The Dandelion Fountain

June 12, 2014June 16, 2014 / Mel_inHelsinki / 9 Comments

On a recent trip to Helsinki’s amusement park Linnanmaki, we came across a fountain that Ilona mentioned was somehow connected to the fountain in Sydney’s Kings Cross. Having lived in Sydney for eleven years my interest was piqued – how did such a famous monument in the Southern Hemisphere come to be replicated here, at a fun park, more than 9000 miles away?

The fountain at Linnanmaki

Like all good investigative reporters I headed straight to Wikipedia (ha!) where I was happy to read but misinformed that the man who designed the Kings Cross fountain was born in New Zealand. Turns out Bob Woodward was actually born in Sydney in 1923 and his career designing fountains that resemble dandelion thistles had a strong link to Finland.

El Alamein Fountain, Kings Cross

During World War II, Woodward worked mostly as an armourer where he honed his skills working with wood and metal. After the war he studied architecture and travelled to Finland to study with one of the country’s most famous artists, Alvar Aalto. Woodward was impressed by Aalto’s commitment to bringing the organic world into design. During an interview in 1996 he said “Aalto’s principles are that essentially everything in architecture is related to biology. If you take a leaf from a tree, for example, you can see design principles which should apply to architecture itself.”

Aalto’s iconic vase – at times attributed to the flow of a Sami woman’s dress or the lakes of Finland

In 1955 Woodward returned to Australia where he won a competition to design the El Alamein Memorial Fountain to commemorate the Australian soldiers who fought in Egypt in 1942. The fountain became an icon for Australian tourism and is now a common meeting place for people in Kings Cross.

Woodward’s legacy spread like dandelion spores across the globe

Woodward went on to win international recognition for his design and had a long career designing fountains around the world. His works can now be found in countries as diverse as USA, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, France, Turkey, Sweden, Romania, Ukraine, China and yes! New Zealand. In 1972 the Ferrier family commissioned replica fountains to mark the opening of the Christchurch Town Hall in New Zealand.

Ferrier Fountains - Photo Credit: Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 1021-1516

Ferrier Fountains in Christchurch – Photo Credit: Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 1021-1516

El Alamein Memorial Fountain

Bob Woodward Obituary

Sunshine and Samba

June 8, 2014June 9, 2014 / Mel_inHelsinki / 5 Comments

The sun shone brightly on a fabulous riot of colour and sound at the annual Helsinki Samba Carnival yesterday. Smoke from Brazilian BBQs filled the air in Senate Square and mingled with the beating of drums as last minute touches were made to dancers outfits.

An estimated 30,000 people lined the streets to watch members of Finland’s samba schools sashay and strut their feathers in a parade that lasted nearly three hours. It was the most alive the city has felt since we arrived and the crowds cheered, clapped and blew whistles in appreciation.

World Cup fever has taken hold and footballs featured in costumes while young boys wowed the crowds with their ball skills.

Babies and children, men and women of all ages and abilities took part in the parade. Music was provided by groups of singers and musicians on the back of trucks that formed part of the procession.

I met up with the boys after Miko’s nap and he couldn’t wait to ask me, had I seen the peacocks dancing in the streets?

A Heart Stopping Post

June 7, 2014June 8, 2014 / Mel_inHelsinki / 1 Comment

I was home alone, making a sandwich in the kitchen when I heard it: the unmistakeable sound of a door in our apartment being tentatively opened. I froze, like a reindeer in the proverbial headlights, my knife poised mid-air, my eyes huge in my head. I stood frozen, straining to hear. There it was again, this time more confidently, a door somewhere in our home being pushed open. The muffled sound of a hand, reaching into a bag. This is it, I thought, I am going to die, making a sandwich and I’m not even sure I have the strength to put up a good fight with this butter knife.

What I thought was happening….

Then footsteps, walking away now. I heard myself exhale, loudly. It was the postie, delivering mail through the slot in our front door.

…what was actually happening. Photo credit: Riitta Kumpulainen

In fact we have two front doors, about five inches apart and the first has a slot in it for the mail to be pushed through. The letters then sit securely in the space between the two doors until you collect them. This amazes me – to gain access to our building you need a key to open a gate and a heavy door at street level and then we are a few floors up. The fact the postie has a key to get in and is then expected to visit every front door in the building seems like such hard work. And we are only one building in the street!

In New Zealand and Australia, credit cards and packages are often delivered to unlocked mailboxes near the road and we trust they will still be there when we collect our post. I once had to open a mailbox with a pair of bolt cutters for a man who had gone to prison (work related, another story). I was surprised that no one said anything as I cut the padlock, his being one mailbox in a block of ten.

Finnish Post logo

The Finns of course are not content to just settle with secure mail delivery – in 2011 they were the first country in the world to implement a carbon neutral postal service. Participation in initiatives designed to offset the carbon output of mail delivery is provided at no extra cost to consumers. Which is good news for us, as our postcards home can now be good for the heart and for the planet.

Finns first in the world to deliver carbon neutral post

The Reverse Vending Machine

June 2, 2014August 2, 2014 / Mel_inHelsinki / 4 Comments

If you’re at a party and a New Zealander says to you “Well, we’re probably going to start thinking about heading off sometime soon,” it basically means: Say goodbye, we are going. Finnish people, from what I can tell, are much more direct. For example, unless you always takes the stairs, you will be familiar with the Finnish elevator company, Kone. Kone means machine. Enough said.

Kone – making elevators since they were made out of wood

So I love the name given to the recycling stations found in most supermarkets and grocers here – the reverse vending machine. Instead of putting money in and getting a bottle out, you put bottles in and get money out. Brilliant.

Pullo ja tölkkipaulautus – Bottle & can return

I mentioned here earlier that there is no plastic recycling in our apartment building. However the return rate of recyclable plastic bottles, glass bottles and drink cans in Finland is over 90%! The scheme works so well, with the return on containers set at 0,10€ for glass bottles, 0,15€ on cans and up to 0,40€ on plastics. This is refunded in the form of a voucher that can be spent in-store or sometimes as money from the cashier. Some machines also provide the option of donating your refund to charity.

Woo hoo – its like winning the lottery every time!

After spending a few days in Helsinki you start to notice there’s a community of people who make their way around collecting used cans and bottles to earn a bit of cash from recycling. After a big festival or event like Vappu (May Day) it’s not long before the streets and parks are cleaned of leftover rubbish. In fact people deliberately leave bottles and cans out for those who collect them, to save them having to sort through the city’s bins.

Nice little nest egg there

I did wonder what stopped someone from just wheeling the whole recycling bin out of our apartment building down to Siwa to help fund their grocery bill but had it explained to me that not all bottles and cans are eligible. A Corona beer or imported wine won’t necessarily have the required pantti mark on it. This is the deposit paid when purchasing these items that is refunded when returned to one of the 4000 or so reverse vending machines across the country.

Karhu = bear so its Bear Beer

And here’s an interesting fact: glass bottle recycling was first kick-started by the introduction of Coca-Cola into Finland during the Summer Olympics held here in 1952. Since then Finns keep topping world statistics in recycling rates and the number of cans returned in one year is estimated to be able to reach around the globe three times. I’ll be looking for a job soon but in the meantime will be doing my part in reclaiming some of the EUR 310 million generated by returns annually. I’ll drink to that!

Finland Tops The World in Bottle Recycling

Palpa

Breaking free in the Baana & beyond

May 29, 2014 / Mel_inHelsinki / 10 Comments

Miko is great company but we don’t get much of a break from each other these days. So its a real a treat for me to have a walk by myself – no stroller to push; no wrestling a human octopus into a jacket and no need to hear myself issue instructions like ‘Stop licking me, I am not an ice cream!’

On a beautiful spring day last weekend I managed to escape on my own for a couple of hours and set out to explore the Baana, without really knowing where I would end up.

Like New York’s High Line, Helsinki has transformed a former freight line into a safe route for pedestrians through the heart of the city. Called the Baana, this ‘Low Line’ is carved out of the streets and provides a 1.3km passage from West Harbour to Töölö Bay via Kamppi. With an entrance at each end and four ramps to street level along the way, there are paths marked out for those on foot as well as those travelling by bicycle.

Near West Harbour there are ping pong tables, a basketball court and seating areas, all of which were being used on the sunny day I set off. Like most of Helsinki there were loads of people passing by on bicycles, safe from the main traffic area. After coming out near the city I carried on towards Töölö and the peninsula known as Hietaniemi.

One of the nicest thing about this time of year is seeing Finnish people just relishing the sunshine and taking the time to sit with friends and relax in its rays. I can’t help but smile when I see people sitting alone, eyes closed, face lifted to the sun with looks of pure bliss on their faces.

This lake is so close to the city but feels miles away. The number of birds returning to the area after their winter travel is increasing, their presence made known by the camera-shutter sound of their wings.

The foliage on the trees is changing dramatically and the shades of green at the moment are so fresh, like a giant salad tossed on the ground.

I walked past a large cemetery and further on passed by the back of a hospital where women were tending the vegetable garden. It seems nature is left untamed here, no fancy hedge trimming or pruning; each plant’s journey towards the sun left uncompromised after such a long winters sleep.

The hospital garden

I felt so refreshed by the end of my walk I looked forward to heading home and putting my feet up. Best of all I was ready to spend time with Miko again, musing over the mysteries of life, because really, its important to know, ‘Does everyone have bottoms?‘

Trash and treasure in Helsinki’s parks

May 28, 2014May 28, 2014 / Mel_inHelsinki / 1 Comment

I used to love Cleaning Day at work in Sydney. I remember singing ‘I’m having the time of my life‘ from Dirty Dancing as I hurled old paper files behind me, ready for the shredder. We were like a big messy family in that office and we’d fill a skip outside with rubbish that people would sift through on their way past. One year I saw a man take home a big double wardrobe we were giving away, balanced carefully on his ten-speed bicycle. Another time a well-meaning client brought us in a gaudy statue of a dolphin sitting on a log that he had just found and would look great in the office! I thanked him and then put it back in the skip where he had got it from.

So there’s something so exciting about seeing the people of Helsinki being encouraged to clean out their homes and then hold outdoor sales around the city. Siivouspäivä, or Cleaning Day, is held twice a year with the event being held for the fifth time just last Saturday 24th May.

People can set up to sell their unneeded belongings anywhere around the city. I saw stalls outside apartments, on street corners, in parks and on pavements. There were loads of clothes and kids toys for sale as well as homewares and books.

People were out enjoying the sunshine, perusing the stalls and having picnics. Stallholders were drinking wine in the sun or eating with family and friends. There was a lovely festive feeling as the city’s belongings were moved from one home to another.

At the end of the day community development agencies UFF and Fida arrive in certain spots to take away any unsold goods to sell in their charity stores. Bins and recycling areas are also advertised on the Siivouspäivä website to avoid junk being left behind. As the website says, its ‘the neatest festival of the year.’

http://siivouspaiva.com/en_EN/

An island of animals never before seen

May 22, 2014February 13, 2015 / Mel_inHelsinki / 5 Comments

Helsinki Zoo (Korkeasaari) is one of the oldest in the world and is home to a treasury of animals that seem very exotic to us Southern Hemisphere folk. Established in 1889 it is housed on an island which you can access by ferry or bus. On a sunny but crisp spring day we took the bus, as like many things in Finland the ferries are on limited service until June.

The bridge to Korkeasaari

The girl in the ticket office told us no balloons were allowed inside the zoo so we had to hand over the one Miko had been given at Helsinki Central Railway Station and leave it in the office with my name on it. I thought this was a good idea as I do worry about balloon skins being left around where birds or small animals can eat them.

Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?

Like most people I have mixed feelings about zoos but if they’re for education this zoo really did provide us with an opportunity to see animals we have never seen before or have only seen in books. It was wonderful, like walking around Dr Doolittle’s island or a world where new animals are invented. Some animals looked familiar with just a slight difference about them – like the Mongolian horses or Hemione who were no doubt offended by us mistakenly calling them ‘donkeys‘.

Idyllic setting for crazy nesting birds

We were greeted at the front of the zoo by a sign warning us about the Canadian geese on site. It’s breeding season here and they are aggressively protecting their nests at the moment. Built at ground level the nests are quite large and dotted throughout the zoo gardens. One bird will sit on top of three or so eggs while its mate fiercely launches attacks on hapless passersby. It made for a day of much dodging and squealing as these large birds bore down on people honking and flapping their wings while the nest-warmer smugly changed position on top of its brood.

One mongoose, two … mongeese?

Due to the cold temperatures here some animals are moved inside for winter and so there are no elephants, giraffes or zebras like we see at home. Inside the Tropical House we saw lots of crazy little moustachioed tamarins that could fit comfortably in your hand if they would sit still long enough. They are named Keisaritamariini in reference to the moustache favoured by the German Emperor at the end of the 1800s.

A jurt (yurt)

We spent most the day saying ‘What is that?’ and searching for the names of each species of animal on its sign. We saw Brazilian Aguti, Patagonian Mara and Vicuna, Bactrian camels with two shaggy humps and Pére David’s deer which looked a bit like reindeer to us. It was really hard to take photos that do the zoo and its inhabitants justice but I really recommend checking out the Helsinki Zoo website which includes information in English and pictures of ice sculpting and other events.

Kind of like an Ibis in a red dress

And what of the balloon? Well, I dutifully approached the girl in the ticket office and said ‘Um, there’s a balloon here for Mel?’ and gave it to Miko who then saw the ice cream stand and in his excitement let go of the string. We watched the balloon immediately head high up in the sky, giddy with new found freedom after listening to the girls in the office for the last three hours, and can only hope it headed back to the city and not to Korkeasaari.

www.korkeasaari.fi

Restaurant Day (Ravintolapäivä)

May 20, 2014May 8, 2015 / Mel_inHelsinki / 3 Comments

Established in Helsinki in 2011, Restaurant Day is described on the official website as ‘a worldwide food carnival when anyone can set up a restaurant, café or bar for a day.’ People can sell their wares to the public by setting up a food stall wherever they like: at home, in a park, on the street or at the railway station. They are only limited by their imagination and their cooking skills.

Setting up in Vanhan Kirkon Puisto (Old Church Park)

Restaurant Day is now held four times a year in 27 countries around the world. We were lucky enough that the latest was held last Saturday on a bright and sunny spring day. We headed down to Vanhan Kirkon Puisto (Old Church Park) quite early and watched as the first stalls were set up.

The girls at Cafe Tivoli

My first purchase was from two girls who had set up a stall of home-made baking called Cafe Tivoli. Their chocolate brownie was delicious and a good accompaniment to our morning kahvi (coffee).

Some of the goods on offer at Cafe Tivoli

Jonny’s brother had a good looking falafel roll from another stand and Jonny bought a wrap from Soul Mamma’s Kitchen. It advertised itself as a vegan stall but he chose a goats cheese wrap from the menu. It came without goats cheese so was at least true to its vegan claim if not the menu.

Soul Mama’s Kitchen

Apparently food in Helsinki has come a long way in recent years but there is not as large a selection as we have at home. So it was really exciting to see offerings from cuisines as diverse as Korean, Moroccan, Dutch and Russian.

Cakes served with tea from the samovar

There was also a Brazilian barbecue offering a World Cup special of a main plate with a grilled banana and guarana. The boys were firing up their large open grill with a huge piece of meat on it as well as little chicken hearts on skewers.

Traditional Finnish fare was represented too; one of the most popular stalls we saw was run by a Finnish women’s assocation selling kahvi and pulla (coffee and pastries).

We saw the chef from the Mexican restaurant we had eaten at the night before setting up a stall; apparently Restaurant Day is a good way for people to try new recipes out on the public. I read one interview where a woman who was hoping to open her own Indian restaurant planned on using the day to gauge the popularity of various home-cooked dishes she hoped to put on her menu.

My only regret on this day was having breakfast before we came out. We had to head out to another event around midday so I didn’t quite have the appeptite to try as many things as I would have liked. But I’ll know better for next Restaurant Day, which will be held in mid-August.

www.restaurantday.org

A day by the book

May 17, 2014May 17, 2014 / Mel_inHelsinki / 2 Comments

Tuesday was a drizzly day so Miko and I went to find Helsinki’s main public library. We caught the tram from Kamppi and travelled 20 minutes north to Pasila. The trams are free for us as anyone travelling with a child in a stroller doesn’t need to pay for themselves or the child. This applies on buses, trains and most ferries too.

Save money – find a small child to travel with

The library was easy to find and joining was really quick and simple. It was a great feeling as there are still a few steps to go until we can gain most benefits available to residents. Getting our new library cards took only a matter of minutes after we showed our residency permits.

Kirjasto = Bibliotek = Library

This library was really lovely and full of light. There was a large pond in the middle with study tables set up around it. A woman was absorbed in the task of doing a 5000 piece jigsaw puzzle set up on a large table. I saw her move on after a while and someone else soon took her place.

The woman who set up my library card told me they have books in over 60 languages. It was great to find the English section and a pile of books by one of my favourite authors. I’ve been needing something to read and was really happy to find a local paper written in English too.

The children’s computers

There was also a section of books for children written in English – really good books too, each one feeling like a real find. Or maybe it was just that there were only a select few and they all seemed a treat being in our native language! The children’s part of the library was also really nice, with lovely furniture and posters, reading alcoves and play areas.

Miko & Moomin

I saw so many familiar books and titles from home, translated into Finnish. Books about Babar, Richard Scarry books, picture books for young children with exactly the same pictures as our ones at home – even a Little Golden Book about visiting the doctor printed in the 1960’s.

We finished our visit with a trip to the library cafe on the second floor. This is also the floor that holds the magazine collection. There are really lovely areas set out for reading, all with lovely Scandinavian furniture. There are plenty of services at the library we’ll be able to make use of including Finnish language groups, the online film library IndieFlix and even 3D printing! A drizzly day is not looking so grey now.