Glimpses of Helsinki

I love Helsinki. It's my adopted hometown, since I don't really have one. My love for Helsinki goes as far as to say that I will never ever move to another city or town here in Finland (I know, never say never... if I ever wind up having six children and a hoard of dogs and cats, I might want to live elsewhere) as long as I live and breathe.

On Wednesday I went wandering about the downtown with Maria. We browsed through some interesting little shops and sat down for korvapuusti (or cinnamon roll, if you prefer that) and hot chocolate at one of my favourite cafes in Helsinki, Café Succès. I first went there with my dad when we were going to the Open Night at my future high school. He had been somewhat of a regular customer back when he went to the same school and the warm ambience on a somewhat cold and slushy February evening stayed with me and during my years in high school, I would frequently skip the lunch break and get myself a huge croissant and a cinnamon roll with a cup of hot chocolate to go. Sadly the service and the product quality are not quite up to the same level as before but there is always something very nostalgic about Café Succès.

After the short pause we continued walking. We walked through Ullanlinna, all the way across the Market Square and Senate Square, looking for a nice place to take my outfit pictures. Maria suggested the small park in front of Ritarihuone, the House of Nobility, but as beautiful as the flower arrangements and the fountain were, we deemed (or I did) it unfit for my outfit. I did however snap these pictures because the milieu was stunning to say the very least.

The last picture is from Mariankatu, right next to the House of Nobility. Throughout the day Maria and I had been admiring the old buildings and wailing every time a horrendous monster like the one in the picture scarred the otherwise picture-perfect scenery. I honestly don't know what they were thinking back in the day... ripping down beautiful historical buildings and replacing them with something "hip and contemporary." When traveling in Europe I always admire the way most cities have a very ubiquitous feel and look to them. Helsinki, however, has many beautiful streets and neighbourhoods that reflect the different eras and styles, but it also has these buildings that look simply out of place. I actually feel a little sorry for the misfit buildings. In some other company they might be even somewhat attractive but next to the neoclassical beauties they just appear even more plain and awkward. Sort of like when a tall person stands next to a short person. Then again, this is one of the features that makes Helsinki so unique and interesting. You can never know what you're going to find.

You may wonder where the outfit pictures are, but I thought I'd let them have their own post, or actually, I thought that these pictures deserved their own post without my face gawking at you a million times. Thus the outfit post will follow later...

Hard to believe it's already Friday but here we go again. I'm going to work today and tomorrow so no weekend for me just yet. We'll be celebrating Erica's real birthday tomorrow by going out so that ought to be fun. Other than that I'll be cleaning and organising my closet so I can finally take those pictures of my little apartment. I've lived here for almost 5 months and I still haven't shown you any pictures. Shame on me... I promise to get to it asap!