June 30, Wednesday

Today was a great day! We woke up, saw some Alto and then had some flexible time this afternoon. It was really nice not to feel obligated to be anywhere.

Here is a picture of some people!! I've noticed that I haven't been taking any pictures with people in them (I always wait for people to move so I can get the pretty shot). This is a good example of what we do all day. Here we are in Alto's studio, everyone is scattered about the room sketching. We normally will sketch at least 30 minutes to an hour in each place we visit. It's a good forced activity, and it passes the time quickly.

Greg reminded me today that I haven't been adding any comments on what else we have been up to besides architecture! The real answer is not too much besides eating, sleeping and watching the World Cup. The food here is not to die for, so that's why you haven't heard much about it. I'm excited to be able to make my own soon. As I mentioned before though, today was a nice day. It was our last night in Helsinki, so Ji, Aileen, Helen and I decided to set a meeting time for dinner at the 'Chocolate Factory' (I have no idea what the real name is). No one really has cell phones, which has been really fun, so it felt very old fashion to be meeting up for dinner! The Chocolate Factory has a nice cafe and chocolate, of course. We had a nice, leisurely dinner and then some ice cream to top it off! Most of the restaurants have outdoor patios to eat on, and it is great people watching. There are some interesting fashions in Finland!! I also spent part of my afternoon shopping and looking at all the fashion, they sell very different things than Seattle does.

Our hostel is in walking distance of the downtown area, so we decided to walk back after our dinner. The lighting is amazing here, it is so bright and the sun doesn't set until about 11 PM.  I haven't seen darkness for awhile.

Helsinki has been really fun, but I'm excited to get to Stockholm. We take the overnight ferry there tomorrow!! I think the ferry will be an interesting experience. Apparently duty free stuff is all around you! So, I guess my next update will be from Stockholm!


Here are a few pictures from today:

The first is of the new development of the old cable factory and the second is inside the Kiasma, a Steven Holl museum.