Finland: History and Culture in greater detail.

By this point, I have seen most of the cities of the Baltic, but only for one or two days.  Now I get to go back and try new things, see new sites.  So, you will see several posts for the same cities, and I will try my best to share all the different things I saw each time I went.

Did you know?  The Finnish, Estonian, and Hungarian languages are neither connected to the romance nor the slavic languages.  The three are distantly related to each other.  But the distance is so great that they cannot speak to each other.  If you listen to Italian, French, or German, you might pick up a few cognates.  But not so with Finnish, Estonian, or Hungarian.

That said, the Finnish word for Finland is Suomi.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Helsinki, Fin-- Suomi

Today, instead of wandering around on my own like last time, I jumped on a bus tour with the guests.  The nice thing about the bus tour is that it starts off by driving along the coastline, and taking you on the edge of the city and beyond, so that you can get a bigger picture of the geography, and see more of what Finland is actually like.  What you'll notice first if you're looking out over the water, is an archipelago.

You bought this house?!  I hope you also bought a boat.

It's fascinating to see how many little Islands there are right off the coast.  And look how close they are.  I'm not zooming in on my camera.  And the Fins like to build nice houses on them.  Why not?

When you get to spend many days in another country, if you let yourself become aware, you start to pick up on their history, and what it was like to see the world from their perspective.  I honestly never gave much thought to Finland, but now that I was there, I starting feeling what it must have felt like to live in the shadow of Russia.  This is not a good feeling.  The two nations have been at odds since...forever, and their story is quite tumultuous.

In such troubled circumstances, a composer by the name of Jean Sibelius came forth.  He composed a piece that is known today as Finlandia.  It was a piece of music that united the Fins and gave them strength as they fought for their independence from Russia.  (It's also known as "Hail Irvine High" to all those who went to my high school).

I found a great video that tells the story of Sibelius and Finlandia quite well.  Watch the whole thing, or skip to the hymn section at 5:20, which is the most familiar and famous part.

So important is Sibelius to the people of Finland, that one of the most popular sites to visit is the Sibelius monument.

This place is always full of visitors.

Originally, a "modern artist" created the part on the left to give the impression of an organ because Sibelius was well known for his organ music.  But the people of Finland complained because they wanted something to represent him more as a person.  So years later, the artists added the piece on the right with his face.

The trick is calling it "Modern Art."  Then you can do whatever.

Don't let people cut your hair with clippers...ever.

And now we move on to Temppeliaukkio Kirkko, or The Rock Church, or The Church of the Rock.
(But is the rock referring to Jesus or Peter?  What do you think Martin Luther?  "Hmm, I'm gonna have to say Jesus.")

A church was originally going to be on this site in the 1030's, but World War II sort of happened, and caused a major delay.  It wasn't until 1969 that this church was completed.  By then the rights to be the architect had been won by two brothers who proposed they excavate the solid rock and build the church right into it.

I love this dome!

Plenty of natural light.

Calvary Chapel Helsinki?

 

Plenty of seats.

Insert Choir Her

Great acoustics!











 

How about we go inside and listen to that pianist?

 Here is a little known piece of awesome:  Santa Clause lives just outside The Rock Church in Helsinki, and he runs his own Minimarket.  I have proof!

Who's that jolly fat man on the side of my picture?

It's Santa Claus!

Following the Rock Church, we jumped back on the bus and headed to a local museum.  On the way, we caught a view of the Helsinki Central Station, and I grabbed this picture.  I couldn't help but notice that several guests who were architects stood up out of their seats to get better pictures.  That's a red flag for something significant, so I took a picture too.

Finland salutes bare-chested men holding their balls.

Are we back in California?

This stone bear marks the entrance to the museum.  You know, later that day, I ended up buying the Finnish equivalent of a Slim Jim that was made out of bear.  Yummy.

Traguna, macoides, tracorum, satis dee.

The museum was mostly pretty boring.  I'm sorry to say that.  However, their were a few diamonds in the rough, and here they are.

Jesus was a carpenter.  You have chosen poorly.

Your parents' house belongs in a museum

Giant phones and a VCR!

The Force is strong in Finland.

For real.  This is in their museum.

Kids would sit and pretend to drive.  It was cute.

Those who didn't make the Beauty & the Beast cut.

Well, this was quite an eventful day, which usually makes me hungry.  Thankfully, the market in the harbor offered us this little "gesture."

 

No, I don't remember what it was.  But I do rememer getting up and searing out reindeer.  I totally ate some reindeer!

Yes, I totally ate Blitzen at the last Donner party.

That's enough for now.  Time to post!