Helsinki Train Station

I'm just back from a 3-day trip to Finland to give a philosophy lecture. My destination was Turku, which had been the capital of Finland when the country was under Swedish rule, before the Russians moved it to Helsinki in the early 19th century. To get there, I took a train from Tartu to Tallinn, then a ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki, then another train from Helsinki to Turku. It was my first time in Helsinki's train station and its architecture (see picture above) reminded my alot of St. Paul's Church in Tartu (see picture below). It turns out that they were both designed by the famous Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen, and built within three years of each other (1914 and 1917 respectively).


Meanwhile, Tartu's train station is so run down it looks derelict



Talking of Helsinki's train station also gives me the excuse to link to this video of the 'Helsinki Complaints Choir' which I found hilarious. Some of the footage (including the beginning) is from inside the Helsinki train station. And I was struck by the number of complaints that involve saunas ... .

Finally, continuing the Finnish theme, the Finnish language is closely related to Estonian and no less complicated. Consider, for example, "epäjärjestelmällistyttämättömyydellänsäkään." This one Finnish word means something like "even with his (or her) quality of being untouched by disorganization"

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