Helsinki

Before visiting Helsinki my only mental picture of Finland's capital city was from the Jim Jarmusch film Night on Earth. In other words cold, bleak, slow-paced, and comically tragic. In mid-July, however, I found a peaceful community of parks and gardens, street buskers with dayglo hair, sunbathers stretched out on rocks, and old men dressed in lobster costumes waiting on benches. Of all the Baltic cities I visited, Helsinki seemed like the one best suited for an afternoon picnic followed by a snooze in the sun.


The Helsinki Cathedral in Senate Square.


Senate Square was often used as a stand-in for Soviet Russia in Hollywood films.


This sculpture of steel tubes is a monument to Jean Sibelius, Finland's national composer.




When Sibelius fans complained that the memorial tubes made a dreadful cacophony in high winds, this second monument to the great composer was constructed.


The Temppeliaukio Rock Church, a temple built into the earth.


Entering the church feels not unlike stepping aboard a UFO.


Temppeliaukio from the outside.




The ATMs in Finland are called Otto.




The award-winn​ing Helsinki Central railway station.




The Havis Amanda statue was intended to represent the rebirth of Finland, but because she was modeled on a Parisian girl, many at first dismissed her as a "common French whore."


Seaside cafe.


A cryptic street performance.