– filtered sun and meditative spaces –
We had booked our trip to Finnish Lapland about a year ago – Helsinki was a last minute add-on as a stop on our way there. What a lovely surprise! We were blessed with beautiful weather during our stay – no wind or rain, and beautiful blue sky during the daylight hours. Sadly, it was a stay of only one full day, and marred by Niran injuring his back. He had made the mistake of bending over to put on his shoes whilst sitting in a chair! What a New Year’s Eve gift! This was a tragedy as we had a whole raft of activities planned for Lapland! So we all swung into action to try and bring him back to health. Home made remedies and a huge dollop of pain killers at least made a slow walk through Helsinki’s main sights a possibility. Slowing down let us enjoy the sights a little more and, against all expectations, we actually spent a lovely day enjoying the city. We were sore and tired enough by the evening that all we could manage was a kebab dinner from the take away shop across the road and then, off to sleep. No wild NYE celebrations in Helsinki for us!!!!
It’s hard to believe this was actually the sun at around 11am! So low in the sky and the days incredibly short…
This is the most impressive historic building in the city and a central meeting point for the locals – the Helsinki Lutheran cathedral.
Another super-impressive structure is this 1969 Church hewn into a rock face. The ceiling is entirely made of copper strips – it’s awe-inspiring on the scale of the Pantheon – that’s saying something!
Yet another incredibly impressive structure – so impressed were we that we visited twice! This is the Kamppi Chapel – a non denominational meditation space in the centre of town. Incredibly simple and minimal inside – and entirely shrouded in silence, which makes a welcome punctuation mark in any city centre. It’s easy to see why the Finnish are considered masters of design.
And of course, we took the time to visit some stores and admire the art of Finnish design.
