Random escapes from the humdrum of existence.
Methods used: culture, travelling, and little pretty things surrounding us. Sometimes giving way to anxiety about the environment.
A cosy November Saturday got a dose of glamour this evening as I went to a concert by Berliner Philharmoniker at the Helsinki Music Centre. Sir Simon Rattle was conducting the distinguished orchestra so the tickets were sold out immediately. I was alerted and got mine three minutes after the opening of the ticket sales on internet. Seven minutes later, there were no tickets left. The orchestra deserves its status as one of the best orchestras in the world; the playing was magnificent and the Finnish audience exalted (one gentleman was a bit more reserved).
It was a wonderful concert during which I processed several little ideas and thoughts (I did listen to the music as well and enjoyed greatly my seat of 85 Euros...). Here are some of my thoughts inspired by the music:
1) The gender balance in the orchestra: Of the around 30 players of wind instruments, three were women. All the contrabass players were men (two of which were Finnish and got a huge applause at the end when Simon Rattle shook their hands) as well as the percussionists. 4 women played violin compared to 24 men, and so on. The only female-dominated instrument was the harp (2 women, no men); in fact, I've never seen a man playing a harp. At the same time, music schools are full of girls and many more girls play some instrument in their youth than boys (or the boys are playing guitar dreaming of becoming the new Kurt Cobain or who ever is nowadays their music hero). So what is the reason for this bias? It seems to happen in many fields of culture (think of great chefs for example).
2) How are the musicians in the orchestra remunerated? Do they all get the same average monthly salary, even that guy playing the triangle? How can you make a living with a triangle anyway? (One of the questions I always ask myself in classical concerts.)
3) After the intermission, when the orchestra on the stage was significantly reduced, what did the rest of the group do? Went out to enjoy the Helsinki night life?
4) For whom were the three black and fancy Mercedes-Benz outside after the concert? Simon Rattle, ministers, the President? (I later found out that the attendees included the former president of Finland Tarja Halonen and the Minister of culture Paavo Arhinmäki who hitherto has shown little interest for classical music.) Very glamorous evening in general, for a second I amused myself with the idea of belonging to the cultural elite of Helsinki.
5) How does Instagram work? (I signed up today and the result is below)
6) Why couldn't the Finns dress like this more often? Men looked superb. Bravo! I actually felt that my own red dress was completely inappropriate (and my thighs looked fat in the white tights) - for once I could have put one of my fancy dresses on. Dammit! That's it for me being part of the cultural elite...
7) The guys playing tambourine, castanets, triangle and the cymbals looked like the Mexican mariachi guys at the end of the Ravel they were playing, and when I though of this I had to hold my laughter, but my shoulders were shaking. Hey teenagers, classical music can be fun!
8) I saw one of the jury members of the Finnish Idols and wondered what his last name is, Asko something. Starts with an s.
9) Are there any bald conductors? (I think the whirling hair makes them more charismatic.) And what do they do in any case? Simon Rattle was facing me during the concert, so I could observe him quite closely. This was really interesting and I saw he was gesturing not only with his hands and body but also with his face. But why is he regarded as one of the best conductors in the world? What is he gesturing there? What distinguishes a splendid conductor from an average one?
10) There was no pause between Ligeti and Wagner. That's why it took me so long to understand the programme. It was great anyhow. Wagner's prelude to Lohengrin was absolutely beautiful (see below, it reminded me a bit of Sibelius actually), while Ligeti was super interesting (the players were using ear plugs because of the high tones at some points).
It was good to escape the cold and rainy Monday with some amazing Sahara blues in Korjaamo, one of my favourite places for live music and other cultural action in Helsinki.
Two hours of Tinariwen's music from Mali transported me to a cool night in the Saharan desert. Me dancing with some bedouins around the fire.
It was sleeting the next morning and the memory of Sahara blues was already fading, and today I saw the first sign advertising glögi, the spicy mulled wine served in Finland before Christmas. Oh dear, time is flying.
Seeing this article "Regard de singes, folie des hommes" on Le Monde website about a photo book (I obviously ordered it immediately) on mountain gorillas, I remembered my own unforgettable encounter with these gorgeous animals in Rwanda a few months ago. As a consequence, the need to share this experience here grew stronger.
A couple of years ago for some forgotten reason I got obsessed about mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei), but at the same time I thought that seeing them in the wild was just an unachievable dream (mostly for financial reasons). However, when I signed up for a scout camp in Burundi I immediately knew that I wouldn't travel that far in Africa without a little trip to the Virunga mountains on the border of Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo (RDC) and Uganda. Although this trip ruined my finances, this is exactly why I've been saving money in the past. Compared to the experience, 500 dollars for a gorilla permit was little money.
I prepared myself for this trip by watching the excellent film from the 1980s "Gorillas in the Mist" with Sigourney Weaver (see trailer of the film above). It tells the real story of the primatologist Dr. Dian Fossey who studied mountain gorillas in the Virungas and also played a significant role in saving the species from illegal poaching and likely extinction. Crying my eyes off with the film, I started being afraid that I have too high expectations for my own gorilla tracking experience. But here's what happened and how I lost my heart to our gorilla cousins.
The road from the capital of Rwanda, Kigali, to the village of Kinigi next to the Parc National des Volcans was surprisingly good and my driver and guide Ahmed with whom I travelled for one week was used to the sudden curves and misty mountain air. On the road, I also realized that the country is aptly called "le pays des milles collines", or the land of a thousand hills. Unfortunately, many of the hills are bald and cultivated, as almost all the land in this small country is used to support its population of around 10 million (one of the most densely populated places on earth!). (The hills continue on the other side of the border in Burundi where it seemed much greener in my opinion - hmm, grass is greener on the other side?)
By the way, it can be quite scary to organise such an expensive trip and pay a very high deposit beforehand to an unknown agency. Therefore, I can warmly recommend the trustworthy agency I used for part of my trip: AA Safaris and Tours. They were very helpful and responded to all my queries promptly (vegetarian food, modified itinerary, new departure date etc.). We also had good time with Ahmed on the road, even though half of the time I couldn't really understand what he was saying. In his African way, he arranged everything really well (though we had some disagreement about punctuality) and even at the moments of little despair he made it all work out. My all-inclusive 7-day tour in Rwanda and Uganda with budget accommodation cost 3,590 US dollars and though I'm still living on credit because of this trip, it was worth it.
On my first day in the national park I went for a shorter trek to see golden monkeys (see a photo above), an endemic and endangered primate living only in the Virunga mountains, a mountain range comprised of 5 volcanoes (the highest is Karisimbi reaching around 4500 m) in North-Western Rwanda. Recently this rare species has become a new tourist attraction after a long habituation precess whereby monkeys become more familiar with humans. As with the gorillas, this can help save the species from extinction when their economic value becomes evident for the local communities. It was great to observe these cute and playful animals, but I must confess that I was already thinking of the gorillas, which were on my programme the next day.
Visitors can spend time with one of the seven different habituated gorilla families in the Parc National des Volcans. Other places to see mountain gorillas are Uganda and RDC. In order to avoid bothering the animals too much, there is a limit of 8 tourists per gorilla family, equalling to total of 56 tourists per day in the park. This means that you need to book your gorilla permit in advance, especially in the peak season of July-August. The most famous group is the Susa group, which Dian Fossey studied; due to this fame this is also the group all the tourists want to see. My guess is that the experience is wonderful with any of the families, while the trekking time can vary depending on how far the group has moved up in the mountains.
On the morning of the trek, at 7 am the tourists assemble at the headquarters of the park. There was an amazing atmosphere of expectation and excitement. We were waiting for our guides to go through the hassle of registration and do their best to get their protégés in the Susa group. A local dance group was performing traditional dances (see above) and we took photos, drank tea and behaved like children on Christmas Eve. Older tourists wore their impeccable Indiana Jones gear; and all the hassle with the ankle protections against angry ants and stinging nettle seemed a bit exaggerated to me (I rolled my socks up and this was good enough).
I ended up in a group together with some elderly Brits (always excellent travel company with their smooth small talk, polite manners and good mood). In general, most of the people going gorilla tracking seemed to be over 50; I guess the 500 dollars permit puts off younger people travelling with a limited budget.
We were assigned the gorilla family of Hirwa (see above the members of the group), meaning the lucky one. We had two knowledgeable park guides who were constantly in contact with the park rangers tracking the gorillas up in the mountain. The gorillas change their base every night so the park rangers wake up at 4 am to find the family for the tourists and also for their own research.
We first walked through cultivated land and some eucalyptus forests and then arrived to the foot of the misty mountain. The lowest level of the mountain is bamboo forest, also the delicacy of the gorillas. On the way up, we came across huge footprints belonging to elephants, but unfortunately we didn't see any of them. It felt absurd that elephants could walk in the thick forest with steep hills. A park ranger with a rusty machine gun with him was also accompanying us. The gun wasn't against the guerilla groups causing trouble at the RDC side of the Virungas but against aggressive buffaloes. And the gun was certainly not against the gorillas (which are despite the look and intimidating size usually non-aggressive); in fact, I guess the rangers would rather shoot at a tourist than an endangered mountain gorilla. At least I probably would.
I had prepared myself for rain, muddy path, ants and nettles after reading Lonely Planet's description: "Gorilla tracking is no joy ride. The guides can generally find the gorillas within one to four hours of starting out, but this often involves a lot of strenuous effort scrambling through dense vegetation up steep, muddy hillsides, sometimes to altitudes of more than 3000m. At higher altitudes, you’ll also have to contend with the thick overgrowth of stinging nettles, which can easily penetrate light clothing. As if fiery skin rashes weren’t enough of a deterrent, it also rains a lot in this area, so the going can certainly get tough (and muddy) in parts. At this altitude the air can thin out quickly, so descend to lower altitudes if you develop an intense headache."
But in our case, it was just misty and moist, nothing a Finn isn't accustomed to in any case. All in all, it was a rather enjoyable walk of around 3 hours uphill. Some of the older Brits had however payed for porter to carry their little backpacks, but this would be completely unnecessary for anybody with a good health.
Then suddenly, we saw fresh gorilla dung on our path, heard some weird noises and even more suddenly we bumped into the silverback, the charismatic male leader of the Hirwa family. There he was with his 200 kg of body mass eating bamboo leaves (they are vegetarians!). Calmly he concentrated only on the food as we stood mouths open amazed by his cool and powerful presence in front of us. We moved on to see the rest of the family: two younger males were chasing each other around bamboos. After a little while the other one grabbed my leg. I wanted to cuddle him but the guide came to hush him away with grunting sounds; of course, we weren't allowed to approach them too much but it was hard to keep the distance of advised 7 metres as the gorillas were running around. Some of the gorillas were also moving above us (see my video below), somehow they were able to not fall through the tops of the light bamboo branches; the leaves fell on us and we waited for the moment when a gorilla would thud on the ground - it didn't. Then there were the baby twins, adorable like plush toys. When the silverback carried them around like a protecting father, we sighed and I had to hold my tears.
In fact, I was about to burst into tears several times during the 70 minutes we spent with the gorillas. The encounter and our sudden connection with the nature was somehow so magical and unimaginable. Still now, when I start describing this experience, my voice starts shaking and I get tears in my eyes. Definitely, seeing the mountain gorillas is one of the most magnificent moments of my life. Being truly in contact with animals and especially with these human-like animals is unusual for an urban denizen. The gorillas are wonderful to look at as they are just purely beautiful, but then they also played around, showed a variety of emotions and feelings on their faces and made human-like gestures (farting, grabbing the balls, doing somersaults etc.), which made the observation even more special.
After our visiting time was over, I guess I wasn't the only one to whisper to the park rangers "can I just stay with you guys here...". I'm not at all surprised that Dian Fossey got so obsessed about these animals, putting them before humans. I understand this passionate regard towards them and they will always have a certain place in my heart (and in my bank account through WWF donations). It's impossible for me to think that some people would rather have a dead gorilla's hand as an ashtray in their living room (like portrayed in the Gorillas in the Mist) than have these intelligent and beautiful creatures live peacefully in the mountains. It's a disgusting thought, like all the illegal wildlife trade taking place in the world.
The estimated number of mountain gorillas is around 790 at the moment. Their situation has improved as the social and political conditions in Rwanda and Uganda have grown more stable (during the Idi Amin years, soldiers killed wild animals for food in many national parks in Uganda) and the tourism has proved to be more profitable than poaching. Prior to 1999 the Parc National des Volcans was still out of bounds because of the armed conflict, the presence of Lord Resistance Army and the aftermath of the genocide; now it seemed very safe. A 500 USD permit (which I think has now been increased to 750 USD) is an appropriate price for the rich Westerners (the local people pay much less) if it helps preserving the wildlife in Africa. That's how I perceived the fee, a contribution to environmental conservation and an incentive for the local communities to develop sustainable tourism, i.e. not only an entrance fee.
I understood during this trip in Africa that nature gives me bigger kicks than culture, so I guess I will be doing more hiking and nature escapes in the future if possible. The next primates I want to see are the orangutans in Indonesia. But then, I only had a glimpse of lions in Uganda and that bothers me a bit. And I really want to do the Annapurna trek in Nepal. Of course, I should visit the national parks in Finland first. I can also imagine myself tenting in the Scottish highlands or doing yoga on a secluded beach in India. And now that I've written this, I really want to go to Rwanda again! Oh boy, the problem of travelling is the side-effect of even bigger craving for new trips.
I had the chance to enjoy the hospitality of the Cyprus EU presidency in Lefkosia (or Nicosia as we usually call the capital of Cyprus) last weekend. It was also my last EU-related business trip, which actually made me a bit nostalgic. I have to say that even after so many goodbyes I’m still not good at it; on the contrary, every goodbye seems to remind me of all the past ones. My somewhat eccentric Romanian colleague told me about a fixed flow of energy coming from us and if we don’t let go of the past, this energy isn’t liberated for new things (maybe it was the sleep deprivation, sun and local wine but this actually sounded important at the moment...). Less metaphysically, I was wondering if we can have an ever-expanding interest in the outside world and thought of which comes first: finding a new focus of interest, which replaces the past, or letting go of the past, which gives place to new darlings.
In any case, I’m not going to write about escapes in the higher spheres of our understanding and the ghosts of the past, a little side step from my original story; that is, my sunny escape to Cyprus, a country that I wouldn’t have probably visited otherwise. The food was excellent and people extremely friendly, but I don’t think the island will appear on the list of my future travel destinations (but I could recommend it to sun worshippers). I have to say that I knew very little about the country beforehand. Even for such a geography-enthusiast as I am, I couldn’t even really locate it on a map. It’s really in the armpit of Turkey and Lebanon, almost 3000 km from Finland, hardly in Europe at all. So, as I already wrote in the post after my trip in Africa, I came back with many ideas richer. And a phone number of a minister's bodyguard - just in case...
Nicosia, the capital, didn’t give me a very positive impression: the buildings are mostly ugly, similar to those we know from news images from Beirut (which is only 250 km away). Around our hotel scarcely-clad girls waiting for male company occupied the bars. We tittered when we entered these places like innocent school kids and tried to find a cool way to retreat from the trap. Even though we were in the centre, it felt like in a suburb of a medium-size city. I didn’t get any good vibes that this is the place to be, it wasn’t cool, it wasn’t interesting, it wasn’t aesthetically pleasing; I should say that it was quite a boring city.
Crossing the border to the Turkish occupied side of the city (see photo above) felt like a tourist curiosity, even though during the trip I learnt more about its sombre reality. The history of the occupation (since 1974) and the clash between the Greek and the Turkish sides of the island continues to be a sensitive issue (why did I ask for a Turkish coffee at the bar???). The locals even talked about “Berlin wall in Nicosia”. It felt like the most unnecessary conflict in the world (obviously, I never understand the existence of any conflicts): fighting for an arid piece of land just to show off your power. I don’t know what’s the Turkish way of interpreting the conflict, but this is how I got the story, Turkey is unable to rest its case in its willingness to be a some sort of a super power while the Greek Cypriotes have been expelled to the other side leaving their homes behind. There are actually still UN troops in the country; for me, a UN car was a weird sight in an EU member state. You need a passport or an ID card to cross the border. But there's not much to see on the other side. During the prayer call the streets in the occupied side were completely empty. I felt like walking in Disneyworld’s set of a fake city after closing time (except for those piles of rubbish in the streets and homeless cats everywhere). To put it bluntly, it was as boring as the Greek side of the city.
The landscape of the country is almost a sad sight. Between Nicosia and Larnaca there are burnt hillsides and otherwise it looks like everything else has also been burnt during the last 20 years or so. However, I talked with an English guy who had been cycling around the island and he told me how wonderfully green it had been in the mountains. He lived in Dubai, so I don’t know if I can trust in his perception of a green landscape. It rained heavily during our stay (causing a leakage in my hotel room, that's how prepared they are for a strong shower) and while our host apologized for this unlucky weather, she also reminded us that the island had a huge shortage of fresh water after a dry summer. It basically never rains in the summer and the temperature usually exceeds +35ºC then.
I spent an extra day in Larnaca after our conference. It's a city of around 100 000 inhabitants and with a much nicer feeling, a true beach city. My short stay was a great way to receive a necessary dose of vitamin D for the grey, dark and cold autumn in Finland. It was warm enough to swim, but cool enough to avoid excessive sweating. Therefore, it was perfect time for a person like me who simply gets bored at the beach and hates that sticky salty water/sun lotion/sweat combination. A long morning at the beach was sufficient to get my stomach burnt as I later discovered at the airport. A bit more of that sun lotion could have been a healthy idea after all! All in all, it was truly wonderful to be able to dip into the sea in the end of October when the first snow had already arrived to Helsinki. By the way, it was very solemn to sunbath as the loud speakers on the beach boulevard were playing marching music and later there was a parade to celebrate the Cypriote national day…
In short, while Cyprus is not really a potential future travel destination for me, I enjoyed my time there and, in the context of growing euro-skepticism and intolerance against the bad management of finances in the Mediterranean countries, I have to say that it is wonderful to see people from all the member states to dance together Greek/Cypriot dances, sharing and enjoying their cultural habits and then feeling that something brings us more together than just basic humanity. We are all Europeans and we should be proud of the cultural variety and richness we can share. Europe would be a much poorer place without Cypriot food and Greek dances. And I would be much paler right now.
Our dance moves were maybe not as elaborated as in this video but this was certainly not because of lack of enthusiasm. I guess the locals took it as a compliment when the Austrian guy went to the dance floor to lead the dance. Oh dear, it was truly hilarious (until the moment I felt like throwing up the baklavas with any more dancing), but also quite emotional when the Greek and the Cypriotes did some real folk dancing together.
Hotel: Les Palmiers Hotel in central Larnaca is recommendable hotel with good views of the sea. Through booking.com my single room cost only 35 EUR (incl. breakfast). Otherwise the country wasn’t as cheap as I had imagined. Cappucino at the beach was 3 EUR, but sun bed only 2 EUR!
St. Petersburg, a city of 5 million inhabitants, has had a reputation as a place where all the Finnish tourists get robbed in the metro - at least this was what we had heard. Therefore, we were very cautious in the beginning of our trip, my sisters being almost hysterical about the security. However, it didn't last for long. After taking a taxi from the train station to our nice hotel, A Boutique Hotel, close to Nevsky Prospekt, we already started our discovery of the Russian (drinking) culture. We headed to Datscha, a recommended bar at Ulitsa Dumskaya. As the bar didn't seem to serve any cocktails, we were obliged to start our trip with some vodka (around 3 Euros a glass). After the first little grins, we were into it. Chatting with Igor ("hey, these Russians are not so ugly after all" - the first myth busted) and dancing old school hits with Pjotr and Andrei (PhDs working for the Russian Academy of Sciences) a little later leaving our bags unwatched somewhere next to the Swedish Erasmus students and local semi-hipsters. After one last vodka, feeling very safe, we headed back to the hotel; after all, we had a Hermitage scheduled for the next morning.
St. Petersburg seems to have a good nightlife and there are plenty of nice bars to choose from. Another cool place where we ended up was the Terminal (on the trendy Ulitsa Rubinshteina). A small place inspired by New York style. I'm not sure if it was the vodka or the local people, but it was easy to start a chat with the Russians and some of them spoke excellent English (some none). I guess the friendly Russian people that I met during our weekend trip were a major reason why I really liked the atmosphere in the city. Thank you Andrei, Pjotr, Igor and you guys at the Terminal!
The second myth busted: For some reason, the Russian kitchen has never really inspired me. At school in the 90s, we ate stroganoff and borsch soup that left a bad taste - for years. As a vegetarian, I was also afraid that the culinary scene in St. Petersburg wouldn't offer me much choices. Fortunately, I was wrong and I completely fell in love with the blinis and pelmenis that we had. A surprise for a Finn is that blinis are not those puffy and small pancakes that we are used to call Russian blinis in Finland, but more like the usual thin crêpes. In any case, they were great. A cheap and typical local option is to buy some from a Teremok kiosk (see below) that you can find everywhere (except when you're looking for one after an exhausting tour at the Hermitage). A recommendable mushroom blini from Teremok was only 41 rubles, equivalent to 1,30 Euros.
A more comfortable place to try some blinis is Bliny Domik (at Kolokolnaja 8) not far from the Terminal bar. The menu is abundant so there is no trouble finding something that satisfies everyone in the group. My sisters shared a tasty borsch soup and blinis with fish and caviar. I had a pumpkin blini with boiled cabbage (100 rubles, or around 3 Euros). My sister was courageous enough to try Russian wine, but I had the traditional tea served in a samovar (photo). Our waiter was a guy happy to practice his English and the other waiter was also entertaining the clients with his singing talent. He was practicing for his concert in Finland... In the next street, there was a superbe Georgian restaurant, Ket, where we had dinner on a Saturday night. The food was excellent and I'm waiting for the moment I can buy some khachapuri in Helsinki as well.
For Sunday lunch, we had pelmenis in a very cosy restaurant, the Idiot, close to St. Isaac's Cathedral, by the Moyka canal. It used to be one of the only vegetarian restaurants in the city, but now the menu offers meat dishes as well. The mushroom filled pelmenis, or dumplings, were delicious (see below). There was also a free shot of vodka on the arrival, though on our last day in St. Petersburg we could have also survived without any vodka drop. I think I finally need to buy that pasta machine so I could start doing some pelmenis myself.
My brother-in-law had jokingly, but I guess believing in it to some extent, said that we should only take our worst clothes with us as they would be burnt after our trip due to bedbugs. Many people in Finland still like to think that Russia is a backward and poor country. Of course it is that as well, you can see it immediately when you cross the border or check some statistics; there is absolute poverty and the inequalities are huge in Russia. But at the same time, there are people in St. Petersburg that are richer than the richest of Helsinki all together. The amount of luxury shops and fancy restaurants is overwhelming, the main street Nevsky Prospekt is lined with boutiques that we didn't even dare to look at.
There was also a wonderful delicacy store Kupetz Eliseevs close to our hotel on the Nevsky Prospekt (see a good panorama of the pretty Art Nouveau style shop on their website) selling exquisite European products, Russian vodka in beautifully decorated bottles, caviar, and all sorts of delicious-looking pastries and cakes (by the way, there was also the one and only black person we saw in the whole city). Despite the huge variety of food and wine, there was unfortunately no Russian champagne, or shampanskoje. A drink that is definitely worth tasting!
It's almost embarrassing to tell that I only now had my first trip to Russia and to St. Petersburg, the wonderful city only 3,5 hours by train from Helsinki. Well, me and my sisters, with whom I visited the city, are more than happy that we finally managed to do the trip. Here are some photos to illustrate why.
It seems that the renovations made in the city for its 300th birthday have changed the city dramatically from the Leningrad years when my father visited the city and wrote in a post card: "Leningrad is awful and the food is bad." St. Petersburg surprised us only positively (even though my expectations were high) and in so many levels: architecture, people, security, food. I think it could become my second biennial travel destination. It's funny, I should say so because hitherto my other biennial destination has beenVenice and it is not seldom that one thinks of the Venetian canals when in St. Petersburg (but otherwise the resemblances end there).
The city is full of history, stories we were reading about when at school. Suddenly I saw all those names of different tsars and wars in my guide book (sadly, those stories already a bit blurred since my school years). Above is for example the church of Our Saviour on the Blood built on the very spot where revolutionaries murdered Emperor Alexander II in 1881. That also affected the history of Finland, then part of Russia, as Alexander II had been a kind ruler towards the Finns unlike his follower.
I have always thought that there is something magic about the tsars of Russia. But only in St. Petersburg I understood how powerful and rich they had been, how exaggerated in gold was their style, how separated from the real world they must have been in their numerous palaces, and how they probably set their own sad destiny because of all this. The bolshevik revolution didn't bring up a democratic republic like in France and maybe that's why the killed Romanov family has preserved some of the fascination and even empathy.
The Bronze Horseman: Peter the Great founded the city in 1703. The granite underneath the statue weighs 1500 tons and was carried from 20km away to this place. It is one of the biggest blocks ever moved by humans without machines, it took 400 men and 9 months.
Here is the huge Hermitage Museum, or Winter Palace, seen from the palace square (above) and from the top of the St. Isaac's Cathedral (below). I had some ambitions when we went inside to the museum but after 2 hours I gave up; the never-ending corridors and rooms after rooms exhausted me and my sisters. It was the hopelessness of never getting even around the entire building that made me more desperate than a hurting back. We decided to focus on the 19th-20th century art only. Even this collection was huge but I made some good discoveries, like Kees van Dongen (see above the lovely green lady that I also bought as a poster). After this, we didn't even bother to walk all across the huge building to see some da Vinci and Rembrandt etc., they were simply too far away. Indeed, the museum is one of the biggest in the world, its collection has more than 3 million art works and the best of them are exhibited in the 350 rooms of the Winter Palace. The palace in itself is also worth seeing.
Here's another view from the St. Isaac's Cathedral, the massive cathedral that can accomodate more than 14000 people and took 40 years to build. The views from the golden cupola (see also below) all around the city were amazing, but the inside of the church is not of great interest. The same goes, by the way, for the interior of the Blood church that is much more spectacular from the outside.
Some places in St. Petersburg reminded me of Paris, like this pretty square below.
Some others could have been in Helsinki. I think this one below has many similarities with Kruununhaka, Helsinki.
Obviously, we mostly walked around in the most touristic areas of the city, so I cannot say anything about how the common Russians live - or any Russians, after all, I only saw palaces... The centre is not in impeccable state in many places but it is surprisingly clean. However, I don't believe it would continue like this in the suburbs. Unfortunately, three days was hardly enough to see even the main sights of the city, so the more sociological tour for inspecting living conditions and the crazy inequalities of Russia will be on the to do list of my next trip.
In St. Petersburg you cannot but wonder what would have happened to the city without socialism. What kind of a country Russia would be now? After all, the city has only re-emerged as a major cultural city since the beginning of the 2000s when it went through a monumental face-lift.
After the revolution, the architecture also changed remarkably; below is an example of the Soviet constructivism. It stands out as the whole centre is quite harmonious and mostly consists of classical architecture from the 18th and 19th century. At the same time, the main street Nevsky Prospekt was largely preserved in its historical form as communism didn't offer commercial reasons to dismantle old and to replace it by some new architectural catastrophes.
August is definitely the best time to visit Helsinki and it competes well with Berlin, Copenhagen or other trendy cities as a travel destination. Helsinki has been full of art, design, music and performances during the last couple of weeks (hence, no blog posts about my trip in Africa). To be honest, the city offers perhaps even too many cultural activities in August. The quality of the Helsinki Festival (17.8.–2.9.2012) programme is always very high and I can guarantee that what ever you choose, you will be satisfied.
I started the festival with a concert of Madeleine Peyroux, a former street singer from New York. She has a great raspy voice and makes wonderful versions of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen songs as well as her own songs. She started the Huvila tent concert with Cohen's 'Dance me to the End of Love' (see below); coincidentally, Leonard Cohen started his own concert (a couple of weeks later) with the same song. Peyroux made fun of her own choice of sad and melancholic songs but I couldn't think of anything more suitable as the autumn approaches us and the evenings are getting darker. Wonderful concert.
The very cool and relaxed Art Goes Kapakka (art goes to a pub) happening brings live music and other forms of art in various pubs and restaurants in Helsinki. During ten days and ten nights, there were more than 300 events (free of charge) in Helsinki. I heard some sentimental indie folk by Selja Sini and Finnish klezmer by Narinkka. Considering the overwhelming cultural supply in August, I just wish that this event took place later in the autumn when the parks are too cold to accommodate (culture-) thirsty hipsters.
As with Taiteiden yö (the night of the arts), the AGK is a great way to bring art to all people regardless of the ability to pay. The city seems to be full of people – young and old alike – eager to enjoy art in all forms. During the night of arts, I first listened to some Ugandan music, then followed the amazing Domino chain going through the streets of Helsinki (see below) and finally listened to beautiful Argentine tango songs in my neighbourhood library. The idea of the night is that culture and people meet in unexpected places in unexpected ways. It works: the atmosphere in the city was really nice – I hope it could continue this way in the winter time as well.
All the Domino photos by Helsinki Festival (Facebook).
Certainly, the idea of the domino chain was very simple. However, the way it brought excited people together was really cool. Thousands of people had congregated in the streets to follow the chain of blocks falling down. I could hardly see the blocks when the 'chain tumble' passed me, but I got emotional (in a somewhat hilarious way) by the idea how art can create such a sense of community. Bravo!
People following the Domino in Senaatintori.
The final part of the Domino.
One of the highlights of the festival was the magnificent Monteverdi concert in St. John's Church. Rinaldo Alessandrini (also in the video below) conducted the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra and choir in a brilliant version of Monteverdi's Vespri della Beata Vergine from the early 17th century. I got goose pumps and tears in my eyes immediately when I heard the powerful first notes. There is a feeling of perfection in Monteverdi's music – almost as if he had received the notes straight from God.
This music makes me believe in gods.
One great thing about the Helsinki Festival is that they introduce a lot of good artists to people who don't follow the happenings in the art world so closely. I found out about this cool young Belgian singer Selah Sue that has sold tens of thousands of albums in Belgium and France. She was indeed very talented and I'm sure we'll hear more about her in the future. She had a great voice and an original style (see below), a mix of funk, soul and rap in the footsteps of Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu and other great female voices of the recent years.
In addition to these, I enjoyed classical music in the Helsinki Music Centre with Gewandhausorchester Leipzig conducted by Riccardo Chailly. They started with Mendelsshon's Violin concerto e-minor 64 (Nikolaj Znaider playing the violin), again unforgettable first notes (another version by Isaac Stern below) and obviously there was the sound of history and great tradition in the air as the orchestra in question was once conducted by Mendelsshon himself.
Last one of my concert experiences was a piano concert by Pierre-Aimard Laurent (below in the photo) visualised simultaneously by a British artist Normal Perryman (see video above on his "live kinetic painting"). While it was difficult in the beginning to follow both the music and the images reflected on the screen (done on the overhead projector with colourful paints), I then understood how the two forms of art complemented each other. A fabulous experience once again.
Both photos from Helsinki Festival website.
After these overwhelmingly powerful cultural experiences, I can't help thinking of economy. In the middle of an economic crisis and budget cuts, I am extremely sorry that governments don't seem to understand the value of culture to the well-being of people and the beauty of life. More culture – less wars, unhappiness and anxiety.
It is easy to oppose subsidies to opera or theatres when jobs are at risk, but I can’t think of a more woeful society than a society without a wealthy variety of culture. It’s the end of our civilization if only profitable forms of culture can exist (Angry Birds and other video games?). It will make the selection in our libraries very poor if only best-sellers can be written (Da Vinci Code and Paasilinna?). Somehow, I wish no democracy in culture, if it means that I must read and watch what the majority is reading and watching.
I just love this cover of the New Yorker that seems so appropriate on the eve of my 30th birthday. I'm still to choose which one of the two women I identify with more.
(Just in case it needs a clarification; I obviously don't wear Chanel nor leopard patterns. But who knows if the age crisis hits really badly...)
One of the most wonderful things about travelling is learning. Something I remembered again during my last trip in Africa.
During the 22 days spent in Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi I updated and expanded my knowledge on African geography (me who once knew all the states and capitals in Africa), some bits of African history, Western geo-politics from an African point of view, colonialism, African animals and nature, African music and culture, and African politics. I'm all set for the pub quiz autumn season.
To be completely honest, my knowledge on these issues before the trip might have been a little weak. But, as I already wrote, travelling inspires and motivates me to learn more about my destination, so I filled my backpack with a biography of Idi Amin, a novel set in the times of the Rwandan genocide, a history book on the exploration of the source of the Nile in the late 19th century, the classic novel "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad, and three other books about Africa.
However, the greatest source of information was the people I met in Africa, from whom I learnt about the hypocrisy of the Western development aid policies and the double standards in the Western approach to African leaders, about their views on homosexuality and relationships, how Gaddafi was a respected pan-African leader, about white man’s burden in Africa, about hospitality and generosity, and, maybe above all, the extent to which our understanding and knowledge about this vast continent is limited.
During my trip, the list of things to understand/know better started to overwhelm me: Robert Mugabe, consequences of the climate change in Africa, how to define the source of a river (in my case the Nile), African wild animals, tea cultivation, endangered animals and fish, Swahili language, African literature, social security in Africa… It turned out that watching “Hotel Rwanda”, “Gorillas in the Mist” and some documentary films about primates was a good start but certainly not enough.
"Not only did Africa deplete my savings but it also stole my heart", I wrote as my Facebook status after the trip. The greatest ebullience has slightly faded, but I believe that my African adventure has a long-lasting effect: I’m hooked, I want to learn more – and a little study trip somewhere in Africa wouldn’t be unappreciated either…
Africa colours the world.
For sure, I will now pay more attention to the news from Africa and perhaps I will buy the magazine "Jeune Afrique" more often. Maybe this blog will turn into a literature blog on Afro-lit (after a little eco-lit try-out a few months ago)... Maybe not, but I will try to write down some thoughts that I had during the trip. Obviously, I'm still working on that great Helsinki World Design Capital blog entry as well...
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!
