Whatagain in Helsinki

[whatagain]

My first time in Finland.
Was too early at airport, walked in like a breeze.
Uneventfull journey on the olane, slept 80pc of the time as my usual.
Landed, followed the signage, found a lit of 'Covid queue etc', prepared my pass and was outside without being asked by anyone.
Arrived at hotel, nobody is wearing a mask.
In Finland you do what you like except in airports and such.
So i wore a lot my ffp2.
Woke up and retrieved my car, headed to Helsinki.

[whatagain]

First stop was at airport, aviation museum.
A solendid DC3 welcomes you. 

Some rare birds here. This one looks like a Nieuport but wasn't.

A superb Pilikarpov I 16 UTI, meaning traing version. 
That plane is incredibly small. I i were to lie on a wimg, my feet would be in the air.

A DB600 something engine. Equipped the bf 109. 

front view of the I 16. Aka 'Rata'.thousands were built and got decimayed in june 41. A real slaughter. 



A view of the nose of a De Havilland Vampire.
UK jets of early 50's. Mossie can comment !

A Saab Draken. Local built planes, 70's.

The two Vampires, from above.

A superb Fieseler Storch, german army spot plane. STOL. 

a copy of a Sikorsky of the early type. Russian made. 

A wreck of a bf109 g. Lost in 46. 

[whatagain]

I parked close to the center, next to the theater.
Very properly, but didn't see the ticket machine.
Mistake that cost me 80 euros.
Goal of the pic is to show the second slice of facade of the building. Enlarging it you can notice the glass is not closing the facade and leaves an opening of 30-50 cm. This acts as insulating buffer, the air  can be replaced with sime wind or in some case by fans. This keeps the real facade from getting too hot or too cold. 

The big square on the theater. Russian like. 

Some mix of building. Glass, bricks etc. 
No decoration. Plain. Rissian like. 

The theater. 

A little bit like un Manchesyer, a mux of old and new. 
But lacking charm. 



One that i like. Some art nouveau. But for the poor. Again, no charm. 



Berk. 

Being renovated but must be ok. 

Some more art nouveau. Nice. 

But at keast civilisation reached Helsinki. 

[whatagain]

Coming to the nicest area. Which doesn't mean much.
Helsinki was 10 000 people at the turn of 20th century. 
Then was developed after independance in 1917. So no old building, no history. 



Yes, there is a port. Helsinki is on many islands. 

Looked russian ro me. Closed for renovation.

View from the church. Probably an old barracks.

View towardsa  area i didn't venture into. 

The basilica. Looms russian to me, plain, no charm. Just nothing inside. 

Main square. 

Door to a church. 

Orthodox chirch i would guess. 
Charmless. You have to have a purpose to stay here. 

I walked a bit aling some water, came back througb an un
Inspiring park. 

[kerouac2]

The photos are fascinating and show that my idea of Helsinki was completely incorrect. I imagined that it would look more like Stockholm.

I am not surprised that that military planes would have a big role in a museum. It was much too cold for foot soldiers most of the time.

[whatagain]

And that was it.
I had committed a full day, i was done by 1 30 pm.
Drove to Tampere, where i could have a teams meeting at the hotel.

[kerouac2]

Just saw your reply #3 -- now it looks like a mix of Stockholm and St. Petersburg. In any case, no doubt about the region of the world. Those big boulevards and squares are probably useful for snow removal. When you shove the snow to the side, there is still plenty of room to drive or walk (or ski).

[bjd]

I had a chance to go to Helsinki some years ago through family connections but didn't get around to it. Now I see that I wouldn't have missed much. I thought it would sort of look like Stockholm or Tallinn, but it's more dreary than either. Must be the massive Russian influence.

[bixaorellana]

Oh, thank you, Huckle! Even looking at the pictures in this report, I was unable to believe that Helsinki could be so very far off my imagining of it. Your citing of the art, of Aalto, Finnish housing, and the special light reinstated my idea that it would be a place worth visiting.

Whatagain, you seem to have really enjoyed the aviation museum. That's quite a collection.

I can see where Helsinki overall did not dazzle you, but I also see things that are quite impressive, especially in some of the more modern architecture. That's a fascinating note about using a cushion of air between a façade of windows and the actual façade. I love that picture of the building with sort of a wave effect of glass and small square windows running across it and also the one with the criss-cross elevated walkways. The area of the view towards the sea looks pretty interesting and appears to have some of the original port buildings intact.

[whatagain]

So, here is my inly word of Finnish : kiitos for your comments 

Ah operas... missing it. 

[tod2]

It's always nice to see how the other half lives even if it is not especially a WoW in our book. I was fascinated by the Russian Churches in Paris and your photo of the Orthodox Russian church reminded me so much of the Cathedrale Saint Alexandre Nevsky in Rue Daru. And also the Saint -Serge Russian Church hidden away in an ally off Rue de Crimee. We had a private tour on a Sunday after the service.
Did you ever wonder why there are no chairs or pews? Just the long red carpets. Well, everyone stands through the whole hour or more service.