Brr, a chilly morning. Helsinki has returned to autumn. And what a summer it's been! I gazed through my blog and noticed that I've been up to so much that I haven't had time to write any insert since May! I deeply appologize to all my blog followers. I promise to do better from now on.
The summer has meant a lot of changes in my life. Like you all know, the last time I wrote, I made it clear that I had met my match in my personal life and we're still going strong :)
Actually, yesterday was the first time I could admire both of our names in my apartment's door, with his name first this time.
People might think that I haven't learned anything from my former relationships, but I beg to differ. I know I have grown. I would say that the biggest difference is that I have become more humble. Less than a week ago, I heard somebody describe me as touchy, and I actually had a great discussion concerning this at my job. Yes, since I've lived in Italy for two years and assumed this way of thinking, I can recognize that I'm not the easiest kind of person to get along with. When I don't know a person too well, I tend to react very strongly to e.g. jokes about myself. I still want to believe that I've learned to make more fun of myself as well.
Since the beginning of June, I have been back at my familiar summer working place, the Tourist Office of Helsinki. The Tourist Office stands for something secure and safe for me, but at the same time, each summer is an adventure since you never know how it will turn out. Each summer also gives you the opportunity to get to know new colleagues. This year again, I've had a great opportunity to meet such great people. Friends both at the workplace and outside of work. Not to forget, the Tourist Office has offered me this year, yet another opportunity to get to know the tourists, the reason why I've decided to do this kind of a job. We've had a great summer, more or less similar to the one last year. On a daily basis we've met about 2 000 tourists. Together with the movable infomation design container that's around 3 000 tourists per day. Helsinki's summer tourism is characterized by cruise visitors, some staying in the city for merely 4-6 hours. Nevertheless, we do have visitors coming to Helsinki mainly for an interest of the most culturally isolated and least understood capital of the Nordic countries. I have also met a lot of tourists spending 2-3 days in Helsinki and then exploring e.g. lakeland Finland or Lapland.
Today a new guide book is being launched, now for the first time telling about EXCLUSIVELY Finland. This book is a part of the series of Rough Guides, www.roughguides.com. The Rough guides are travel guidebooks, owned by Pearson PLC. Their travel titles cover more than 200 destinations, and are distributed worldwide. Initially, in 1982, the series was aimed at low-budget backpackers. The Rough Guides books have incorporated more expensive recommendations since the early 1990s, and are now marketed to travellers on all budgets. In Finland the book costs about 30€.
Obviously, for me the most interesting part fof this book is the part telling about Helsinki. According to the Rough Guide: "The southern coast of Finland is the most populated, industrialized and richest part of the country, centred around the capital, Helsinki, a city of half a million people with the friendliness of a peasant village on market day. Helsinki's innovative architecture and batch of fine museums and galleries collectively expose the roots of the national character, while at night the pubs and clubs strip it bare. It may seem the perfect prelude to exploring the rest of Finland, and in the practical sense it is, being the hub of the country's road, rail and air traffic routes. However, if you can, try to arrive in Helsinki after seeing the rest of the country, as only with some prior knowledge of Finland does the significance of the city as a symbol of Finnish self-determination become clear."
I liked this idea of people first exploring other parts of Finland, and then Helsinki. Usually people tend to come here and then go to other places. I think the writer of the book is right. If Helsinki is the first thing you see, you might think that it's merely a big capital city, busy and difficult to comprehend for a traveller. But once you've seen other parts of Finland, you'll noticed how organized, friendly, and culturally versatile Helsinki is. Just yesterday, one of my co-workers at the Tourist Office mentioned that Helsinki is Finland in a nutshell. I liked that description of Helsinki. One of the most important things to remember about Helsinki is that its inhabitants often come from other Finnish cities, so it's impossible to merely speak of Helsinki as a city consisting of Helsinkian people.
As you all know, besides Helsinki, one of my other passions is fashion. This summer, like all summers, hardly any fashion trends have been visible since summer is considered a holiday season, charactisized by beach wear. The only thing that I've noticed is that this summer's thing was very short shorts. They have never been this popular.
Now, towards autumn, the really interesting trends have started to show. The autumn's color is nude, a sense of beige. Over all earthy colors rules the clothing right now. Ruffles are still here, and can be visible in both dresses and tops. Oversize cardigans are in. And scarfs booties are back! Yey, I love them! My favorite items for this season are:
-Ruffle shoulder trench coat
-Gorgeous scarf
Which is your favorite?
What's your opinion?