The Finnish Sun . . .

Harri arose early to get a double batch of rice puuro (porridge) simmering, so we could fuel ourselves for a walk and have enough left over to make Karelia once we returned. 

Because the Finnish weather forecast predicted sun, Harri suggested we head out for one of their favorite family walks.  We discovered the Finnish sun is a slight variation from a what we expect as sun in the US.  While there was in fact sun visible in the sky somewhere, it wasn't over us.  We felt like Eeyore being followed around by rain/slush clouds as we hike.

Despite the rain, it was another beautiful hike.  Helsinki has more forest in the City limits than any other city we have ever seen.  The granite rocks and boulders were spectacular and Mom wanted to bring them all home and have them made into countertops, the rain actually brought out all the colors and patterns. 

As we've walked through the forests here fairy tales continue to pop into our minds.  We think of Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Hansel and Gretel wandering through the forest looking for berries.  Everywhere you turn there are lingonberry bushes and wild blueberry vines, which are called billberry here, not to be confused with the farm grown blueberries we think of.

At the end of the walk we tested our strength at a Finnish work out station that included monkey bars and lifting logs that have fallen over in the forest.

After the hike we learned how to make Karelia! It's a rye flour based savory pastry filled with porridge.  We got slightly better with the technique with practice.

The finished product

Great conversations over breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper, coffee . . .

Thursday, we were greeted by Harri in the morning who had created another traditional Finnish breakfast for us to try.  We are getting very spoiled.  Harri had warmed up Karelia and had three options for toppings; cheese, egg salad or margarine.  Pia returned from a walk with their adorable little dog and they both gave us a lesson on the various types of rye flour and different shaped rolling pins used to roll out different types of dough.

This morning, Harri is going to demonstrate how to make Karelia .  It doesn't get much better than this! We're feeling so fortunate.

Back to Thursday..

Harri drove us, Pia and Otto to the train station and we were on our way into Helsinki City central.  Upon arriving at the gorgeous train station, we walked to the Helsinki Cathedral.  Along the way, Pia suggested we take a quick look inside the university library.  It was beautiful!  So beautiful in fact, that Pia stated it inspired her to take classes, simply to be able to study there.

The Cathedral itself was incredible.  It sits on top of a hill with ominous looking stairs leading up to it.  Inside though it's quite beautiful in its simplicity.

Organ Pipes

View from the Cathedral

Alexander II, Finland's favorite Czar (the bronze guy behind Sarah)

Pia then took us to meet Otto at the bookstore, where he choose a book on WWII Soviet Tanks and where we learned that the Moomin characters were originally chapter books.  Of course we purchased several (in English).

We met the rest of the family and Taina for lunch at the "Sea Horse", where we sat at a long table and had a lovely meal and conversation.  Taina teaches music and just completed her dissertation on music composition, connected with new curriculum for the comprehensive schools. This was one of our favorite parts of the day.  Being able to sit, enjoy, and laugh together was so nice.

We hopped in the car with Harri, Pia, Otto, Eetu & Aaro and went to the history museum.  There was a special exhibit as Finland is celebrating 100 years of Independence.

The Kalevala 

Mom and a Swedish Clock

Uno Cygnaeus (1810-1888) Father of the infamous Finnish Comprehensive School System

Sarah and I continued on our adventure in the city center, visiting the department store, Stockmann, and of course Fazer Chocolate cafe.  Pia made sure we had directions to return home and we were very fortunate to find bus "75" as we were walking to the train station.  Whew!  That bus took us right to the stop a couple blocks from their home.  If we had taken the train, we would have had a couple of changes to make (not sure how that would have worked - given our poor sense of direction -- remember we've gotten lost in hotels).

Christmas Pulla for dinner? Why of course!

Danse Macabre . . .simply fascinating

At the risk of sounding morbid, Mom was quite excited to see the only remaining fragment of a  painting by Bernt Notke in the St. Nicholas (Niguliste) Museum (formally a Church).  It is the only surviving medieval "Dance of Death" in the world painted on canvas!  (Can't believe we were able to see this unique piece!)

Camille Saint-Säens, composition of Danse Macabre is one of Mom's favorite works, so seeing this piece of art and learning about the significance of the characters was pretty incredible.

We each came up with our own interpretation before reading the material and Pia's version was the winner.  There are mortals in hierarchical order (Pope, Emperor, Empress, Cardinal and King) dancing with skeletal figures of Death.  The higher echelon didn't want to "go with Death" because they realized they would be equal to the peasants in the afterlife.  This canvas used to include more figures, including peasants, but unfortunately that part is missing.  We're curious to know how the peasants would have interpreted Death and how that would be different from upper class.

This former church was stunning.  It had been a fortress during the medieval times before the City Wall was built.

We also visited the National History Museum to learn more about Estonia.  We learned that in its more than 1,000 years of existence, Estonia has been occupied by another foreign power for most of that time; by the Danish, Swedish, Germans, Russian, and more that we've already forgotten.  They declared their independence from Russia in 1918 after the Bolshevik Revolution, but were again occupied during WWII and after by the Soviets.  In 1991, Estonians once again gained their independence after a Singing Revolution.

After the History Museum we couldn't pass up a chance to visit the Music and Theater Museum where we got to play dress up and play with fun instruments!

Estonian folk tune

After some shopping and a quick bite of lunch with Santa, no joke, we hopped the boat back to Helsinki and are back at Pia's lovely guest house.