Finland

Helsinki - December 2005

Helsinki was a stopover between Shanghai and France. I have a friend there, met years ago in Kempten, Germany. He and another friend came to my home in Dijon in 1994, and I promised that I would come to visit him in Helsinki one day. It took 12 years for this wish to be realised. I arrived from Shanghai on 21st December. It was really cold (even for the Finns) but discovering Helsinki in the winter was really nice. I was lucky with lot's of sun during my 3 days there.
I always learned that in Finland, winter days are very short. This was quite a shock. Left picture was taken at 10:00am. By 3:00pm, the sun had already set. Daylight was like a constant sunset, great for taking pictures.

The 3 pictures above, are taken on the train station square, one of the large square in the center of Helinski. The building in the left picture is the Ateneum museum, where I spent a few hours. This is a XIX century building, that reminded me of a the ethnographic museum or the Gellert Hotel in Budapest (pictures below).
From then I went to the port. The weather was really cold, but I had some sun, so the city looked beautiful and I could make some nice pictures.

Then I went to the main protestant chirch. It's on small hill and is completely white, with no paitings both inside and outside.

Touring the city...