10. June 19, 2024: Helsinki Day One

Wednesday, June 19, 2024.

Terve from Helsinki
Walking distance today: 8.2 miles; 23,000 steps !!!

A truly packed day.
Following a wonderful breakfast at Hotel Kämp (we’ve stayed here twice before and really like it; however, they are undergoing a renovation (along with half of Helsinki) so they have blocked off half of the building. It’s a bit strange since when you get off the elevator at each floor you can only go to the right since all the rooms on the left side are in the midst of the renovation. But they have created a wall there, so it looks like the floor ends at the elevator, which it doesn’t.

We began our walk (not thinking it would end up being 8 miles) by going to the apartment building where we lived when we spent a year here in Helsinki No changes to the exterior; we took our ritual photos standing in front of the building (we lived on the 5th floor). I think we probably have about 10 of these photos by now. Finally did the count: Mike and I have been here together 10 times; I have been here 2 additional times on my own (once to give a lecture on the “state of art in the U.S.” and once to see a good friend before she passed away. About a block from where we lived there is a statue of Arvo Kustaa Parkkila (1905-1978). The statue wasn’t there when we lived here, as it was unveiled in 2001. The title of the statue is “Man Rises from the Rubbish Bin,” although I think that translation is probably not totally correct. Anyway, Arvo founded a support group for homeless alcoholics in the 1960s. He himself had been an ex-alcoholic. Mike and Arvo seem to be wearing the same hat style. It’s appropriate that the statue is in that little park down the street from where we lived, as —at that time—the neighborhood was not considered a very good place to live (although we liked it a lot) as it was known as the location where many drunkards (“Juovuksissa”) hung out. Usually, they would congregate on our street on Friday nights. They were very harmless, peaceful, and often made “complimentary?” comments to women walking home. I imagine what they were saying was a lot like what construction workers in Brooklyn said to women passerby in those days. Sometimes I’d find a guy passed out at the entry of our building. Once a guy was blocking the entrance and I went to tell the “talonmies” (sort of the janitor) who spoke no English. She took out a broom and sort of “swept” him away.

But today, our neighborhood (Kamppi) is quite the ‘in” location. I counted at least 15 restaurants within a block of our apartment: Spanish, Argentinian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Kebabs, Mexican, Finnish, and assorted others. And there is now a Pilates studio just next door, and at least five hair salons. And it is within the new “Design District.” So, we were just ahead of our time.

From there we meandered through the Ruoholahti neighborhood and Jätkäsaari which used to be the main container harbor until it was relocated around 2008. The area is undergoing a lot of development, and it is home to the Bad Bad Boy statue—a pink concrete sculpture created by Tommi Toija. It is a naked urinating boy that is about 30 ft tall. The sculpture is heated so that the boy can urinate all year, even in the dead of winter. It was apparently part of a public art festival in Sweden where the statue urinated into a river in a park; later it was installed at the Market Square (Kauppatori) in Helsinki and it urinated into the ocean (not far from the President’s Palace). It became one of the most photographed objects in Helsinki. In 2005 it was moved to Jätkäsaari in front of an electronics store. We also walked to see another public art piece called “The Exception” which blends into the wall of an apartment building. Initially if you even notice it, it looks as if there is a hole in the brick wall. But on closer look, you can see an oval interior through a plexiglass sheet framing the hole; and inside there are some brick reliefs.
Continuing on our journey, we went through many, many new housing developments—all of which are far superior, design-wise, to what we see in the states. Nearly every unit of every building has a terrace (deck) that is generally glazed in, but the glass is usually operable. The Finns are very big on having access to, and views of, the outside. They often keep infants in carriages outside (maybe to acclimate them to the winter that will come). So families would keep the carriage with the baby on that terrace. Several of the housing developments were on or very close to water and so we walked over several pedestrian bridges. We then trekked back to our hotel in order to meet our very good friends at the local Metro stop. By then we had walked about 7 miles, but more walking was in store.

We took the Metro to Tapiola to visit EMMA (the Espoo Museum of Modern Art) which had an exhibit of Finnish concretism and which was organized to celebrate Lars-Gunnar ‘Nubben’ Nordstrom’s work and life (1924-2014). He was considered a pioneer of Finnish “concretism.” The exhibit included the works of more than 50 Finnish artists who are considered to be part of the movement. The works were pretty multidisciplinary and used a lot of different materials. Concretism in Finland is considered to be a movement that is totally abstract/geometric without any representational form.

The show presented works from different eras—from the 1950s to the present. The museum building itself was the former home to a printing company and is probably a good example of 1960s concrete brutalism. Outside there are lawns and woods. Tapiola, where it is located is one of the early “garden cities” built around 1960. When we lived in Helsinki, Tapiola was considered a suburb, and it was much smaller than what it is today.

So, as we approached our 8+ miles of walking we hopped on the tram and headed back to the hotel and then to dinner. We chose Ragu which is about a 10-minute walk (adding a few more steps to the day). Ragu (never been there before) turned out to be a really good restaurant. I’ll spare you the details of our meal; just know we liked everything on the menu… and strolled back to the hotel… stopping briefly on the Esplanade to see a famous statue of Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Finland’s national poet, whose head is a regular resting place for sea gulls (one at a time).
Terve Terve –
Until tomorrow – day before the midnight sun.
Fern