Home again

I flew home on Monday. What a trip! An 8-hour flight from Helsinki to JFK and another 5-hour flight to LAX. We got in half an hour early to LAX - but then waited almost an hour for a gate. Air travel is living up to all the worst publicity nowadays. Every seat is full. I swear the seats have been pushed closer together. I don't know how really big and/or tall people can tolerate coach anymore. Meals were free on the Helsinki flight, but not on the flight to LAX.

Here's the final waiting lounge for my flight in Helsinki. We went through no less than four passport checks before getting onto the plane. I suppose any flight, especially going into JFK, is subject to serious security - another sign of the times.

For the JFK-LAX flight, my checked bag was opened, as I discovered later from the little TSA inspection label they left behind. But any jumbo jet leaving JFK with a full supply of fuel must also be suspect in this day and age.

Here is my plane, a big MD-11, waiting at the Helsinki airport. Light rain, but we took off on time.

I wonder how Europeans feel when they arrive at JFK. At the Helsinki airport, free luggage carts were outside the airport to lug your checked baggage to the ticket counter. Inside security, there were more free carts, a bit smaller, to drag your carry-ons to the gate. But when you arrive at JFK, no carts are available when you get off the plane and stand in line for passport checks. Then you get your checked bag (even if you are continuing on) to stand in line for customs, then drag it to another counter to re-check for your next flight. Carts are available -- for $3! Welcome to America!

My visits to Finland and Estonia were great, but it's always nice to be home.

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Helsinki landmarks

Today is my last full day in Helsinki before returning home, so I wanted to get a good look at a few more landmarks.

The University Library just north of Senate Square is a beautiful building, opened in 1840, designed by the city architect, Carl Engel.

Engel also designed this building for what is now the University of Helsinki, on the west side of Senate Square.

This 1890 building, called the House of Estates, is located just northeast of Senate Square.

This is the Palace of the Council of State, first opened in 1822, located on the east side of Senate Square. I'm told that this square was used for location sites to evoke St. Petersburg for Warren Beatty's film "Reds."

A few blocks south on Market Square is the famous Kappeli Cafe, which opened in 1867. I stopped for cappuccino.

The Swedish Theatre a few blocks west of Market Square was built in 1866.

I liked these temporary construction fences portraying a French village street.

I'm not crazy about these commercial signs plastered all over office buildings. This one is across the street from the Swedish Theatre. I'm not sure what to think about that statue, which reminds me of the Soviet Realism I saw in Bratislava last fall.

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Finlandia and more

With everything closed for the national holiday today, it seemed like a good time to do more sightseeing of important buildings. Töölönlahti is a huge and very beautiful lake just northwest of the Central Railway Station. It's lined with parkland, play areas, and bike and pedestrian paths that filled up with people as the day went on.

At the northwest corner of the lake is the ultra-modern Finnish National Opera House. This is the western entrance facing the street Mannerheimintie.

This is the eastern side facing the lake. Alas, no performances while I am in town. I've now seen six great European opera houses this summer, without seeing a single performance in any of them.

Here's a view of the lake looking south. In the distant right is the Finlandia Concert Hall. That fountain spewing water to the left in the lake appears to be purely decorative.

On the walk down to the Concert Hall, I saw another speedwalker with cross-country poles, which seems to be popular summer exercise here.

Here's a better view of the Finlandia Concert Hall. "Finlandia" is also the name of Sibelius' most popular composition.

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Sibelius memorial

Today is a national holiday, "Midsummer Day," so virtually everything is closed. Even the busses and trams stopped running until 11 am today. Colleagues at the aesthetics conference said the traditional celebration involves retreating to country houses on the lakes to celebrate the longest day of the year. I don't know if that's where everybody went, but the city of Helsinki is deserted, except for tourists.

When the busses started up, I took the #24 northwest to see the Sibelius Memorial. Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) is the country's most famous composer. The memorial by Eila Hiltunen, consisting of 600 stainless-steel tubes, was completed in 1967, after four years of work.

Some think it is reminiscent of the slender white birch trees in the country. Others think it looks like the pipes of an organ (an instrument for which Sibelius never composed).

Reportedly, there was such an outcry over the design that a separate bust of Sibelius was commissioned and installed near the Memorial. I'm not sure this helps much.

I am reminded of the outcry over the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC, which led to the installation of traditional statues of three soldiers adjacent to the much more powerful Memorial. Although the soldiers were of different races, they were all male, which led to another outcry - and the installation of statues representing female nurses who also died in Vietnam. Personally, I think these representational add-ons reflect a sad narrow-mindedness about the original works in both countries.

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Tallinn walls

I understand that most (all?) of Europe's old medieval cities were fortified with heavy walls and gates to provide security. Many of those old walls have been torn down, but Tallinn managed to retain most of theirs, adding to the charm of the old city.

An entrepreneur dressed in medieval garb will let you shoot arrows in front of this wall.

Cafes and vendors line other walls in the city.

Here's a typical wall with guard tower. Construction and restoration seem to be going on everywhere, so that's typical, too.

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Tallinn vistas

Several viewing spots provide magnificent vistas of the medieval city. Most are on the southern and western sides of the town, high on various hills and medieval fortifications. With so many tourists, you had to wait your turn to get to the front to take some pictures.

This one looks to the north, with the harbor in the distance.

This looks more to the east.

UPDATE: In the July/August 2008 issue of AARP magazine, waiting for me when I got home, Peter Greenberg recommends Estonia in his article (p. 20): "Daunted by the Euro? Try these low-cost, low-tourist locales." He says, "Estonia is still off the tourist radar. . . even in the summer." I don't know when he last visited, but tourists have definitely found Tallinn, and I paid the usual exhorbitant prices for my cappuccino (3.4 Euros - about $5). His other European recommendation: Greenland. Sorry, not on my "to-do" list.

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Tallinn town hall

Town Hall Square in Tallinn was the central focus of the medieval old town, the site of everything from carnivals to executions.

The Town Hall building dates from the 15th century.

This tableau of colorful buildings is on the east side of the Square. The entire town was swaming with tourists the day I visited.

Outdoor cafes line most of the Square. This view looks to the northwest corner, where I had cappuccino and hot apple cake with vanilla ice cream. Most have menus with prices in both Estonian Crowns (EKK) and Euros. The waitresses speak English, and they take credit cards.

A local military band provided mid-day entertainment, mainly American jazz and Sousa marches.

Esprit has a store on the southwest corner of the Square. A few blocks to the south, another fashionable clothier, Max Mara, has a store in the medieval old town.

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Tallinn doors

One pleasant surprise in Tallinn is the abundance of beautifully decorated and colorful doors to many houses and other buildings. I took 21 pictures and will only include a few here. I rummaged through tourist books and Googled but could not find any explanation for this phenomenon. Is this a centuries old custom in Tallinn? Is it widespread in northern Europe? Are there any special meanings attached to the various designs and colors? I have no idea, but will try to find out more.

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Tallinn churches

The guidebook to the medieval city shows 12 cathedrals and churches - Lutheran, Catholic, Russian Orthodox, and Ukrainian Greek-Catholic.

One of the oldest structures in Tallinn is the Dominican Monastery, dating from the 13th century. Most of it was destroyed during the Reformation in the 16th century, but some remains were uncovered in archeological digs after WWII.

These portals remain from the Church used by the Dominicans in the 14th century.

These tombstones were recovered by archeologists.

The Church of St. Peter and Paul, home of the only Roman Catholic congregation here, was built in the 19th century on the site of the monastery's dining room.

The most spectacular church in Tallinn is the Russian orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, built in 1900 when Estonia was part of the Russian empire. It sits high on a hill in the southwest part of the old walled city.

A few blocks to the west is the main Lutheran church of Estonia, the Cathedral of Saint Mary the Virgin, built by Danes in the 13th century.

This famous clock, the oldest public timepiece in Tallinn, is on the side of the Holy Spirit Church, built in the 14th century, just to the side of Town Hall Square.

St. Nicholas' Orthodox Church, built in the early 19th century, is on a site tracing to Russian merchants and an earlier church in the 15th century. The medieval walls of the city are visible here on the left.

St. Olav's Church in the northern end of the medieval city dates to the 13th century and once had the highest tower in the city at 159 meters. White speakers and television screens are now installed in this huge church founded by Scandinavian merchants.

The city's only synagogue was destroyed in Allied bombing in 1944. A new one outside the city walls was built in just 2007, but I didn't get over to see it. The 1000 Jews in Tallinn in 1941, when the Nazis invaded, were murdered. When Estonia was forced into the Soviet Union, Jewish organizations were prohibited, so the return of a small Jewish population has been very recent. Apparently there is a small memorial to the Holocaust at the site of the Klooga concentration camp in Estonia, but nothing in Tallinn.

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Tallinn trip

Today I took a 90-minute ferry ride across the Baltic Sea to Tallinn, Estonia, about 40 miles south of Helsinki. It has one of the best-preserved medieval cities in northern Europe, my seasick medicine (Bonine) worked fine, and the weather is perfect. Estonia is one of the three Baltic States (along with Latvia and Lithuania) that broke away from the Soviet Union in 1991. St. Petersburg is to the east and Stockholm, Sweden, to the west.

Here is my ship, operated by the Nordic Jet Line, in Helsinki harbor. The lowest level is filled with cars, the mid-level is the main cabin area, and the top is the control level. Round-trip fare is 56 Euros.

The ship has comfortable seating, a cafe, and duty-free shops. No passports are required, as both Finland and Estonia are in the Shengen Zone ("Fortress Europe"). On the trip back, we had to walk past a police officer with a large dog, perhaps sniffing for drugs.

The harbor in Tallinn is filled with ferries, cruise ships, and a few historic vessels like this one.

The walk from the terminals south to the Old Town area is a few short blocks. This gas station along the way is advertising 18.55 EKK (Estonian Crowns) per liter. That's about $7.40 per gallon!

I checked the Yahoo currency converter, and the dollar has been steadily losing value against even the Estonian Crown this past year. We can't even hold our own against Estonia, a tiny country of 1.3 million people! I didn't bother converting any currency for the day. The cafes all take Euros and credit cards, so it didn't seem worth the trouble.

As I approched the first medieval tower protecting the ancient city, I saw two tram lines go by. They don't run in the historic city, but have several routes into the more modern town.

In a park outside the entrance to the medieval city is a huge black broken arc, with a platform with engraved names. I learned with a little Googling that this memorial is dedicated to the 852 people who died when the ferry "Estonia" sank in 1994 en route to Stockholm. It's been blamed on improperly closed doors on the level for cars. Gulp!

Here is the guardhouse you first see as you enter the medieval city.

Here is the gated entrance showing Pikk street inside.

I took 256 pictures in just this one day, so I'll split up these entries into manageable sizes. I'm glad I added a memory stick and brought an extra battery for my digital camera.

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Market Square

Market Square is another tourist destination - a huge outdoor market with crafts, food, and outdoor restaurants. It's right on the harbor southeast of central Helsinki, where sightseeing boats and larger vessels to Stockholm, Sweden, and Tallinn, Estonia, dock.

The gray boat on the left looks like a military vessel of some kind. To the right is a cruise ship. The overnight trip to Stockholm is apparently very popular. Among other things, locals can take advantage of duty-free shopping.

These vendors are selling potatoes and flowers from the backs of their boats.

Flower vendors in the market area added some charm and color.

Sundmans Restaurant, located on the water by Market Square, has a Michelin star. I was impressed with the two-story historic building, from the early 19th century. In the lower edge, you can see one of the bicycle lanes that are found all over the city.

I walked around the Square to the Ferry building on the east side of the harbor to buy my ticket to Tallinn, Estonia, tomorrow. Here's hoping my seasick pills work again!

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Orthodox Cathedral

An amazing landmark is the Uspensky Russian Orthodox Cathedral, just a few blocks east of the huge Lutheran Cathedral on Senate Square. Completed in 1868, when Finland was part of the Russian empire, it is reportedly the largest Orthodox Cathedral in the Western world.

The Cathedral has thirteen spires, and is located high on another hill. According to the tourist books, the current population is barely 1% Russian Orthodox. I counted three huge tourist buses in the lot, and you can understand the attraction.

The interior is filled with icons and statues - and tourists.

Here's another shot of the interior.

The view of the harbor and central Helsinki from the Cathdral grounds is worth the trip, too. This one looks to the north.

At the aesthetics conference, I learned that Helsinki is spending a million Euros a year to keep the city free of graffiti. I spotted this behind the Cathedral, but have been otherwise struck by the graffiti-free structures all over the city. If I have time, I'll have to check back in a few days to see if it's been cleaned up.

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Embassies

I returned to Helsinki Wednesday afternoon after the conference and will be spending a few more days here for sightseeing. I like to see what the embassies look like in different cities (especially after living next door to one in Bratislava) and saw several in the central area of the city.

This is the Slovak Embassy, a rather undistinguished contemporary building on Annankantu. I don't know if it occupies the entire building, but that's the Slovak flag in front.

The U.S. Embassy is in a beautiful park-like setting in the southeast corner of Helsinki, near the water on Itäinen Puistotie. Here is one of only two pictures I have of the Embassy, barely visible behind an ominous steel fence.

I actually took several more, but a guard came out and made me delete them from my digital camera while he watched. He let me keep this one as it shows the Amerian flag, but he said that pictures showing the entrances to the complex are forbidden - yet another sad commentary on the hyper-security-conscious age we live in. The complex is quite beautiful, with several historic buildings, and a modern building on the street for people applying for visas. I also saw a huge white party tent that seems to have been the site a big party last night.

The British Embassy across the street is also surrounded by heavy metal fencing, but the U.S. guard wasn't concerned about letting me keep this image.

In a striking contrast, the French Embassy across from the U.S. Embassy is remarkably free of security gates. But I was surprised at the disappointing architecture and especially the tacky looking exterior surface.

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My session

I present my paper Wednesday morning on graffiti and free speech, and look forwrd to the discussion to give me ideas for revising and expanding the project.

I will show a collection of images I took last fall of graffiti in eastern Europe that present puzzling situations to explain. Here is an image of a Slovak National Railway train car at the Bratislava Main Station.

The conference organizers will be publishing a collection of some of the papers presented, selected through a blind review process. I will probably submit a revised version of mine for consideration.

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Boat ride

On Monday night, we all took a three-hour boat cruise through the lake district, with a lavish buffet dinner served on board. I was a little nervous about seasickness, but the over-the-counter Bonine worked fine, at least on these calm waters.

Here is a picture of our boat, the Ainot. The days are at their longest this time of year, with the sun setting about 11 pm and rising about 3 am. It's not quite the famous "white nights" further north, where the sun never seems to go down, but close.

What magnificent views we had of the forests and lakes. You can barely see the cottages built throughout the region. They are supposed to be at least 20 meters back from the water's edge, to preserve the natural look of the forests.

We went through a systems of locks on the trip. These were once a vital commercial link to move goods in the region, but now are mainly used by tourist and pleasure boats.

Here's another view, taken from the rear of the boat. That's the blue and white Finnish flag.

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Conference sessions

The conference includes several plenary sessions with lectures and discussions with specialists in the conference topics. These alternate with smaller break-out workshop sessions with papers presented by each of the participants.

This large barn-like building is the site of our plenary sessions. Don't be fooled by the rustic appearance. Inside we have a wifi hot spot, and LED projectors to hook up to our laptops for our presentations.

Inside, the building looked like it is used for children's entertainment during the cold winter months, with playhouses, a small stage, and games. Here is the group before the start of a plenary session.

My session on graffiti and free speech is in this room on Wednesday. This is a work-in-progress for me, and I'll be showing lots of images of graffiti I took in Central Europe last fall.

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Conference center

The Messilä Manor House is a beautiful conference and resort area, with skiing in the winter and golf and boating in the summer. What a lovely setting for a conference.

This is the great view we had of the lake district from the central conference area.

This historic building in the center of the complex is my favorite. I was told it is classic Finnish architectural design. During the winter it serves as a restaurant, but it is closed up in the summer.

These little red buildings, also traditional Finnish design, are scattered all over the complex. Some serve as meeting rooms, while many others provide housing.

The complex also has a modern hotel building, where I stayed, with satellite television and wifi internet. Some graduate students attending the conference opted for rustic "camping" facilities, but I am way past the age of finding that an attractive option.

A riding complex was also on the property and seemed to be getting a lot of use.

We had meals together at the clubhouse for the golf course higher up the hill. The opportunity to talk at length with other conference participants outside the formal sessions was a great benefit to all of us in discussing our shared interests in aesthetics.

The entire conference was conducted in English (whew). The Finns typically are fluent in Swedish and English, and many also have some competency in French and German. As usual, the Europeans put us to shame in their language skills.

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Train ride to Lahti

I took a one-hour train ride on Sunday to Lahti, Finland, the site of the conference on "Everyday Aesthetics," sponsored by the International Institute of Applied Aesthetics, that is the purpose of my trip.

I took yet another sleek, modern, comfortable train, here waiting in the Helsinki station.

Lahti is the fourth largest city in Finland, and calls itself the Gateway to the Finish Lake District. It has a modern train station, with ramps and elevators making it accessible for the disabled and wheeled luggage alike.

A van picked us up for the short ride to the Messilä Manor House outside Lahti for the conference. 37 people are registered, including five from the U.S., as well as faculty members and graduate students from Estonia, Denmark, France, Japan, and of course Finland.

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Lutheran Cathedral

This country of about 5 million people is reportedly 85% Lutheran, adopting the Lutheran Reformation in the 17th century.

One of the most prominent landmarks in the city is this Lutheran Cathedral at Senate Square, built in the 1830s.

Here's the view standing at the top of that huge set of stairs in front of the Cathedral - a neatly organized market with all sorts of handcrafts and food. The elegant buildings surrounding the Square have the look and feel of St. Petersburg to me. As this was part of the Russian empire in the 19th century, and St. Petersburg is Helsinki's neighbor to the east, that's no surprise.

Here's another view of the market, looking to the southwest.

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Protest march

I happened upon a protest march today on a busy street in the center of town. All the signs and speakers were only in Finnish, so I'm not sure what the issues were. With so many tourists around (from the EU if not the US), it's too bad they didn't include a few English signs. From some of the demonstrators and gear, it seemed to be a protest demanding better rights for the disabled.

You can see a hearse in this shot in the demonstration.

Here's another view of the demonstrators, with a coffin covered in the blue and white flag of Finland.

Several impassioned speakers were on the sidewalk. Two police cars were parked at either end of the parade, but the police seemed just to be watching from the sidelines.

I have found handicapped access here much better than in central Europe - break-away curbs, elevators and escalators, and ramps in many public buildings. Still, the U.S. is far and away superior in handicapped access to anything I have seen in Europe, presumably because of our Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). As for health care for the disabled, it's hard to imagine how any European system of health care could be worse than the mish-mash of private health insurance in the U.S.

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Design

Finland is famous for its contemporary design, from furniture and architecture to textiles. I especially wanted to visit the flagship store for Marimekko, a line of colorful textiles available in the U.S.

Here's the main store, which is huge, on several levels, on Pohjoisesplanadi in the center of town. They also have a smaller store two blocks down the street. The main post office even sells a line of shipping materials designed by Marimekko!

Across from this store is a beautiful park, filled with people strolling in the balmy weather in the 70s.

In the middle of the park is this statue. Notice the white pigeon resting on his head, a sight all-too-common here - pigeons, that is.

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Railway Square

East of the train station is a huge plaza called Railway Square ringed by some magnificent buildings.

The National Theatre is on the north side of the Square.

The Finnish National Gallery, or Atenetum, is on the south side.

On the east is a long row of outdoor cafes, with the Casino at the end of the block. I see lots of outdoor cafes all over the city, but almost everybody seems to be drinking beer or wine, instead of the espresso you see in the Paris outdoor cafes.

On the west side of the train station is the Contemporary Art Museum.

And just to the west of that is the main Post Office.

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Helsinki train station

The big, bustling train station is right in the middle of the city of Helsinki. The transportation options here remind me of all the things we aren't doing in the U.S. to conserve energy.

The historic station building has lots of interesting architectural details. This is the west side entrance.

Six sets of covered tracks are all on the main level, making it easier for people dragging heavy luggage.

The interior of the station has several huge, elegant windows, and beautiful architectural details.

The city's one subway line has a stop inside the train station. On the lower level here, the city transportation office sells passes for unlimited travel on the subway, busses, and trams. The clerks speak English and they take credit cards. How easy can it get!

Here's the front entrance to the train station. Several tram lines run by in front. Busses stop at the side of the building. You see a lot of Volvos here, no doubt having something to do with Finland's neighbor.

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Trip to Helsinki

Today I am headed for a conference in Lahti, Finland, on applied aesthetics, with a few days of sightseeing in Helsinki. No nonstops from LA to Helsinki, so I took a 5-hour non-stop flight to JFK in New York, and then an 8-hour non-stop from JFK to Helsinki.

This is the Finnair flight at the gate in New York. Every seat was full. It's no fun in coach, but with an aisle seat, my iPod, and a good book, these long flights are bearable.

The Helsinki airport is a dreary modernistic but functional building.

The signs are tri-lingual - Finnish, Swedish, and English. Finnair runs a convenient bus into the heart of town for only 5.9 Euros. It takes about 30 minutes and drops you right at the Central Train station.

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