Quiet time in Helsinki - 4 to 7 July 2018

We found a berth in the centre of the city, at walking distance from the cathedral and the railway station. This was a rapid stopover to fetch new crew members. The Helsinki marina where we are is quite expensive for a boat of our size, and did not provide with a decent WIFI signal. Quite a disappointment, but so well located!

Helsinki has an extensive maritime font that I could experience when walking along the shore in the morning.

Belisama, right in the centre of the city.

In our short stop over, we went  to the central station, once elected as the nicest railway station in the world. And it is indeed quite a nice piece of architecture.

On each side of the station are these statues holding lights in their hands.

We found the time to visit the Ateneum art museum, a must see in Helsinki, along with the Design museum, which I liked a lot. Of particular interest in the Ateneum were the paintings relating to the Kalevala, the great national epic of Karelia and Finland. The painting below is by Robert Wilhelm Ekman. It represents Ilmatar, a virgin spirit of the air who went into the sea and was impregnated by the wind. A duck flying over her laid an egg on her knee who gave birth to earth, the sky, the sun, the moon and the stars. That talks to a sailor, my respects!

Robert Wilhelm Edman, Ilmatar, 1860

Heikki W. Virolainen: Marjatta, 1965

Marx Ernst, 1961, the genius of La Bastille.

And in the Lutheran cathedral, not much to see, as usual, but the two ex-voto ships that are always talking to me.