Seurasaari

Seurasaari is one of my very favourite places. If I did a hundred places to see before you die, this would be on my list. (Maybe one day I should do a sort of bucket list, 100 places I did actually see before I died.) Anyway my list would have lots of unlikely places, and Seurasaari would be one.

Its an open air museum, based on an island off the coast of Helsinki which is reached by a little wooden bridge. The island has a series of buildings, from storage huts to a manor house, that have been moved here. So there is a lot to engage one. It gives an interesting insight into life in 19th century Finland (and before). It must have been such a hard life. And almost everything is in wood, as that was the only material available. When the other option is granite, which of course is bloody hard to work, you just have to turn to wood, which will be pine or birch. And that extends from the structure of buildings down to eating utensils. So even the grand manor house below, is wooden in construction and all the interior walls which in England would be plaster are here painted wood.

And in addition to the interest factor, the rest of the island is a park with woods, bird life, relativley tame red squirrels and a lovely coast line. In addition there is an utterly gorgeous little cabin designed by some architecture students as a place for reflection (and shelter from the less than predictable weather).

I chose to go on a day with rain forecast. Why would one go to an open air museum with rain forecast? Well, because rain was forecast for every day. And sometimes you just have to make a leap of faith. Which was rewarded, as apart from a tiny shower it was lovely day.