Observing…

…carefully.

These wild barnacle geese had decided to live at Helsinki zoo just like many other wild animals.

Just Wanted to Know…

…whether it’s possible to take a photo of Mannerheim with the trees as a background.

Unfortunately something I didn’t see through the viewfinder also became part of the photo.

Continuation War – Controversial Part of Finnish History…

…started exactly 70 years ago on 25th June 1941 with air raids by Soviet Union. After that Finland officially joined Germany’s attack that had started a few days earlier. Was Finland just reclaiming the land that was lost during Winter War (1939-40) or was Finland interested in the German promise of getting it back with interest?

In reality Germany had used Finnish soil and resources from the beginning. Was Finland fighting its own war against Soviet Union as is still being said officially? Finland wasn’t officially an Axis power. Was the economical and political situation really so bad that Finland had no choice but to take part in the war?

The real controversy started once Finnish troops crossed the pre-WW II border with Soviet Union. “Now we are on a robbing mission” is said during that moment in Finland’s best-known book and movie The Unknown Soldier. It’s normal to get better cards for the negotiation table, it is also normal to advance to better defense positions but what was the true goal of Finland?

Once Germany’s luck changed, Finland also faced a heavy counter attack but more about that later. It will be very interesting to hear what current and future historians will think about the Continuation War.

Read more from Wikipedia

• Continuation war
• Operation Barbarossa
• Axis powers
• The Unknown Soldier
• Winter War

Finland Will be Closed Starting from Today…

…and the country will be opened again in August. Let’s see if the same happens to the blog as well.

This Midsummer’s Day long weekend Helsinkians will escape to the countryside and only you foreigners with your funny languages are left in the city.

Today The New Finnish Government Will Finally Walk on These…

…stairs at the Government Palace after unusually long negotiations. The president will swear in the new government later today.

Regular viewers of the blog have already seen the new prime minister in this palace while he was still the finance minister.

Detail from Sanomatalo…

…that is the headquarters of Finland’s most popular newspaper Helsingin Sanomat.

Once the building was ready some people (jokingly) thought that it will look great once they remove the scaffolding.

Today in Helsinki sunrise at 03:54am and sunset 19 hours later at 10:50pm.

The House of Nobility…

…or Ritarihuone in Finnish (knight room) from 1862. A former meeting place of the nobility and also other estates before House of Estates was built in 1891.

Words like nobility, estate and knight sound really strange in Finland of today.

Read more from the official site.

Kiasma – The Museum of Contemporary Art…

…has often artworks on display that can be seen also from the main street.

For a wider view of the building, see this photo. If you know the name of the artwork and the artist, can you put it in the comments?

Surprise, Surprise! Stefan Wallin Became a Cabinet Minister…

…after a few months of government negotiations in Finland. His small and extremely adaptable Swedish People’s Party (SFP, RKP) has been protecting the Swedish language in every government since the 1970s.

In the new “six-pack” government the other five parties with very different views have to co-operate and make a lot of compromises. The finding of a common ground became more difficult when the populist True Finns decided to stay out. They preferred to remain a popular protest party instead of carrying the responsibility that their vote-share would have required.

Now we have George W. Bush and Che Guevara working together? Almost, although Finnish politicians aren’t that bad.

The person in the background might also become a minister but we don’t know yet. Do you know who (s)he is? (S)he has appeared earlier in this blog in a pre-election post where Wallin was also named as the most likely to become a minister.

Barricades in Helsinki…

…are mostly made by the nature.