Helsinki was great. I am really pleased a decided to spend the day there. There was much more I could have done but what I did was good. I wandered around the city and explored the markets and food halls and visited their cathedral. The contrast between the cathedral in Helsinki versus Russian cathedrals couldn't have been greater. In Helsinki the cathedral was simple and very scandinavian as opposed to the Russian cathedrals which were covered in icons and mosiacs.
In keeping with someone's advice to always try the local food, I had reindeer. It was delicious! I could have stayed another day (in Helsinki - definitely not the hostel!!) but I had an early flight to Vienna....
Vienna! It is a beautiful city. When I arrived I was taking so many photos I had to pace myself. I spent the afternoon wandering around and getting lost which sounds very carefree but it was more because I have no sense of direction so kept getting lost. Maybe it was a bit of a reaction to the hostel but I decided to check in to a nice hotel in the centre of town and it was a good decision. I have a really cute attic room (so a bit cheaper!) and I slept well. The breakfasts are great but they had scroggin! I am not complaining about this however because I wrapped some in a serviette and had it for lunch.
The galleries are great. I went to an exhibition of a private collection. It was one couple who donated their collection. Now I'll emphasise this - it was ONE couple and in their collection they had paintings by many famous artists including Monet, Matisse, Cezanne, Chagall, Miro, Picasso and Kandinsky. I picked a few I wanted to take home but chose to buy the catalogue instead. The catalogue was so heavy I had to drop by the hotel so I didn't have to carry it around. Why did I buy it??? I will have to post it home. I won't detail the whole day but after this I went for a ride on the ferris wheel that featured in 'The Third Man' (with Orsen Welles if you don't know it). I like ferris wheels anyway but this was especially fun because of the movie. They also have great museums. I went to a music one which was crowded but a nice canadian man offered to share his headphones with me so I went around the exhibition with him.
In terms of food - yes I am in Vienna so I had a wienner schnitzel for dinner last night and this afternoon I had a hot chocolate with cardamom which was delicious and will probably be my dinner.
The updates are getting longer but that's the advantage of a blog - only the people who are interested have to read it.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment