Applebys' travels

Thursday, June 27, 2019

Thursday June 27 - St Petersburg

The Church of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, is better known as the Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood as it marks the spot where Tsar Alexander II was fatally wounded in an assassination attempt on March 1, 1881. It was closed during the period of Stalinist Russia and used as a storage facility for, among other things, heavy machinery from one of the local opera theatres, This plus damage from the WWII siege of Leningrad resulted in lots of damage as well as theft of valuable icons. Renovations were begun in the early 70s and restoration was completed in 1997. The walls are covered in Mosaic illustrations of the life and works of Jesus as well as various apostles and saints.

Site of the Assassination of Tsar Alexander II

Mosaic depictions of Miracles of Jesus

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Wednesday June 26

Final Day in Helsinki. Visited the National museum where there was a fascinating exhibition by Nick Brandt, an English photographer who decided to place full size prints of African large mammals in the places that they once lived but are now taken over by human development. The exhibition was called Inherit the Dust. The photo of the Elephant is sub-titled "Your Life is on Track" - the wording of the ad in the top left of the photo. Clearly not true for the glue sniffers in the foreground!

National Museum of Finland

Nick Brandt Photo Exhibition "Inherit the Dust - 'Underpass with Elephant - ("Lean back your life is on track")'

Parainen Church Pulpit - 1650

Reindeer made from sticks

Ladles for use in a sauna

Building, Helsinki

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Monday June24

We're now in Helsinki after what turned out to be a full day of travelling on Sunday.
Helsinki is a beautiful city. Grand buildings, shops selling the most beautifully designed articles of jewellery, glassware, furniture, etc. We took the ferry to the island of Suomenlinna. This has a heritage listed fort built as a sea fortress in 1748. It was taken by the Russians in 1808, then reinforced in the 1850s during the Crimean war. The Finns took it back in 1918 after the Finnish Civil War.
After returning to the mainland we walked up the hill to the Finnish Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral which we discovered is closed on Mondays! So instead we went to the Rock Church, built into the solid Rock on a hill, where we sat and listened to a woman playing the Kantele, a Finnish form of a zither - a beautiful sound not unlike a harpsichord, particularly as she was playing Bach.

Helsinki Senate Square

Jetty Gate, Suomenlinna Island

Great Courtyard, Suomenlinna Island

Tomb of Count Ehrensvärd who built the Fortress here in 1748

Dry dock, Suomenlinna Island

Fortress wall, Suomenlinna Island

Cannon Placement, Suomenlinna Island

Fortress, Suomenlinna Island

Barnacle Geese

Barnacle Geese, Suomenlinna Island

Clouds

Kings Gate, Suomenlinna Island

Finnish Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral Helsinki

Finnish Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral

Rock Church Helsinki

Kantele player, Rock Church

Rock Church Helsinki

Copper Ceiling, Rock Church Helsinki

Tuesday June 25

Helsinki was voted design capital of the world in 2012 and it's obvious why. Brands such as Marimekko, Iittala, Arabia dinnerware are both innovative and stylish. So we visited the Design Museum to see some of the innovative design that has come out of Finland in the past 150 years. Then we took the tram to the outskirts of the city where the Iitala & Arabia Design Centre is after first dropping in to a Marimekko shop in the city to look at their fabrics.