My favorite view

When I first moved to Finland, I lived in Lauttasaari. This is the west side of the island, near the Espoo border. This has always been my favorite view. There are many small islands in the distance and it's not uncommon to see several sailboats sailing through the area.

Friday evening traffic

Driving east across Lauttasaari to downtown Helsinki on a Friday evening.

Swans

This little family was spotted near Lauttasaari, an island in Helsinki.

A hole in the ground

When I moved to Finland in June 1997, this was literally a hole in the ground. The area is called Ruoholahti and it contains the Nokia Research Center, a multi-level shopping center, and many other businesses.

Suomenlinna bridge

While crossing a bridge between the islands of Suomenlinna, a young visitor pauses to have a look around.

Arriving at Suomenlinna

Arriving at Suomenlinna, the island fortress off the coast of Helsinki. This ferry is part of the public transport system in the Helsinki area. It travels between Helsinki's Kauppatori, market square, and the fortress. Suomenlinna consists of five islands linked by bridges.

Move your body

Korean tourism ad on the side of the bus from the center of Helsinki to the airport.

Lynx

It was a hot day and most of the cats were in the shade, but this "ferocious" creature came right up to the window and posed for us.

Eteläsatama as seen from the zoo

The view of Helsinki's south harbor (eteläsatama) from the zoo.

The view from the zoo

One view from the observation tower on Korkeasaari. This is one of several harbors around Helsinki.

A view from above

Observation tower at the top of a hill on Korkeasaari, Helsinki's zoo island.

Theme Day: Metal

It's theme day again. This month's theme is metal, be it an alloy or a genre of music.

Here's Finland's 2008 EuroVision Song Contest entry, heavy metal band Teräsbetoni(Finnish for "steel reinforced concrete"). I never used to be a fan of any kind of music, least of all heavy metal. But since moving to Finland, it seems you can't escape the nation's love for heavy metal. Their 2006 EuroVision Contest entry was another heavy metal band Lordi which won the competition that year.

I took this on 19.3.08 at Tavastia, a concert hall in Helsinki.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants