From New Hampshire to Helsinki

Preparing to depart...for our test ride, that is. 

Last minute haircut...

Icelandair has a sense of humor!

From the plane window as we descend into Reykjavik...

Arrived in Helsinki, early afternoon.

After receiving printed directions to Helsinki center from the airport info desk, we reassembled our bikes just outside the main entrance of the airport.

We then proceeded to get thoroughly lost, taking almost an hour to do the first 5km! The trouble is, there are a LOT of bike paths in Finland! Coming from the US, where if there is a bike path, there is certainly only one, we found it hard to navigate. Also, for the first time in a long time, we are in a country where none of the signs are in English and the native language is completely incomprehensible. We can't tell a no parking sign from a road name sign! Eventually, after getting directions from a number of people, we got on the right track. With some lucky guesswork we made it past downtown Helsinki, to the island of Lauttasaari, where we were staying. 

Lucy and Ryan Livingston, a family friend who we stayed with in Helsinki.

Ryan did his masters at Aalto University, formerly the Utaniemi Technical School. The original campus buildings were all by Aalto, and include the auditorium below.

The building is interesting in two ways. First, the exterior reflects the interior in the sense that there is an auditorium inside, and the outside itself also forms one (or at least an amphitheater). This was a theme in Aalto's work. Another important theme is light. Those rows of windows don't directly light the interior. Instead the light is diffused and reflected through channels so that the interior does not receive direct light but the whole room is evenly lit. Curtains can cut out the light, and electric lights in the channels can be turned on giving the same diffuse light pattern. 

Speaking of light...we haven't even seen the dark yet! It is dark, or at least dusky for a couple of hours a night, but we haven't been up to see it!

We spent two nights in Helsinki. Ryan and his partner Heidi were excellent tour guides. Helsinki in summer is an amazing city, with miles and miles of beautiful bike trails next to the ocean. Obviously its a whole new animal in winter, but being able to ice skate straight out onto the sea ice sounds fun!