![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Suomenlinna and Messekeskus
Aug. 9th, 2017 09:11 pmThis morning, we got up super early so we'd be ready to meet the ferry to Suomenlinna at Market Square, by the harbor. The Worldcon planners had arranged a guided tour of the fortress islands, and we had signed up for it. We arrived in good time, but didn't see the ferry boat. As we looked around, we noticed there was another dock with another blue sign for Suomenlinna, and a bunch of fannish looking types were already standing in line there. Unfortunately, this realization occurred just as the boat was leaving. We'd missed it. We took the next one, 20 minutes later, but by then the tour group was far ahead of us and we didn't catch up.
However, it turned out for the best, really. I was sorry that we didn't get to hang out with people from the con, and we probably missed out on a bit of interesting information. But, on the other hand, we got to walk around the islands at our own pace and look at what we were interested in. Suomenlinna was originally called Sveaborg and was built by the Swedes to keep out the Russians. This didn't work too well, because the Russians took over anyway in 1809, and then the Finns renamed it when they took control of it in 1917. It's not much of a fortress, really--mostly some stone walls circling a couple of islands at the mouth of the harbor. The main point, I imagine, is the powerful cannon that were trained on any boats that might try to enter.
It may sound odd, but what I really loved about this place was the very old trees--lindens, aspens, and ash trees mainly, with a few maples. There are several park areas, and the trees are planted in groves there. Because it's so far north, the linden trees had just finished blooming, and the air still held a faint sweetness. My favorite spot was where you can hike up to the edge of the heights where the cannons were placed. You can see far out to sea, past more little islands that, when we were looking at them, were edged with little skirts of mist. Such a stillness hangs in the air from the sea, and everywhere you look is blue, blue, blue. There's a place like that up at Sleeping Bear, in Michigan, where you can look out over the straits toward the Manitou Islands, and there's the same stillness and the blue light. I love it.
At that point, we decided we'd had enough and would not continue on to see the King's Gate where the Swedish kings officially landed when they came for a visit. We could see it from a distance, and it's just a big wall. We descended via a path edged with flowering camomile, fennel, and daisies, and returned to the harbor, where we had shrimp toast, salmon soup, and beer brewed on Suomenlinna. It was good beer, too.
Our feet were hurting from walking for miles on cobblestones, but we went straight to the train station and caught the train to Messekeskus because we wanted to be there for opening ceremonies. Alas, this is where the day begins to resemble the Day of Visiting the Outsides of Closed Buildings, only in this case, it was the Day of Visiting the Outsides of Overcrowded Events. Although we arrived early, the function room was already completely jammed, and hordes of fans were still queueing up and trying to get in. We waited outside for a bit to see if we'd be able to hear the speakers, but no, you could not. So we gave up and instead bought t-shirts, voted in site selection, and had a much-needed coffee. Then we tried to attend a panel--three panels, actually, when it became apparent our first choice was also vastly overcrowded--but all three of them were jammed and overflowing. So far, the facility seems very spread out, and there are a lot of stairs. I think the con is making every effort to accommodate different levels of ability, but I wonder if it will work. In the future, we'll have to make sure to queue up for events VERY early if we expect to see anything! The function rooms seem inadequate to fannish enthusiasm, but maybe that will change tomorrow when there's more going on.
We decided to go back to the hotel and rest our very weary feet. It was a good decision. We made it to the lounge for happy hour, and had white wine, a bowl of onion soup with sausages in it, and some cheese and crackers, which made as good a supper as we really wanted after the long day. It was pleasant to sit and sip our wine in a comfy chair and talk over the day. Maybe tomorrow we'll have better luck with the socializing!
However, it turned out for the best, really. I was sorry that we didn't get to hang out with people from the con, and we probably missed out on a bit of interesting information. But, on the other hand, we got to walk around the islands at our own pace and look at what we were interested in. Suomenlinna was originally called Sveaborg and was built by the Swedes to keep out the Russians. This didn't work too well, because the Russians took over anyway in 1809, and then the Finns renamed it when they took control of it in 1917. It's not much of a fortress, really--mostly some stone walls circling a couple of islands at the mouth of the harbor. The main point, I imagine, is the powerful cannon that were trained on any boats that might try to enter.
It may sound odd, but what I really loved about this place was the very old trees--lindens, aspens, and ash trees mainly, with a few maples. There are several park areas, and the trees are planted in groves there. Because it's so far north, the linden trees had just finished blooming, and the air still held a faint sweetness. My favorite spot was where you can hike up to the edge of the heights where the cannons were placed. You can see far out to sea, past more little islands that, when we were looking at them, were edged with little skirts of mist. Such a stillness hangs in the air from the sea, and everywhere you look is blue, blue, blue. There's a place like that up at Sleeping Bear, in Michigan, where you can look out over the straits toward the Manitou Islands, and there's the same stillness and the blue light. I love it.
At that point, we decided we'd had enough and would not continue on to see the King's Gate where the Swedish kings officially landed when they came for a visit. We could see it from a distance, and it's just a big wall. We descended via a path edged with flowering camomile, fennel, and daisies, and returned to the harbor, where we had shrimp toast, salmon soup, and beer brewed on Suomenlinna. It was good beer, too.
Our feet were hurting from walking for miles on cobblestones, but we went straight to the train station and caught the train to Messekeskus because we wanted to be there for opening ceremonies. Alas, this is where the day begins to resemble the Day of Visiting the Outsides of Closed Buildings, only in this case, it was the Day of Visiting the Outsides of Overcrowded Events. Although we arrived early, the function room was already completely jammed, and hordes of fans were still queueing up and trying to get in. We waited outside for a bit to see if we'd be able to hear the speakers, but no, you could not. So we gave up and instead bought t-shirts, voted in site selection, and had a much-needed coffee. Then we tried to attend a panel--three panels, actually, when it became apparent our first choice was also vastly overcrowded--but all three of them were jammed and overflowing. So far, the facility seems very spread out, and there are a lot of stairs. I think the con is making every effort to accommodate different levels of ability, but I wonder if it will work. In the future, we'll have to make sure to queue up for events VERY early if we expect to see anything! The function rooms seem inadequate to fannish enthusiasm, but maybe that will change tomorrow when there's more going on.
We decided to go back to the hotel and rest our very weary feet. It was a good decision. We made it to the lounge for happy hour, and had white wine, a bowl of onion soup with sausages in it, and some cheese and crackers, which made as good a supper as we really wanted after the long day. It was pleasant to sit and sip our wine in a comfy chair and talk over the day. Maybe tomorrow we'll have better luck with the socializing!
