Sunday in Helsinki

I really do not think it's fair that the headings I see when I go to my blog are in Finnish.  There was momentary panic before I figured out how to sign in.  Sunday in Helsinki is quiet.  And it's not only Sunday, but July.  Finns are entitled by law to 4 weeks of vacation in the summer.  As you can imagine that makes it hard to run a business so many of them are totally closed for the month of July.  Of course, we don't really have enough money to eat in fancy restaurants and shop in fancy places so the closings haven't been much of a problem at all.

Today we figured out the bus and trolly routes we needed to get us first to a flea market and then to the Helsinki Worker Housing Museum.  The above ground transit routes are in disarray due to construction so it's been a bit of a challenge for Leena, but I'm happy to see all of the city.  The Museum has restored one-room housing units which tell the story of everyday life for worker families from the turn of the 20th century.  The one-room apartments, so called stove rooms, have been furnished and decorated as homes of people that lived in the house in different times.  It is fascinating to see how people lived in different places and times.  We had a wonderful young student for a private English guide, and Leena even improved his English, although the same can't be said for my Finnish.

Then Leena got a cell phone call from her brother Jurki and we met him for a lunch of tiny, little fried fish and mashed potatoes.  There was some arugala for color (and that's about as close to a vegetable as you're going to get, it seems). 

Then we took a taxi to the Garden Allotment Museum located in the gardens.  When the Finnish government decreed a 40 hour work week in the 1920's, they wanted to make sure the leisure was used well, so the city set aside room for garden allotments.  And they are still being used.  People build little shed/house which they own and rent the land from the city.  The gardens were beautiful, and we really enjoyed the raspberries we swiped.

Then more trams/buses to the Sibelius Monument where we joined lots of tour groups to admire the sculpture

And then after a light dinner we walked to the Helsinki Cathedral for a free organ concert at 8 pm, and then strolled that area until after 10.  At that point, if you concentrated, you could think that maybe it was twilight.  When we went to sleep at 11 or so, it was still light.  I think the street lights came on about midnight.  Ah, these long summer days!