Suomenlinna is difficult to describe. Many parts of the fortress have been left as they are, and you can just walk through them. Christoph and I walked through a couple of the buildings/hills (it is difficult to say which, because the fortress is so integrated into the landscape), and it was so dark in some parts that we had to put our hands out in front of us and check gingerly for unseen steps.
While the fortress was neat, the best part was the natural landscape. Christoph thought that it looked like the countryside of Ireland. I'm not quite sure how to describe it in words, so I'll just let the pictures tell the story.
It was actually supposed to rain today, but I've found that weather reports in Finland are extremely unreliable. It's not uncommon to experience sunshine, clouds, wind, and rain all in one day. Weather.com said that it would rain all day, but the rain didn't actually come until around 4pm. We then stood fascinated by the clouds, as a large spread of various shades of blue and gray rushed towards us, slowly covering up a clear sky. I didn't even see how quickly the clouds were moving until Christoph pointed it out to me, and I took a break from being distracted by wildflowers to watch.
Okay, so time for a brief history lesson of Finland, gathered from our exploration of Suomenlinna, and confirmed by Wikipedia. Finland was part of the Kingdom of Sweden from the 13th century to 1809, when it was ceded to the Russian Empire to become the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. Finland then gained independence in 1917. I knew that Suomenlinna was built by the Swedes, but I had forgotten the Russian episode until Christoph showed me the detailing on this cannon. The date - a bit hard to see - is 1876, during Russia's rule, and the lettering is Russian. :) Neat, huh?
I'm really beginning to appreciate this Fulbright business. I was stressing Friday night about planning out my itinerary for today - refill bus pass, go to flat mate's comics festival, Suomenlinna, and so on - but then I realized that stressing was silly, because I was doing everything that I wanted to do. In addition to projects, another major focus of the Fulbright is cultural exchange. This program is paying for me to see this beautiful island, to meet comics experts, to read Kalevala, and basically to see and experience as much of Finland as I can. That's kind of amazing. :)
I agree with Christoph. That scenery does look a bit like Ireland.
ReplyDeleteHey Nan, Aaron referred me to your blog. I'm really impressed with your photography here, your pictures all look very professional. Did you ever take a class?
ReplyDeleteHey Brian! I haven't taken any photography classes before. These photos were all taken with my canon digital camera. Maybe it's a particularly good camera. :) I have been trying to learn a little more about the different settings, though. For example, for the part about our music night in the entry 'The Rock Church,' I had to figure out how to take decent pictures without much lighting, and it sort of worked, at least in that one instance, and that was exciting. :)
ReplyDeleteMm. those photos are quite beautiful, capturing the clouds well. Im glad you're keeping things in perspective and staving off the overthinking.
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