..leaves many on the ground starting from today. Finnair and the pilots have not been able to agree about conditions relating to the outsourcing of pilots.

Finnair is one of the oldest and safest airlines in the world and a pioneer in non-stop flights from Europe to Japanese and Chinese major cities. Today its “operations focus on transporting passengers between Europe and Asia, via Helsinki.”

I hope an agreement can be found quickly that allows Finnair to be a successful airline also in the future. Having one in Finland is crucial as we don’t have any quick land connections to any major foreign cities.

The plane in the photo is a DC-3 that Finnair hasn’t used since 1967.

…using sign language. The deaf artist, in the middle, feels the music but doesn’t hear it.

…but where is the orchestra?

…used to be here but it was moved to city of Kotka in 2007. You foreigners might think that this is a B&W photo but it is in full color.

This location wasn’t very accessible so it made sense to relocate the museum but on the other hand none of the original workers moved with the museum to Kotka according to this article in Finnish.

This is not the only controversial case where the government has moved jobs from the capital region to other areas of the country.

…used to be a hotel and now there are plans to convert it to a hotel again.

…although only moments before the fall it felt like it’s going to outlive the Great Wall of China. THE historical event of my lifetime.

The fall of the iron curtain didn’t just completely change Europe but it ended many bloody conflicts that were supported by the cold war superpowers on several continents. There was no longer imminent threat of global nuclear war although the weapons still existed.

I can’t understand people who say that we now live dangerous times. We have our dangers but still terrorists or our current diseases are nothing compared to what one bad decision by a US or Soviet leader might have caused during the cold war.

It was a miracle that Soviet Union was not able to occupy Finland during WW II. It’s scary to think what my life might have been on the other side of the iron curtain if things would have went according to Stalin’s plans.

The wall in the photo is from Suvilahti.

Here are some Berlin Wall entries from the City Daily Photo blog community’s German members:

• Heidelberg
• Leipzig
• Düsseldorf

The author of Paris Daily Photo was in Berlin exactly 20 years ago and has included photos in his entry.

…at the central railway station. I quickly took a few photos while I was on my way to work. Water from a broken pipe should have flooded to the streets but there was a hole in a wrong place and it damaged the station instead.

This might not look that bad but this metro station might be out of service for the next six months if they need to replace the escalators.

Helsinki metro is pretty small and this is the most important station. Hopefully during the next few days the metro can drive through this place so that the two stations to west of it can be opened as well.

…due to a broken water pipe at central railway station.

Metro can’t reach the city center, some trams have to use an alternative route and cars can’t come here either. The metro is probably affected also during tomorrow.

Or is it the tears of the Swedish ice hockey fans who had just witnessed a 7-0 defeat against Finland here in Helsinki? That’s probably the ugliest score in the history of modern Swedish ice hockey.

EDIT: At the moment it is believed that the metro station will be closed for months…

…at Tervasaari island.

…at the University of Helsinki earlier this week when people had a chance to visit the 175 years old observatory.

You foreigners might now think that Finnish astronomy is very primitive but observations are no longer done from this site. There is too much light pollution to allow scientific work. What used to be at the outskirts of the city is today a very central location.

The exterior of the observatory is one of the most impressive in the city – and not among the easiest to be photographed.