While Finnish people do feel emotions, they don’t tend to express them as often as we do in New Zealand or other parts of the world.
Finnish Nightmares by Karoliina Korhonen
In fact, my Finnish friend told me she finds it over the top when foreigners express their love for inanimate objects like coffee, or a town they have only visited once.
Finnish Nightmares by Karoliina Korhonen
So, I’ve already told you that I love Kiasma and I’m sorry, but I’m going to say it again.
Miko and I visited Helsinki’s museum of contemporary art on a cool and wet summers day recently and really enjoyed (loved?) the interactive exhibitions.
Happy Together by Choi Jeong Hwa runs until September and features colourful, tactile pieces for adults and kids to enjoy.
The works of Brazilian artist Ernesto Noa are so big you are encouraged to move inside them and to lie down in his giant crocheted hammocks.
There’s also a room of scents, held in beautiful earthen jars. We had fun guessing and recoiling as we sniffed our way down the row.
We spent a couple of hours looking around, which is quite good for my four-year old companion, before descending to the cafe on level one.
I had my usual favourite, the Moroccan haloumi salad, but not before gushing to the waitress, ‘I love this salad. I think about it all the time when I’m not here.’
To which she returned a small polite smile and no doubt wondered at my over the top confession of feelings for these inanimate objects.
I was gifted a Museum Card a while back and recommend it for anyone interested in visiting museums. Pay 59€ once and receive free entry to 200 museums in Finland for one year.
Hey Helsinki 
I’ve heard that Finnish people are a little reserved, but I tend to be a bit like that myself. Mika is growing so fast – reminds me of my own sons . . . now young men.
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Jonathan is also more like Finnish people & I’m learning the value of things like comfortable silence. ☺️ It’s true kids grow fast isn’t it? Hard to truly understand until you see your own
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Well, I am Matti and happily married. 🙂
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😂 that’s great! I promise not to try & kiss you if we meet. I have learnt to tone it down these days!
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🙂
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Thank you for the tour 🙂 My family is primarily English and German, but my husband’s is far more varied than mine…when I first met them, I was overwhelmed by the bear hugs and unrestrained emotional expressions and shear physicality of their laughter. Now, I LOVE it 🙂 (And I’ve become a real hugger, too!)
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That’s great! I loved reading this. I’m not hugging as much as I used to but still get away with things because I’m a foreigner. The best response to a hug is a warm embrace back – I bet your family love that in you.
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Um… OK, I guess you know the city well enough by now so that you’ll… ahem… LOVE Signe Brander’s panoramas. She shot ’em between 1907 and 1913.
The top two panoramas (IMO) are taken from the National Museum tower (“Kansallismuseon tornista”) and the Kallio Church tower (“Kallion kirkon tornista”). I recommend the full screen option.
http://www.hel.fi/hel2/kaumuseo/panoraamat/
😉
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Thanks for this! I do love seeing the city in new ways & how much it has changed
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I LOVE your post Mel. Miko a very grown up little boy now. Love the colour and Love the food.
Love and Hugs. Dianne
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Thanks Dianne! Sending love to all of you lovely people in NZ xx
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Oh no. I think I did this when I met up with an old penfriend on a stopover in Finland. And probably gushed how much I liked Helsinki…. they were probably bemused…..
Anyhow, it was so interesting to read this, and will follow your adventures and blog now to read more.
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Everyone loves to hear how much other people love their country, especially Finns! Thanks for reading : )
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