Suomenlinna is an island fortress in the outer harbor of Helsinki. It was built in 1748 by the Kingdom of Sweden in a bid to strengthen naval rule over the Gulf of Finland and it’s shores; land which has long been known as Ingria. Ingria was once ho
Today the fortress is still occupied,
but not militarily. Instead,
mostly just families roam the fortress -
the children being almost certainly oblivious of the land’s past, but I would bet and hope that someday they’ll know it.
And of course there is park management present,
who declined to be photographed.
Finally, there were some who seemed like visitors -
just walking around in the cold,
taking photos, and remarking on their surroundings.
A lot like me I suppose.
Except I was with no-one to whom I might remark.
I did video call someone I loved while I was there,
but that doesn’t really count.
On the ferry back,
meandering across the harbor, I saw more like me.
But I saw even more who were together.
Seeing the two side by side
- the alone and the together that is -
made me realize, either right then,
or later as I looked back,
that there is not
much of a point
making the distinction
between alone & together.
On the mainland,
I met a jewler, whose blog I later found .
I approached my next destination:
the Uspenski Cathedral. At 1 p.m. on August 16th, 2007, amidst crowds of tourists, the icon of St. Nicolas; “The Wonder Maker”, was stolen. In June of 2010 another icon was stolen, that August, the third time, two were caught and after months of den
It was dark in there.
My conversations with students gathering for an engineering conference gave me an image of, as well as, a reminder of my distance from home, in the form of a masculine expression of affection.
And in the streets there was some gentle mayhem.
In the institutions of visual art,
there were pensive,
and creative beings.
Next I marched to Temppeliaukion kirkko: a semi-subterranean lutheran church in the wealthy Töölö neighborhood of Helsinki, designed by the brothers Tuomo & Timo Suomalainen.
As I stood in line to board the massive ferry line,
at 6:00 a.m.,
the following day,
I read about the proposal
to build a sub-marine tunnel,
and therefore make these liners
obsolete.
Then I thought about the memories
that have been made
on these monstrous vehicles.
Memories
made alone,
or together.
Looking back,
I think I felt together.
Old town Tallinn, Estonia was
distant,
quiet,
defensive,
glamorous,
and seemingly askew.
Nearby is Linnahall:
a “multi-purpose venue”.
Linnahall was originally built
as a host location for the 1980 Moscow olympics’ sailing event,
and has since served as a concert venue,
over the years the venue hosted Savage Garden, Duran Duran, Emma Shapplin, Lou Reed, Bryan Ferry, Apocalyptica, Chris de Burgh, Scorpions, Alphaville, A-ha, Toto, Garbage, Kim Wilde, The Sugarcubes, Electric Light Orchestra, Uriah Heep, Celine Dion,
Perhaps the restorations that are being discussed will go through,
but as Christopher Nolan used the delapidated location in his 2020 film Tenet,
it becomes more and more likely that this current image of this place might be preserved,
as it might then appeal more to outsiders; tourists, Americans.
prev / next