Sibelius. That's the name of the composer. So, I am well and truly back in Melbourne now, and have not been inspired to finish the blog. But, after three days over over 40 degree heat, and several more prior to that in the 30s, it is now a balmy 25 (I can't believe it! They said 37! This is just lovely!) and I again feel like doing something more than stting in front of an air conditioner reading. Not a lot more, mind you, but something. I've just spent a fair whack of time searching for an English translation of "Missa Kuljimme Kerran" which is the Finnish play I went to see in Helsinki. The title means "Where we once walked" and it is the story of Helsinki between the two world wars. It was written by Finnish author Kjell Westo who writes in Swedish (Finnish and Swedish are both the official language of Finland, and all of the signs in Finland are in both, which I found most confusing as I expected the second language to be English and kept trying to read it...). It's been translated into a few languages, but not yet into English.
I left the previous post having been to Suomenlinna and returned, and then in an Internet cafe in Japan unable to email (with error messages in Japanese, I left that issue behind). Once I returned to Helsinki from Suomenlinna, I caught the tram to the Kiasma, which is the Helsinki Contemporary Art Museum. I had a little time to check it out before heading back to the hostel to meet Anna, and was concerned about whether it would be open on Sunday to see before I flew out. It was, but I took the time to quickly race through about half of the gallery. It is a beautiful gallery, a very unusual shape - like a crescent, with sort of four floors of exhibition space (architect Steven Holl, but now I have in mind Steve Holt from Arrested Development...) I say sort of, because there are sort of half floors as well as full floors, and exhibits are displayed all over - in nooks and crannies and in large spaces, and one even in a cleaner's cupboard. The current exhibition is called Pilvin pijrretty, which in English is Drawn in the clouds. It is an exhibition of Asian Contemporary Art, and there was some beautiful work. My personal favourite were the large photos by Li Wei of people in very, very unusual positions, apparently created through use of wires which are later removed from the photos. My favourite was called "Love at the High Place 1" which has a petite Asian woman seemingly spinning a man around her head by one foot... that really does not describe it well. Anyhow, I bought the catalogue because I loved these photos so much. If you would like to see more, here's his website - http://www.liweiart.com/english/works_photo.htm .
I went back to my accommodation and got changed, then hung out on the Internet and waited for Anna. Once she arrived, we headed to the first bar for a couple of beers- and I had the smart idea of putting the names of the bars into my phone. The first, Om'pu, was almost like a cafe - lots of tables and booths in rows and filled with a lot of very cool looking 20- and 30-somethings. Great for a general catch up and stuff. We then tried another, but there were no seats, so we moved on to a different one - Cafe Mascot. This was at the bottom of a large apartment building, and was a very large open space with couches and tables. Most places in Finland are either smoke free, or have a separate room for smoking, and it is usually very effective - and you can't take drinks into these rooms, so people move through quickly. A lot of people seem to smoke in Finland - more than I have seen in most places so far. And often you see them looking very cold by the door of a venue! This place was also very busy, but Anna and I joined a couple of women probably in their 40s, I'd say. I found them interesting, because it seemed like they were probably a couple who had had a fight, and I couldn't figure out why they would be out together - one simply read newspaper after newspaper, and the other stared into space. And I think eavesdropped on our conversation! Anna's boyfriend came and joined us, and we had several more drinks and chats before heading to an underground reggae venue. It was in what seemed to be a courtyarded residential building, and if you did not know where it was, you would be hard-pressed to find it! It was quite busy inside, and so once we'd checked our jackets, we managed to score a seat and amused ourselves watching the people. By now, I was quite tipsy, which was not helped by the two shots Anna bought on top of our beers... the first was like a Fisherman's Friend lolly - very, very like salty Dutch licorice. Apparently, very good for colds and making you better. By this stage, I still had an annoying cough, but was feeling a lot healthier. The other was a more typical Finnish shot, but I cannot recall much about the taste. Except that I liked it! The funniest moment was spotting a guy with low slung pants at the bar - so low slung, that his entire bottom was hanging out. He was a little drunk, so did not notice for a while, which was actually not so pleasant for those of us watching! Eventually, I had to leave, because I am up early in the morning, heading to Estonia, but by the time I had gone to the loo, I met them again at the coat check and we walked home together.
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