Friday, 24 September 2010

More of Finland

We decided to do a morning tour of Helsinki so here are some of the sights - sorry but there are quite a few (lots more on the camera!)
Images below of Temppeliaukio Kirkko (the underground Rock Church). This structure reminded me
of the underground houses at Coober Pedy in our home state. 
The church was built in 1968-69 and the granite is impressive
Place to hang your jacket
Looking up at the domed ceiling which is made up of 32 kms of copper wire
Memorial to the famous Finnish composer Sibelius
Below - Helsinki cathedral
In the town square in front of the cathedral we found a special display
of the United Buddy Bears. You can read about them at this link; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Buddy_Bears
I took way too many photos of them but here are a few. It was a challenge
to guess some of the countries who were represented - some were obvious as you can
see and some countries I have never heard of - you would have been good at this Sophie!

From Australia - Ken Done's.......
And a view from above....
While walking we came across a market
These look like arctic fox furs...
So lunch time came - I do like looking at reindeers but just had to experience
the farmed meat - I am sorry to those of you who are vegetarians (reindeer sausage)
Autumn colours have arrived in the northern hemisphere but Helsinki is so cold!
Today it reached a maximum of about 12 degrees.
Apparently in winter it can get to minus 20 degrees - bbbrrrrrrr
No takers to the seats in the park - too cold to just sit

Closer look at the second hairpiece and it is made up of butterflies
And then spied in a gallery by the same artist
Below - for you Sophie
Larry and I have been so glad we are not driving. Left hand drive to start with and then to
contend with no lines at the intersections. Which way to go?And then right in front of us
a car and a bus tried to race each other around a corner and became 'glued' together
And below for you Brett and Emily - I finally found the parking meter put to good use!
Reminded me of Malibu and Kahlua (hope they remember us!)

Thursday, 23 September 2010

Finland

Thank goodness I have done a few blogs and know exactly where the login keys are. I turned on my computer tonight and my instructions are all in Finnish - not sure why blogger has done that to me - so I do hope this is in English for you! Welcome to Helsinki, Finland. First impressions are of simple buildings, strange language (which is unique to Finland) and expensive eating! Lots of attractive Nordic girls and guys and all very friendly. I had to look for some new clothes today - on Monday before we left Oxford we did a stack of washing and used a gas dryer - now half of my clothes have shrunk!! (And it wasn't the clotted cream....really!!). Anyway the shop assistants are very friendly - they start by nattering away in Finnish and with my blank look quickly convert to English. Apparently English is taught at school as a compusory subject - I do admire them. So here are a few quick first day views.
Our hotel is beside one of many harbours
(apparently there are over 300 islands around Helsinki)
And lots of silver balls - relatives to ours in Rundle Mall
Above just me trying to be a smart fart on the camera
On closer inspection they are mushrooms
No coffee out here - it rained all morning....
Wine from home.......
Park the dog.....
Love this girl's patchwork style
and I saw this following image in an empty warehouse???!

Architectural views tomorrow

Tuesday, 21 September 2010

News from Tim at home

Tim from Lloyd Curzon's excitedly sent me these pictures.....almost as good as being there - thanks Tim (and Faye we are listening to Abba in the cafe just for you!!)

Last day in Oxford

I have another brief session in the internet cafe - thanks for all your emails....I will answer them as soon as I can! For now enjoy some more of the V&A
Wonderful to see Artichoke up close and personal
And Bullerswood carpet and medieval painting
Apparantly the figures are self portraits of himself and Jane
And I can see where Jacquie Harvey gets her inspiration

Amazing beadwork
And I found that William had left me some drawings so I can create some more quilts!!
These drawings were at Kelmscott House
Honeysuckle in the backyard at Kelmscott House - I like to think Morris planted it himself
We leave for Helsinki in the morning for a few days REST!!! Friday we start our tour to Russia and the Baltic States and then home..............