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| Complete zoom, high in the air. Taken from the boat to Suomenlinna. |
As I told you in the previous post "Apartment renovation progress - part 1" I don't do much these days apart from working in our apartment. When I'm busy working I tend to start dreaming about traveling: both trips I did and places I'd still like to visit. So since I do not have anything else of interest to share with you I thought this would be the perfect moment to show you my memories of Helsinki in a photo diary (it was the first time I brought my DSLR on a trip!). The capital of Finland might seem like a strange travel destiny and it probably is. I went there mid april with two friends to visit another friend studying there on Erasmus. It was more like a social vacation/visit but we ended up seeing a lot of the city while we were there.
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| Two real angry birds on Suomenlinna. |
It is not a coincidence that I start off this post with two pictures of birds. For some reason on this short four day trip, I took an interest in photographing birds. I can't really explain why, the Helsinki birds were just so cool and fun to follow around. So be prepared for lots more pictures of birds. #sorrynotsorry
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| My friends and I, taken with my 600D and a remote control. |
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| A sign on the road, in Finnish and Swedish. I photographed this to show you that Finnish is not understandable to foreigners. Not even a little bit. |
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| Some kind of seagull like bird, so cute with the black head. Hadn't seen them before but after this trip I saw them in Antwerp too. |
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| Love lock bridge, somewhere near the harbor. |
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| Me posing in a rescue ring. |
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| An artistic photograph of the Sibelius monument. I think it is supposed to be an organ. |
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| Another complete zoom, high in the air bird picture. Also taken from the boat to Suomenlinna. |
A place you absolutely must visit while in Helsinki is Suomenlinna. It is an island, twenty minutes off the coast by boat that's on the Unesco's list of World Heritage. It is/was a fortified island with canons and fortresses to protect Helsinki from invaders by sea. You can find more information on the Suomenlinna website.
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| The boat we were supposed to take to Suomenlinna but missed. |
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| Shire like landscape on Suomenlinna. I was kind of expecting hobbits to come out. |
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| The smallest, cutest coffee house ever. We had some delicious hot red fruit juice there. |
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| Seriously how cute is this place? |
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| A very lucky shot of a seagull spreading its wings in the harbor. |
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| Lunch at the Fazer cafe. Supposedly something you cannot miss while in Finland. I ordered a riisipiirakka, a traditional & delicious hearty rice pie. In Finland they eat it with some kind of egg butter on top. |
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| Orthodox church/cathedral. Very highly decorated inside. |
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| Protest church/cathedral. Very sober inside. |
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| Moose statue. At first I thought it was yawning, but it is just its beard apparently. |
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| A very very very large cruise ship/boat. And is says Viking. How cool can a ship be? |
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| Friendly fighting over food I guess. |
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| Entry building on Suomenlinna. |
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| Another lucky bird shit on the plaza in front of the protestant church. |
If you have only a few days a year to go on a city trip I don't know if I would recommend visiting Helsinki since there are a lot of places out there that are probably more beautiful. Having said that I really loved visiting Finland. The people are so nice and friendly and even though their language is like Chinese they all speak English very well. The city itself isn't that special but having seen pictures of the nature up north, I can honestly say that Finland is worth a visit. Maybe I will go back to Finland in the summertime one day. In summer the light is supposed to be breathtakingly beautiful because the sun never really sets. In wintertime the snow also makes for idyllic landscapes but it is just too cold there for me then.
I hope you liked this photo diary! Leave me a comment and feedback about these kinds of posts in the comments!
