Tag: finland

Things I Always Notice In Helsinki

My local friends do not pay attention to many things that I marvel at each time I come. For them, it’s a part of their daily life, and for me all these things are a never-ending source of a “good envy,” things I hope to see in Chicago one day.

  • Seven-year-olds taking public transportation by themselves with confidence.
  • An abundance of family-style buffets pretty much everywhere; the ability to choose what exactly and how much you put on your plate
  • Absence of homeless people. I know that I do not see them, not because they are artificially “hidden” from other people’s sight, but because it’s almost impossible to become homeless in Finland.
  • Stainless steel public toilets everywhere. I can write a large blog post just about these toilets, their perfect design, their unbreakability, their convenience, and ease of cleaning. And yes, I saw them being used for different purposes, same as in Chicago, but still.
  • The widest network of bike paths, which allows you to get by bike anywhere and safely.
  • An abundance of public spaces that are used by everyone.
  • And one more time about unhoused people, because the housing crisis in Chicago is becoming worse every day. In Helsinki, people do not need to use bus stops for living, do not need to pull around the city all their possessions in a grocery cart, and do not need to use library bathrooms to wash themselves or take a nap in a safe space. And just to be clear, I see poor people in Helsinki. I see people scavenging the garbage cans. An antique shop next to Boris’ house in Helsinki distributes stale buns (unsure from where) every morning, and I see people lining up two hours ahead of the distribution time.

And I am not even mentioning the healthcare, eldery care, and many other things. I do not think I will see it all happen in Chicago during my lifetime. But I will do what I can to make it happen.

Last Day In Helsinki

Yesterday, we were trying to do everything we didn’t have time to do during the past two weeks :). We went for a bike ride, which was great, especially because I might not have an opportunity to go for a bike ride for a while (looking at my schedule realistically).

We went to Regatta in the afternoon, and they were serving glögg in addition to their usual coffee and hot chocolate, so we ordered glögg and blueberry pie with vanilla sauce and enjoyed being inside this little fairy tale, as always.

And I can never miss their outdoor creativity!

When it became darker, I went to see whatever Christmas lights were already up:

To my surprise and delight, I found that not only Stockmann Christmas display was already up (it was not up five hours earlier when I went to get chocolate!)

And then I spent two hourse packing, and ended up with two luggage pieces!

Bach Messa In Si Minor At Toumiokirkko

I am so glad we went to this concert! Boris was doubtful whether we should go, and with it’s been raining non-stop, it was very tempting to saty at home hybernating. I am so glad I changed my made and made an executive decision to get us tickets!

After the concert, when I was energized beyond the level any espresso drink can deliver, Boris told me he underestimated how new this experiense would be for me. And actually, I do not think I ever heard Bach in a church, believe it or not! The boys choir is absolutely out of this world! (That’s a different music, but I just can’t get over them!)

And on the way home back from the concert I saw that Helsinki is being decorated for Christmas – not the full regalia, but getting there, and I hope to catch a glimpse of it tonight!

The Moomin Exhibit At The Architecture and Design Museum

After spending time in the Oodie Library, we relocated to the Helsinki Architecture and Design Museum. Since the whole of Finland (and probably the whole world) is celebrating the 80th anniversary of the first Moomin book, the museum opened an Escape to Moomin Valley exhibit.

I feel like it’s the best Moomin exhibit I’ve ever seen. It was so interesting to see how Tove Jansson’s ideas can be viewed through the architecture and design lens.

Continue reading “The Moomin Exhibit At The Architecture and Design Museum” →

In Helsinki

On Saturday, there was no rain in the forecast, and I knew it would be my only biking opportunity, so I agreed when Boris suggested to bike to IKEA and back, and have lunch there. It turned out that I overestimated my abilities, and also, it did start raining, so asked Boris to take the train for part of our trip back. It was still the longest bike ride I had in almost a month!

Lunch in IKEA
The IKEA cafe wall decorations

Later on Saturday, I went coat shopping one more time, and finally found the one I could live with:). Almost not puffy, with the hood which was not falling off, and with zipped pockets. Not ideal, but the best I could find, and under $100. So now I am finally dressed for the weather.

On Sunday, I met up with my friend Natasha and her daughter Sonia. It was a hopelessly rany day, so we started with spending time in the Oodi library, and then went the the Architecture and Design Museum to see the Moomin 80th anniversary exhibit. I took tons of pictures at this exhibit, and I will share it in a separate post. Here, I just want to mention one more time how much I love all these simple things organized the way that life is comfortable for humans.

The playzones in the library. Multiple coat racks in each corner, and the footwear shelves by the play areas. Outside, I alway marvel the bike paths, the bike turning lanes and how thoughtfully they are designed.

***

My mom’s caregiver and her husband are Ukrainian refugees. They ended up in Chicago because their son and his family had been living here for a long time before. They just never thought they would move here themselves, and probably wouldn’t for many years if it hadn’t been a war.

However, before they moved to the US, they spent several months (almost a year) in Tampere. I recall how I felt when I first came to Finland after the war had started. The war was in the air; the posters calling to donate to the Ukrainian refugees-supporting funds were all over the place, and half of the conversations I overheard on the public transportation were about refugees.

Remembering all that, I can understand why my mom’s caregiver is so thankful to the family that hosted them in Finland. Since the first time they learned that my husband lives in Finland and I go there often, they have wanted me to meet their former host family, and this time it finally worked, since I was going to Tampere!

When the husband visited me before my departure to drop off the gifts, he asked me whether I could do him a favor and ask these people whether they are scared about possible Russian attacks (in light of recent events). I told him that I believed Finland had been “always ready” since 1918, but promised to ask.

So when we met, I asked. They told me that many people in Finland were very much afraid, to the point that some people they knew couldn’t fall asleep without sedatives, but they were fine because they were sure everything was in God’s hands. They told me that they even started building a new house, which should have proved that they indeed believed they would be fine. And yes, they confirmed, it was always like this since 1918, “we just do not talk about it.”

I have nothing to add to this conversation. I believe in Finland, in her people and her Armed Forces, but why in the world does it have to be “always ready”?

Life Is Better With Cinnamon Buns!

Moomin Museum

Tampere has the only Moomin Museum in the world, and it happens to be in the same building where our conference lunches were served (and adjacent to our hotel building, so we could walk there, staying inside). I loved it! I hope that I will be able to take Nadia and Kira there!

I took a lot of pictures there, so for those who want to see them all, I made a separate album – enjoy!

The museum has a separate room for each of the Moomin books, exhibiting original illustrations by Tove Jansson and the Moomin house!

Moomin Library with books on two dozen languages!

Afterwards, I took the pictures of everything in thr museum store, and send them to Anna so that she and the girls could choose what they want, and then I had to pack it into my carry-on, which was not an easy task, especially because I am also bringing back mine and Boris’s Moomin cookie jars :).

Tampere City Hall Reception

Tampere City Hall visit was an absolutely new experience for me, and I wish I took more pictures! The best part was that we could walk arond the whole building, not just a reception hall. Imagine you visit a museum, and you are allowed to sit on all of these beautiful chairs, and come close to these timy wooden tables, and touch the cabinets and vases, and feel it all like a liveable space!

As for the reception itself, the information about it was misleading. The conference program said that we will have this city walk, which will end with the “event” in the city hall. Boris, who should have some visibility into the details said that “there should be food”.

The event started at 7 PM, and all guests were offered champaign flutes upon arriving the the reception hall, and then there were individual plates with four pieces of appetizers (I didn’t realized that I should have taken picture of them, because I thought there will be something else, but that was it :)). The Mayor of Tampere greeted the conference and delivered a short speech about the importance of data technologies, etc; then the trio of musicians was performing something with people keeping talking, and that was it. My point is that they didn’t have to feed us, but the event ended at 8:30 PM, and it was nine by the time we reached the hotel, and it was too late to look for any other food (the hotel kitchen closes at 9 PM, and I didn’t want to go out and wait anywhere for anything ).

I survived, because Boris saved an apple for me, and because we had hot chocolate packs in the room, and I didn’t really need that much, but it was definitely a planning problem 😂.

Continue reading “Tampere City Hall Reception” →

Tampere

The ADBIS conference is taking place at the Tampere University, and that’s my first time visiting Tampere. The conference itself is sort of uneventful, and I also had to spend a lot of time still doing some work, because there were always some issues. And it’s cold. Very cold. Way colder than I expected, because the wind makes it feel fifteen degrees lower than it is.

Yesterday, we had a walking tour before the reception, and I think this hour-long walk finally made me sick. I am not exactly sick, but I feel like I am about to get sick, which is even worse. That’s just to explain why I am thinking slowly and not posting about the trip.

Let me try to fix it now.

A mirror in our hotel elevator
The gym – thankfully, 24-hour for real!
The gift to the conference attendees
The swinging chairs in the University foyer
The opening of the conference

On the first day, it was so cold and windy that we decided to stay inside (the hotel is just across the street from the University), and we had dinner at the hotel.

On the second day, there was no choice other than joining this walking tour, which, now I am convinced, made me sick. However, I took some nice pictures 🙂

The city was incorporated in the 1770s (I forgot the exact date), and the old buildings we saw were mostly factory buildings, which are now repurposed for some entertainment venues

Finally, we reached the City Hall, and I will show the reception pictures in a separate post.