Out and About

(Summer chilling: espoo)

While I've been "quiet" on the blog front lately, I've still been getting out and about.
Here's a quick round up:

NIGHT OF THE ARTS:
Organised by the Helsinki Festival people, this is a program of activities indoors and out for people to watch and participate, from dance, sculpture, photography and of course street drinking. Yes, no Helsinki activitiy would be complete without young people carrying slabs of beer, cider bottles in the gutter (quickly rescued by entrepeneurial old people for recycling) and urine in the streets.

FINNISH FIREWORKS CHAMPIONSHIPS:
It's really hard to watch fireworks once you have been to Sydney. It's really hard to watch fireworks when they're being let off all the way in Suomelinna. It's really hard to watch fireworks when you're hoping the crowd doesn't start urinating. Get the picture... ? No, really it was a nice specatcle but quite some distance away, being on an island off the city. All the residents came out to watch it and while not all of them did watch (beer to drink, walls to mark), they were on the public transport and streets, like an exodus; the Jews leaves leaving for the promised land, only beer on their shoulders instead of worldly goods, children. Yes, no Helsinki activitiy would be complete without young people carrying slabs of beer.. oh have I said this before? Sami's pics of the night.

ESPOO
Yes it's another city! Yes it has the word "poo" in the name! No, you don't say it like that. Yes, Espoo keskus is dog ugly and men burp in the streets. I wandered the shore line which was beautiful. I didn't get to the islands - and that's Sami's fault for mis-translating the timetable - but I got him back by telling him what a lovely day it was outside, how nice my lunch was, how cold the wine was, and how oppressive his office must be. Don't answer my text messages when you're at work and I'm on holiday! The WestEnd reminds me a lot of suburban river Perth so I felt right at home. Now I know where I want my next lot of Finnish real estate... Photos of Espoo shoreline.

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER ISLAND
Still bent on my mission to discover Helsinki's small islands, I took a boat to Sirpalesaari. The boat ride was over before I could get my camera out, but the captain of the boat was an old black labrador, which made me very happy. There wasn't a lot on this island, but that didn't stop me walking all over it, including anything marked "private property" before getting the Lab to take me back. Photos from Sirpalesaari.

I've also been running around on roofs including Torni and Sokos, with drinks in hand; and capturing a lot of Helsinki street life before it disappears for winter.