Summer weather complaints

 Kompassi café in Eiranranta.

I guess there is no such thing as a summer without people complaining about the weather. 

Maybe it's because I spent last summer in the cold and rainy Brussels that I have now enjoyed the summer in Helsinki greatly. I've been quite surprised by my friends and family complaining about the weather - it's Finland after all. 

Actually, today was the first day I had to use an umbrella on my way to work. At home I realised how nice it was that it was raining heavily; hearing the rain drops against the roof and no hurry to go out.  There was no need for justifications to stay inside with a beer and a good book. 

It was a good moment to go through my summer photos. As a result, here are some pictures of the sunny Helsinki to stress my point. 

A little boat trip (4 EUR) to the island of Harakka just a few hundred meters off Kaivopuisto park. On the other side of the island, a view of the great wild sea surprised me and I forgot I was so close to the city.

                                         Island of Harakka seen from the Kaivopuisto coast.

On my way to work, I always try to enjoy the nice mornings. Peony flowers in Tähtitorininmäki.

Café Köket and the Esplanade 8 am.

One Friday after work, I did a little trip ex tempore to Suomenlinna fortress (Unesco world heritage site, a 15 min boat trip off the Kauppatori). Afterwards it was amazing that I had also worked that day. Never underestimate the power of escaping routines.

Mattolaituri where people come to wash their rugs (how do people do this in other countries?). Next to the trendy Mattolaituri terrace bar. 

Youngsters of Helsinki come to hang around on the grass between the new Music House and Kiasma museum. I'm one of them.

Market stuff at Kauppatori.

On Wednesday I will start my holidays in Africa so I guess my Finnish summer is close to its end, August in Finland is already the beginning of the autumn as the evenings are getting darker in an amazingly fast pace. New ways to escape routines need to be invented then!

Katajanokka and Kruununhaka, on my way to work.

Summer goodies

On Tuesday, I withdrew 60 Euros from my bank account and decided to do a test on how long I could live with this amount of money. Well, so it happened that three days into the test, I had 2,40 Euros left. I discovered that it is very difficult to turn down all the summer goodies around the city. For example, on my way to work, I can hardly walk through the Kauppatori market square (see below) without sitting down for a coffee or buying some sweet strawberries... It's an excellent spot for people watching as well and definitely increases my life satisfaction!

Wednesday:

Morning coffee + macaron at Café Köket 4,00 EUR

(Already on my first test morning, my attempt to save money didn't work out. This is one of my favourite places at the moment, also because I can ask for a real cup instead of a paper cup for my coffee.)

Lunch: veggie lasagna at the cantine 5,50 EUR

A glass of wine at Kokomo 6,70 EUR

(Another glass of wine offered later at the terrace of Grotesk, a wonderful terrace I just discovered, they had excellent riesling and awful / nostalgic music hits from the 1990s.)

Thursday:

Lunch: home made sandwich 0,00 EUR

(Bravo!)

An interesting exhibition on the history of Finnish design at Hakasalmen huvila (or Hakasalmi villa) 0,00 EUR

(There's culture available also for penniless people!)

Smoothie at mbar 5,00 EUR

Friday:

Morning coffee + cinnamon bun at the market 3,80 EUR

(See below. I couldn't resist it on a such sunny and beautiful morning. It took me more than an hour to get to work as I wanted to capture the blue sky and the calm sea with my camera. So I went around Ullanlinna and Kruununhaka enjoying the summer and pretending I was a tourist in no hurry.)

                         

Lunch: veggie paddies at the cantine 5,50 EUR

Postal services 17,80 EUR

(Unexpected expenses without which I could have survived a day or two more...)

Gin Long Drink ("lonkero") at Vuorimiehen puistikko terrace 5,00 EUR

(See below. A nice place in my neighbourhood. Although my perfect reading moment was distracted by some drunk people who emerge always with the sun...)

Ice cream at Helsingin Jäätelötehdas at Eiran ranta 3,80 EUR

And then of course, I bought new hiking boots at Halti for 159 EUR... So, the test wasn't a success but as my budget is quite tight with the Africa trip coming, I will need to learn to cut down the expenses (it means more home made sandwiches for lunch but no less morning coffees at the market square!) By the way, having little money seems to be pretty ecological as the overall consumption has to go down. On the other hand, it might mean buying less organic / other environmental-friendly products that are more expensive and opting for cheaper t-shirts made in China etc. It's a difficult question, I think I have to ponder on this a bit more and withdraw another 60 Euros and see what's going to happen to my consumption habits.

                             

Just a quick note to say: sun

Forget what I wrote one month ago. Summer's in town and I've rarely been as content as now with my surroundings. I think I'm developing some kind of a crush with Helsinki. Suddenly, the city is green and people are filling the terraces and the streets (recorded during the past 48 hours: parks full of picnics, guys playing football / baseball / pétanque / frisbee, people swing dancing outside, summer collection 2012, Finnish ice cream not that bad after all, me in 100 tourist photos while sitting in Senaatintori for a lunch). Have all the cute Finns spend their winter in Thailand and only now have returned to the city? I don't understand, but this city has a double identity and I'm as bipolar as this place. I'm already missing the future past summer...

This kind of swing dancing (at least from far away it looked pretty great) was taking place in front of the National Opera today.

Actually, of all the places I've lived in or the other twenty or so capitals I've visited, I think I really prefer Helsinki (well, after Paris of course). There's so many cool things going on here, in two weeks time there has been a huge eco-design or Recycle Factory event, a flee market of the size of the whole city (called "the cleaning day") and the restaurant day when anybody can set up a pop-up restaurant in their home or elsewhere (I ate North African food in an art gallery, served by a Finnish ex-top model, and got my dessert from some Hungarian immigrants in the main esplanade of the city).

The cleaning day flee market in Fredan tori. I got a flower pot for one Euro.

P.S. This song and video is just great! I think I have to do some bachata classes in addition to my salsa classes to get those moves as well... Summer song definitely!