Helsinki - National Museum

I spent the morning with talks concerning the Michelsberg Culture, an important Central European Neolithic culture. The talks from French and German researchers were mostly about territoriality, enclosures, houses, but the most interesting ones were about salt exploitation in Germany (Olivier Weller) and Michelsberg along the Rhine and Main (Detlef Gronenborn).

For lunch I went to the Unicafé in the Porthania building and I was not disappointed: a vegan lunch option! Getting vegan food is difficult in Helsinki, cheese and milk products are everywhere. So I really enjoyed my beet steaks (Punajuuripihvit) with potatoes and soy-yogurt sauce:

 

After lunch I went to the National Museum to have a look at the Prehistoric section.

 

 

So beautiful! I just have to show you an object ... or two ... you know what I mean ...

 

A cupmarked stone from Häme, Kalvola in Southern Finland. Probably Iron Age:

 

 

 

 Figure and axe head in animal form; mostly elks but these ones are lovely bears (from Antrea)

 

Clay figurine, Jettböle site (pitted ware culture)



 

Waist ornament from Viking dress, Humikkala, Masku. Made separately from wired beads and sewn onto the dress:

 

And here are Viking dress replicas with similar ornaments on the apron of the woman's dress (Euran Luistarihauta, grave 56, ca. AD 900):

 

 

After the museum I went to the market square in front of the harbour; berries abundant:

 

 

And of course it is the mushroom season!

 

Someone tried the Finnish pancakes called 'lettu':

A bird brawl at the harbour:

 

Not far from the harbour is also the Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral from the 19th century:

 

 

I think this island is the World Heritage Site Suomenlinna; if I have time left I will go there and then know for sure :)

Strange looking flower hives:

 

In the evening there was a free chamber concert in the Cathedral Crypt; it came with an art exhibition featuring art work from Nelly Jurvelius:

 

 

The musicians consisted of four young artists, Pekko pulakka on a Silvestre violin from 1843, Sauli Kulmala on a Maussiell viola from 1722, Samit Junnona (flute), and Anna Vaahtoranta (piano) whom you can see on the photo here:

 



What a long day, and tomorrow talks start at half past eight. They are crazy, these Finns :) 

Helsinki - Church in the Rock

I had a bit of time in the morning, so I went for the Temppeliaukio Church or better known as Church in the Rock. This astonishing church was built in 1969 and right into the rock of this hill in Helsinki.

Yet it is still full of natural light which comes in from huge window panels under the copper dome.

copper dome from the outside

I came just in time for a piano concert in the church (well, actually I knew it already and therefore came in time):

Oliver Wu playing the piano in the Church in the Rock

A kind of flash mob school choir interrupted his performance:

And apart from loads of tourists buzzing around, a couple had his wedding photos shot:

Votive candles on the rocks :)

It was time to go to the conference registration which is not far from Helsinki Cathedral

The Porthania building of the University of Helsinki where part of the sessions will be:

Opening reception in the auditorium of the main building:

There was also some entertainment; Maija Kauhanen, a post-grad at the Department of Folk Music played on the kantele of Saarijärvi, a Finnish and Karelian zither. Since I only had my handy cam, the optical quality sucks, but you can at least hear the instrument. Maija has a web presence on myspace in case you want to see her more clearly :))

The day ended with a reception, lots of wine but also some snacks (at least salads for me) including the lovely Finnish rye-malt bread (Saaristolaisleipä), sweetened with molasses.

Arrival in Helsinki

I love travelling - seeing something new and unexpected or just staying at a nice place. Like Helsinki!
I arrived today for the EAA conference (European Association of Archaeologists) which this year takes place in Helsinki.

http://www.eaa2012.fi

I'm staying at a nice and stylish hotel and - by pure chance - saw Lady Gaga who is staying at the hotel next to mine. A lot of people were waiting in front of the hotel and when I walked by she came out; people were screaming and cameras flashing. She looked like a big black raven :D

http://www.iltalehti.fi/popstars/201208280190952_ps.shtml

A visit to Hamburg - the harbour and the 'Schanzenviertel'

Next morning we decided to skip the hotel breakfast and try some vegan breakfast options. Lena and Lutz from Laubfresser (every day vegan recipes) live in Hamburg and have tested vegan breakfasts in the city. So we thought it might be a good idea to miss out on the hotel breakfast. Mostly you pay a lot of money for food you can't eat as a vegan; especially in northern Germany where milk, cheese, and sausages are dominant for breakfast.

The first morning we went to Miller in St. Pauli quarter. Miller has a rustic pub-like atmosphere; the staff was friendly and we didn't have to wait too long for our food as Laubfresser had to. Maybe because we went there during a week-day.

C decided on a traditional German breakfast (the half of a patty served with it was actually warm!)

while I went for the more English version with baked beans and tofu sausages:

Although it was nothing I couldn't have done at home myself, it was quite nice and we really enjoyed our breakfast and our speciality teas.

Our bellies satisfied, we went for a harbour tour. Well, not really a costly tour in a fancy boat; we rather took the harbour ferry (line 62, the red one on the picture) which actually gives you a nice trip on the river Elbe along the different harbours and across the river to Finkenwerder while having some hot tea at one of the tables on deck. The interesting thing is that you don't have to pay a penny for it as long as you do have a day pass for Hamburg's transport system. And we had ... :)

This was the ferry:

So the harbour tour lets you enjoy Hamburg's fresh air ...

... and interesting views:

But another good thing about taking the regular ferry is that you can hop on and off as you please. This gives you the opportunity to explore some areas more intensively, like the area around the Dockland building. The prize-winning office building called 'Dockland' was built as a parallelogram on a specially filled up area of the Elbe river. If you walk up the 25 m of stairs on the north-side to the viewing platform, you have a nice panoramic view over the area.

Close to the Dockland building you can find the 'Elbe', no, not the river but a sculpture by Wieland Förster. It is supposed to symbolise the connection between Dresden and Hamburg because obviously you cannot only travel from Hamburg to Dresden on the A2 motorway, but also along the river Elbe (Top Gear should make a challenge with a speed boat...). It looks like a nude woman to me, but then I'm more into rock art anyways.

Since we were in Altona we thought it is about time to test another vegan restaurant. So we went to the Leaf.  On the way to Ottensen we admired Altona's quarter's bicycle art,

wondered whether the residents of Hamburg take their baths on the pavement:

and learned about Hamburg's political affinities:

At last we found the vegan restaurant:

We were too late for lunch and too early for dinner, so we opted for their vegan cakes in their nice restaurant.

The cakes looked so delicious that we couldn't stop ourselves and had a bite before I even could take out the camera. They were as yummy as they looked:

Both the 'Laubfresser' tried a cake at the 'Leaf', too, and were equally happy with it. So many people can't be wrong! If you ever go to Hamburg, you just have to go there and give it a try!

On our way back to the hotel we went to the Schanzenviertel, the location for Hamburgs alternative culture with a more student connected and cheaper bar scene than for example the 'Reeperbahn' area. The 'Rote Flora' is a left-winged occupied former theatre. But apart from politics it also organises cultural events, from flea markets to exhibitions.

Even the advertisements are left oriented :). Here is an advertisement for fritz-kola in the Schanzenviertel. It roughly says 'Only water cannons wake you up more'

Next time we explore more vegan food, go underground and nearly got C killed by archaeology.

A Visit to Hamburg - First Impressions

The first thing I saw on my way to our hotel where I was supposed to meet up with C was the Michaelis Bridge which I had to cross on the way from the subway station  to the hotel in Neustadt.

Michaelis Bridge is famous for its love padlocks. Whether this custom originated in Italy or Serbia is not quite known; in any case there is a growing number of love locks with the name of the sweethearts on them. Today you can buy a lock at a locksmith who will engrave the names, dates, hearts etc. onto the lock, the lock is then affixed to the bridge and the key thrown into the river as a symbol for everlasting love.  

Otherwise the people of Hamburg, residents and tourists alike, enjoy sitting near the river-side for a cup of coffee or a nice meal.

Since I had some time left till C would arrive, I went to see the city hall which was rebuilt in the 19th century after the last one was destroyed by a fire. Dominant is the 112 m high tower:

Along the Renaissance-like façade 20 German kings and emperors, from Charlemagne to Franz II, are standing in niches. This is supposed to be Frederick I Barbarossa:

Justice is sitting on the side where the Senate of Hamburg is located. Obviously she is a bit biased, since she is not blindfolded which ought to symbolise the lack of prejudice demanded by justice (I'm not quite serious here, Justitia or Justice were depicted very differently through times, and I actually don't know the reason why they decided to depict her seeing).

In the market square in front of the city hall is a nice bronze model of the inner city:

When I caught up with C we decided to visit at least the most famous church in Hamburg: the Protestant church of St. Michaelis, affectionately called 'Michel' in German.

Although I didn't like the overall topic of this church, I thought a bit of ancestor worship can't hurt:

 It is at least a bit atmospheric:

The church was obsessed with depictions of the archangel Michel defeating God's adversary (which is not overly surprising since the church is devoted to St. Michael). You can see this scene on an offertory box, ...

at the main door, ...

and outside the church:

And the poor devil never even got a proper trial. To brighten up things I'll show you one of C's brilliant night photos, even though I haven't been at the harbour at night time:

Next time we have a vegan breakfast, getting political and explore the harbour.