Easter in Helsinki

What a delicious Easter meal we get on Good Friday! Camilla and Raine serve us Karelian pie with the Finnish lentil soup. For desert we have the typical Easter sweets of rye flour and malt, baked for seven hours in little birch baskets in the oven: Mämmi. It is served with sugar and mild and tastes delicious. Afterwards we get some Russian sweets.

We talk about: Easter customs, expansion of the city of Helsinki, construction plans, historic connections with Austria, history of our own fathers, and the sad truth that all countries suffered equally during the Second World War, significance of the Russian neighbors, condition of the Baltic countries and economic backgrounds.

And of course we talk a lot about Finnish architecture and design, which are so prominent in everyday life.

We start the following day with a visit of the Kiasma, the museum for contemporary art in Helsinki, conceived by the American Stephan Holl. We see an interesting compilation for works about man, nature and culture, mostly by Finnish artists. The way art is presented here strikes us as excellent. At the moment there are two special exhibitions on display: architectural photography by Ola Kolehmainen and an exhibition about world religions by artist Marita Liulia.

The city planning in Helsinki, especially the planning by Karl Ludwig Engel for the St. Nicholas church and the surrounding government buildings from the 19th century are impressive. This orderly city planning has continued until today and makes modern and historic architecture blend so well.

Helsinki has many design shops that are top quality. The same is true for fashion design. We find very interesting and unique fashion, which is not available anywhere else.

We end this extraordinary day with a look at a view from the tower of the hotel Tornin.

Photos of Helsinki:
Part 3
Part 4