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Local Discoveries 6

I was in Paris last weekend visiting a friend, I had just arrived when the attacks began. I don’t really have anything to say that hasn’t already been said. It left me a bit speechless and my mood is glum.

I didn’t take any pictures in Paris – these are from Helsinki, Finland about a month ago. This is actually a central area, though it may look a bit rural. It’s a popular spot for jogging.

Right now, Helsinki is already closer to winter mode with most of the colors gone.

For my local discoveries series

41 replies on “Local Discoveries 6”

Nice photos! I like the one of the shoreline where people are walking at the other end. That gives me a scale to see how big this area is. Also love the leaves. We still have a fair amount around here.
I am sorry about your trip to Paris, but glad to know you weren’t hurt.

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Thanks for the comment, Sabine! It was a stressful weekend, so horrible. Though I’m fine. Interesting to know that’s the photo you liked, since I wasn’t sure if I was going to post that. I tend to like photos without people but it’s true that they give scale – and I liked the silhouettes.

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Glad to hear you weren’t in Paris when the attacks started! I guess speechless is the word for me as well. Just trying to understand – but suspect I probably will never understand.

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Thanks for visiting + following my blog and hopefully you’ll enjoy your visit to Helsinki! In which month is your visit? The weather here can be very different depending on the time of year. The photos in this post are from an area called “Hietaniemi” (you can probably find it if you google), it’s a long path that follows the seashore, circling a cemetary and passing a beach that’s popular in the summer. A couple of other Helsinki posts of mine, if you want to have a look: https://thesnowmeltssomewhere.wordpress.com/2015/06/20/helsinki/ and https://thesnowmeltssomewhere.wordpress.com/2015/07/10/helsinki-summer/

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Cafe Esplanad on the street called Pohjois-Esplanadi – they have the best price/quality for Finnish pastries, freshly baked at the cafe (they’re huge actually). It’s right in the center of town and pretty busy all day long but I really recommend it! Next to it is the department store Stockmann which is pretty much what we locals think of as the very center of town. Stockmann also has a couple of bakery spots. An area you should visit, in my opinion, is our main park called Kaivopuisto. It’s also pretty central, good for a little walk if the weather’s nice. It’s by the sea and there are some popular cafes there, too – selling traditional pastries and smorrebrod type sandwiches. And there’s the Suomenlinna fortress island which is a Unesco World Heritage site. For dinner… hmm that’s difficult. Helsinki has lots of foreign cuisine restaurants (Japanese, Korean, even Hawaiian) but all the “Finnish” ones are really aimed at tourists so I haven’t been to them.

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OOhhhh, you were in Paris at the time? Of all places and times. I’ve got a friend who survived the attack in Burkina Faso (by hiding under a desk for three hours, her passport has bullet holes): The only one I know in the entire Africa, and she is stationed in Ethiopia normally. All this makes the vastness of the world even more relative.

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She lives there. She was in the cafe opposite that hotel which got attacked with a friend, friend’s pregnant daughter and her husband. Her friend was missing for a long time after, because she pretended she was dead, lying under a dead man for 10+ hours. The daughter just gave birth. Life goes on. ❤

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