jenniferdebeer

another pic of Finland. more precisely, from Helsinki, and the memorial to Finnish poet Runeberg. what i did in Helsinki was walk around without having looked at too much detail/homework on the city beforehand. i wanted to know the minimum, broad brushstrokes, and walk around and "see" things for myself, and not be told what must be seen by some guidebook. i wanted to encounter things without having been prepped too much beforehand. anyhow, i saw this monument but what struck me was not the poet on top, but the "Maiden of Finland" as depicted in the pic above. there was something about her expression which was sad yet beguiling. this is one of my favorite pics from my visit.

another aspect re my Helsinki visit, was that it was great to be close to a working (as opposed to "decorative") harbour. i had not been close to a mass of water for a year now (was 1 year ago in Cape Town --- you wouldn´t believe how much i miss the ocean, or the joy of being at the coast) and i had lived for 8 yrs in the city (cf. suburbs) in Cape Town, and walked every Sunday almost through the harbour with my dogs. you can´t begin to imagine how happy i was to hear a seagull; see at a distance the harbour cranes reaching skyward; or eventually get down to the water´s edge. i ran. i´m not kidding. i´d walked south-west to the non-touristy part of the city, and got to a hilltop park. from there i caught my first glimpse of water, looking ahead between a clump of buildings. so, made a beeline for the water´s edge.