous hammerers outside Stockmann:

I always forget how very dark it gets early in Helsinki in the winter. These guys look kind of creepy in pitch black later in the afternoon.

The parliament building. Love how active Finns are. Bike paths are everywhere and you see people biking to work etc. Public transportation is a million times better than here in Canada. It's easy to get to places. 

The only touristy thing I did was to go to the National Museum. I love the building so every time I see it, I snap pictures of it.

Around 1150AD, Finns were forced to become Catholic. Nowadays the main religion is Luthern. I was well into my adulthood before I realized Finland had a Catholic past.

The Rusko tankard (kousa) is one of the most valuable objects in the National Museum. It was used to serve drink at catechetical meetings and was carried from one house to another in a ceremonial procession.

The large painting is of Daniel Cajanus from Paltamo. He won fame in Europe for being extra tall. He was said to have been 248cm tall. You had to pay a fee to see him.

The guy with a black thing on his nose was Major Nils Gripenberg. I guess he wasn't shy about his war injuries of a blinded eye and a damaged nose.

The lady with the fancy lace headdress is me. :) There was a mirror that took your picture and then your face showed up in old paintings. Fun.

A woman named Stiina made this petticoat from her own hair!

The ornamental bridal crown below was borrowed from a local wedding dresser in the olden days. It was common for women to wear for weddings until the late 19th century.

The ceiling of the museum has Akseli Gallen-Kallela's Kalevala paintings. Kalevala is the Finnish epoc. 

The icon was saved from an Eastern Karelian village during the war.

The cartoon characters are vintage Muumi figures.

The rest of the pictures are random buildings etc. 

Hope someone enjoyed this quick tour to Helsinki so it was worth posting it. :)

 

The railway station dudes are my favorites. They were wearing Covid masks but thankfully someone took the masks off so I was able to get this photo. They still had their Covid vaccine bandaids on.