Helsinki

1. As it's dark until 9am, waking up at 5.30am didn't seem to have the heart-stopping effect predicted.







2. The snow came. At times it seemed to danced, at other times seemed to positively rain down. From the bus, Finland seemed a fantastical land of frigid waste.










3. Helsinki was pretty in the daylight, pretty also at night. The Ateneum museum was filled with paintings of northern lights, forests, bears - Finnish nature.







4. After lunch at a cosmopolitan cafe, we strolled along the Esplanadi to the harbour, back to Senate square for coffee and cake.











5. In the botanic gardens lies a greenhouse, steamy and filled with tropical plants.















6.Periodically, ideas came to me for Unwrapped Sky. Especially after the lithograph exhibition at the Ateneum.

















7. It turns out I can skate, after all.