Helsinki went by so fast. Well, I guess for a lot of people, only spending two full days in a city IS fast. Especially when most of that time was spent sitting and talking.
I wouldn't have changed it for the world though--sitting and chatting with Vivienne rather than sightseeing. We connected in a very strong way. From the moment I walked down the hall at the Helsinki Airport and saw her sitting on her walker, waiting for me, even though it was after 11 pm. She smiled, we started to talk and it was like we had known each other all our lives.
I can't even remember specifically what we talked about. Traveling, for sure. Memories, absolutely, hers and mine. How things in our lives affected us, how they don't affect us anymore, how they do, where we want our lives to be. Although Vivienne is in her mid 80's she is so alive, so interested in things. She's an expert dressmaker, as you can see from her photo below--she made everything she is wearing, including the brooches. Except for the beret. She leads a Spanish conversation group in Helsinki. She is having more difficulty getting around as she has knee problems but she is still an example to me of vibrant living.
During the times we were not together--she's not a morning person--I walked around the center of Helsinki, looking at the architecture, visiting Helsinki's Lutheran Cathedral, peeking in the doorway of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral, which was under renovation. In fact, all of the churches, except for the Lutheran Cathedral, that I had wanted to visit were under renovation and closed. So it was an outdoor stroll, enjoying the mildish weather--similar to Montreal in mid October--and just being happy.
On Sunday morning, I visited Helsinki's Art Gallery, the Ateneum. I arrived right at opening and so for the first half hour, I had the whole gallery to myself, except for the very quiet guards who patrolled the rooms. I was enthralled by so many of the paintings, a very few of which I have chosen to put on this page. There's something about truly looking at a painting--like I did at the Queen's Gallery in London last week--that energizes me, makes me feel like I am truly alive. It's very popular nowadays, this idea of mindfulness, of noticing the things around us. Choosing to walk slowly through an art gallery, to stop at the things that attract me, think about why I am attracted, letting my mind meander to memories, be inspired without feeling like I am ticking a box on a "must see" list or being under a "what's next" schedule--all of this is the way that I realize I like to travel. Too often I let myself be influenced by websites like TripAdvisor or friends who say "did you visit such-and-such, we really liked...." Such things can be helpful when you're at loose ends but it's the discoveries that you make that are meaningful to yourself, that produce a change in how you feel that, I believe, really make traveling special.
Anyway, after the Ateneum I picked up my luggage from the hotel, took a taxi to Vivienne's house--she had insisted on giving me money for taxis--and had a poignant farewell. I don't know if we will see each other again but I am so, so glad that I made this journey.
National Library, part of Helsinki's University.
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Front (or could be back, wasn't really sure after I saw the Cathedral from the Square below,) view of Lutheran Cathedral, which is directly opposite from National Gallery.
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| Looking at Cathedral from Square with statue to Tsar Alexander of Russia who "owned" Finland in the mid 1800s. |
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View of Russian Orthodox Cathedral
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Looking at Lutheran Cathedral from front steps of Orthodox Cathedral
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I stopped at a booth on the quay for some crepes and these fat sparrows tried to steal my crepes! Very fat, very impudent!!
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One of the large ferries that travel between Helsinki and Stockholm. Had thought of doing that before time and money constraints interfered.
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Main square in Helsinki, where the railway station (clock tower) and Ateneum are, as well as many department stores that brought back memories for me of Eaton's, Simpson's on Ste Catherine Street in Montreal.
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The masked figures outside the railway station--Finns are nothing if not subtle.
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| In fact, walking around Helsinki, I had a strong sense of the Montreal I remembered from childhood, the downtown part of it anyway. |
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| The exterior of the Ateneum |
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| Not only is the Ateneum an Art Gallery it is also an Art School; these are just some of the self portraits of the artists who have studied/exhibited there. |
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These last two paintings were not in the Ateneum, they are in Vivienne's house. And there are more, paintings of where they lived in Spain and Acapulco. Her mother was a gifted artist in her own right, Audrey Campbell Jacob. Although she never exhibited her paintings, she left Vivienne a beautiful legacy of the places they had traveled to and lived and a determination to never hide or ignore one's gifts.
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