Soon we’ll have a new year, 2012 – but it’s still December and since I just came back from Helsinki I’d like to share some of my photographs from that trip with you, dear reader/blogger/passer-by!
Photos were taken with my mobile phone (I also use two free apps – BeFunkyFx and CamWow – which can be downloaded from iTunes Store).
These days I’m proud of my hometown Vasa. Why is that? Because right now our cultural life here is blooming: Great theatre plays, musicals and high-quality concerts can be found in Vasa. The ones I’d like to recommend are as follows:
Wasa Teater and their musical ‘The Full Monty’ (played in the Swedish language). You can watch a short video summary of the musical, which in Swedish is called
‘Allt eller inget’ (from Wasa Teater on Vimeo).
(http://player.vimeo.com/video/15329906)
Another successful play by Wasa Teater (and Åbo Svenska Teater) is ‘Utrensning’, which is based on the book by Sofi Oksanen.
On Wednesday 6th October Blues Music was the big thing in Vasa. Wentus Blues Band from Kokkola, Finland held a concert with visiting guest, Duke Robillard. This video is not from Vasa, but from their performance a few days earlier. Great Blues Tunes, don’t you think?
U2 Live August 21st, 2010
More than 50.000 people and the band created an atmosphere with great intensity.
During the concert we heard songs like ‘Vertigo‘, ‘Where the Streets Have No Name‘, ‘With or Without You‘ and …
Here are a few more photos from this excellent event:
Wicked all sorts! Those words best describe the Pori Jazz festival 2010. There was a real mixture of music styles and artists:
From Tori Amos to Sharon Jones,
from N.E.R.D to John Fogerty,
from Massive Attack to Jeff Beck.
Let’s not forget Sweden and Finland: Gustav Lundgren Quartet (from Sweden) and Jätkäjätkät (from Finland) played good music, too. And so did all the other artists of the festival, not mentioned here.
The best way for you to get a feel for the concerts is to watch some video clips from the festival (YouTube examples).
I have also uploaded some photographs I took during the concerts and organized them into an album.
You can click on the icon on the left or reach the 3d album from here.
It was a thrill to see one of the best guitar-players I know, Jeff Beck, playing his guitar with such elegance and being able to produce so touching sounds on an ordinary guitar. His technique is, in my opinion, of another world – divine. He’s been around since the 1960′s and is still finding new ways to express his ideas via the guitar. Very impressive.
John Fogerty was surprisingly good at playing his guitar(s), too. His music (mostly from the CCR days) was good entertainment in the warm, sunny summer evening.
Those of you who know Massive Attack know that they are at their best when they play live and you can see their modern light show. Their dark, massive, hypnotic sound and the hypnotic lights mix well together and gives the listener/watcher visual memories to take back home.
I mentioned Jätkäjätkät earlier, and you might wonder what that is?? It’s difficult to explain their genre, so here’s a YouTube clip to give you an idea of their music:
S & R – what could that mean? Well, it stands for Savonlinna and Retretti. Every now and then we get this need to explore Finland a bit more. In the eastern parts of Finland there are many small towns, surrounded by beautiful lakes and landscapes. Savonlinna (with its castle) is one of them. Retretti, on the other hand, is an art centre (http://www.retretti.fi/index.asp?language=2) with a difference. Art is presented underground, in caves.
”The underground cave area excavated during the 1980s to a depth of a 30 metres today covers 3,700 metres square and houses, galleries and a superb concert hall. The caves provide a unique setting in which to create and experience. They entice the visitor year after year, ever revealing new aspects, tirelessly, unceasingly and constantly embracing the work of the artist.”
The above extract taken from www.retretti.fi/
This summer Retretti focused on Helene Schjerfbeck and sisters in art, but the cave exhibitions were just as thrilling. Here are a few photos ( S & R):
Olavinlinna Castle, Savonlinna
The romantic walking bridge in Savonlinna
Art goes underground, and so do we...
Retretti Art Centre tokens
To travel is one of my passions in life, too. This summer took us to Salou, Spain for a week to wind down after a hectic work season. I find June to be an excellent month to travel, since not too many tourists fill the tourist resorts then.
Smashing summer swimming
Walking view of Salou
Art meets Olav/Olav meets art in the street
Whoops! Are we lost??
We also went to the town of Tarragona, not far from Salou. The last two photos are from that town.
Hello, folks. Time to sum up my summer 2010 so far! The weather is sunny right now, and great music is playing in my background – which takes me back to June 1st and a concert I visited then:
On June 1st our family took a one-day trip to Tampere (about 300 km:s from our home) to do some shopping in town, visit the newly opened Ikea there and – go to AC/DC’s gig in Tampere!
The day was a success. Great weather, good food all day long, good buys and an enjoyable concert in the evening. I had never seen AC/DC live before, so their gig with classic rock, smoke & light show and the ”train” in the background was very memorable.
Waiting for the band...
Here they are in action
Good Old London still has me in its spell.
Climb onboard a red double-decker bus from Piccadilly Circus up to Oxford Circus, go upstairs, sit down in the front seat & you will understand why. The massive, historical buildings and the softly curved Regent Street gives one a feeling of timelessness. At least it does so to me! I first visited London in 1976 and much has changed over the years, but the feeling here & now is the same as there & then.
When in London – why not go (to) see a musical, ‘Sister Act‘, for example. Here’s what you’ll get for your money:
For once the plot & and the musical part seemed seamless. A good show, if you ask me.
London is also a food lover’s paradise. I like Indian food and Maharani Soho was one of the new places we ate at. Their lunch offer was really good value for money.
I’m summing up our Easter 2010 holidays in London with a short collection of some photos:
Visiting London, Easter 2010
Winter took me to Riga again (to be honest, an offer from RyanAir one couldn’t refuse – the flight cost almost nothing…) and this time I enjoyed it even more than the previous time (in the summer).
Fewer tourists this time of year made it easier to walk around and get a feel for Riga in the winter time. And there was a little bit of spring in the air, too!
Riga isn’t very far away (from a Finn’s point-of-view that is), the flight takes about an hour, but the culture and surroundings are very different – and so is the language. Luckily English works fine here.
We tried out some new restaurants as well. Gan Bei, situated in the Origo shopping-centre complex had a lot to offer. This crossover and/or Eastern and/or Asian restaurant was beautifully designed and very atmospheric.
The menu was one of the heaviest I’ve ever held in my hand, and their food was excellent (although quite pricey (or is it pricy??).
The image on the left is from their web pages and shows you some of the tasty dishes they offer. You can visit their web site to get a larger view <Gan Bei>.
If you like coffee bars then Double Coffee is another place I can recommend. They also serve food and their pizzas are tasty, well composed and not too expensive. We are talking about a chain of coffee bars, so you can find them all over town.
I believe they are a Latvian company, according to Wikipedia (”Double Coffee is a coffee house company based in Latvia. The first Double Coffee opened on 26 September 2002, in the city of Riga, …”).
A place well worth visiting in Riga is The Museum of Decorative Arts and Design <www>. There you can stroll around and look at decorative art (furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, metal etc). It’s a ‘feel good’-kind of exhibition that puts smiles on your lips. Below is an example of that – the artist is Jānis Straupe and the work is Inscenējums konflikta situācijai, from 1987:
Jānis Straupe seems to be a very skilled and interesting carpenter/wood artist. I certainly like his production. Please take a look at his web pages: www.straupe.com/
