Sweden and Finland - Day 6

A day in Helsinki (the capital of Finland) . . .

Helsinki Cathedral

the main train station

the Kiasma Museum of Art

the plaque at the entrance

the entry hall

the better of the exhibition spaces

Finlandia . . . . need I say more

Finlandia Hall by Alvar Aalto

Temppeliaukio - the Rock Church from the outside

the pipe organ

the vents in the floor

the holder for the vigil candles

the concrete fins

an orchestra practicing

Cafe Aalto in a building he designed

the view over Helsinki

Sweden and Finland - Day 5

This day was the full of Alvar Aalto. We went to the Säynätsalo Town Hall. Then Aalto's summer home. Our afternoon was spent at the Jyväskylä University campus that he master planned and designed a few of the buildings. The Alvar Aalto museum is also on the campus that exhibits all of his work. That night we drove to Helsinki.

the outside of the Town Hall

one of the doors

the hallway facing the courtyard

the main meeting hall

hiking through the forest to get to the summer house

the house blends in with the snow

his experiments with brick

I guess there is a reason why this is a summer home

the courtyard

the Alvar Aalto museum

one of his art pieces

Finnish people still ride their bikes in the snow

the administration building

Sweden and Finland - Day 4

The previous night we boarded an overnight ferry from Stockholm to Turku. That day we only visited one building. The building we visited was the Villa Mairea by Alvar Aalto. We walked around the small town of Noormarkku. That night we stayed at a hostel in Jyväkyslä and experienced a traditional Finnish sauna. After sitting in the sauna, you run outside to the frozen lake and jump in through a hole in the ice.

frozen ocean . . . yikes!

hiking up the Villa Mairea

the entrance

Mairea's Studio

the backyard

a cute home in Noormarkku

the old paper factory

a barn in the countryside

Sweden and Finland - Day 3

We went to the Woodland Cemetery outside of Stockholm. There are three chapels throughout the cemetery that are designed by Erik Gunnar Asplund and Sigurd Lewerentz.

this is the large lawn when you first enter the cemetery

the frozen landscape

a cool tombstone

the largest of the three chapels

the inside of the chapel

an awesome organ

from the side

the Stockholm Public Library

curved book shelves