The perpetual photography thread

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Part of the architecture of Hotel Linna in Helsinki city centre:



Formed in 1987, the Islamic Society of Finland mainly caters to Finland's Arabic and Moroccan immigrant population, with a few ethnic Finnish converts.



More shots of Helsinki's downtown districts:





A very odd piece of clothes-line street art above Lönnrotinkatu in Helsinki's city centre:

I love the last one though I don't really understand what's going on.

A visit to Alko, the government monopoly beer store. Each Nordic country and dependent territory (apart from Denmark) has a monopoly on booze, so one cannot buy booze for private consumption other than from government-run stores. It's very expensive (a bottle of cheap locally-brewed porter is £3!) and paternalistic but the service is good.

This was the second alcohol shop I've visited in my life. The first was the Liquor Control Board of Ontario when I was in Canada.

This is the main branch for Helsinki city centre.

Not a huge range of beer, mainly wines.



Their selection of beers. Not a massive choice in this particular branch, it must be said - I bought about ten bottles though, which I think came to about £60 altogether.



I then went onto the park (it was a lovely summer's day) and had a few drinks.



The Havis Amanda. Havis Amanda is a nude female statue in Helsinki, Finland. It was sculpted by Ville Vallgren (1855-1940) in 1906 in Paris, but was not erected at its present location at the Market Square in Kaartinkaupunki until 1908.



A boat tour firm that does trips around Helsinki's harbour area:

Another quick photograph from the 12th July march when the bands were at the field. Later in the day, one of them started playing at a dodgy town centre pub. I went away and had a pint in the Wetherspoon's. When I came back, the police had been called and were outside this pub.

Hollyhocks!

We had our ferry back to Tallinn to catch but before we did we popped in the Old Market Café to have a look round and perhaps have another beer. We stopped here and had a large beer - cost about £5.20 for a pint.

The keg font doesn't stipulate which of the three versions of Karhu this is - there are editions at 3.5% ("Karhu II"), 4.6% ("Karhu III") and 5.3% ("Karhu IV A") respectively.

Only had the one here though - we didn't really have enough time for anything else.



Back in Tallinn and Estonia, we passed the Hotell Viru on the way for something to eat. The city centre (as distinct from the Old Town) is all very flashy and modern, with glass buildings and so on.



A second-hand shop we passed on the way to the café bar/restaurant we eventually ate at. What a jolly jape!



We ate at the Baar Šeš-Beš in the city centre - relatively cheap, too. A pint of lager was £2.25 a pint, and I think it was the cheapest place on the holiday.

Crusty bread:



Traditional fried Estonian cheese with dip:



And a chicken salad (not mine, I hasten to add):

Those are all really good pictures. I like the architecture and the clothes line art.

*cue schoolboy sniggering*

I think that shot of the Hotel Viru would look pretty good closely cropped into the central section - say, from just below the top of the building on the left down to just above the tree on the right-of-centre, and including enough of the building on the right to balance what's visible of the one on the left.
Should make quite a nice abstract composition.

The Radisson SAS in Tallinn's central business district:



The breakfast buffet at my hotel:





The next day, we went to find the Ülemiste shopping centre, which is probably the largest shopping centre in Estonia.

Photos of wasteland:





And the outside of the Ülemiste Center itself:

Bought a bottle of this for my brother:



And a bottle of this for me from Helsinki, which I drank in my hotel room:



Juriöö Park, a famous historical area for Estonians.

More information:

Jüriöö Park was founded in the highest region of Tallinn, on the ridge of the Sõjamäe (War Hill), 55 metres above sea level. The name of the region itself refers to the bloody events that once took place in this area.

RENNER - HONNEKE CHRONICLE SPECIFIES: On 14 May, 1343, a decisive battle was fought on the grounds of the now Jüriöö Park between the mail-clad knights of the master of the Livonian order, Von Dreileben, and the Estonian troops. Although this battle took the lives of 3,000 Estonians.

All these views were very clearly reflected in the 1930s decision to plant an oak grove on the War Hill.

Architect Joh. Ostrat's design won the design contest announced by the War Hill Decoration Committee formed for founding the grove, and the general layout of the War Hill Grove basedon Ostrat's design was officially approved in March 1936. In May 1936, the first officially dedicated oak trees were planted in the Oak Hill Grove; a year later, there were already 22 of them.

Among other distinguished governmental and public officials dedicated oaks were also planted for the Head of State, Konstatin Päts, Commander-in-Chief, Johan Laidoner, the former Head of State, Jaan Tõnisson, etc.

In the 1950s, a lot of nondescript industrial buildings were erected in the vicinity of the War Hill. The new Leningrad Road was designed so that it cut through the originally planned grove. According to an article in Õhtuleht from 24 October 1960, there was only one 5-metre oak left on the War Hill by that stage.

The domestic history research club of Tallinn City Museum started to fix this dismal situation in the second half of the 1960s. The initiator of the project was Karl Laane, a merited domestic history researcher, working on the planting team at the time.

The cleaning of the territory alone required a lot of hard work. Planting trees on the limestone surface was even more complicated. Besides, the planted trees needed constant care.

The domestic history researchers not only created a small park on the War Hill, but also deferred the plans for industrial expansion.

During the years of the Soviet occupation, even most people in Tallinn did not know to link the War Hill by the St. Petersburg Road with the historical Jüriöö uprising.

In today's Jüriöö Park there are memorials to celebrate and commemorate the most important stages in the history of our country. A sword struck halfway into the ground symbolizes the Jüriöö uprising, and there is also a memorial stone to the Fighters in the Estonian War of Independence, and a momument to all Estonians in World War II.

he following events have become traditional in Jüriöö Park:

Anniversary of the Taru Peace Treaty on 2 February

Jüripäev on 23 April

Anniversary of the Republic of Estonia on 24 February

Victory Day on 24 June

Commemoration of ancestors, heroes and the New Year's Eve on 31 December

Following the plans laid out during the first Republic, the tradition of planting oaks has also been re-established in addition to other festivities and plans are made to restart army parades in Jüriöö Park.



Ceremonial sword:



Another memorial:

On the evening of the last day of our stay, we went to the Dr!nk Bar & Grill for a couple of beers.

Perhaps the pub with the widest range of beers in Tallinn. As well as the regular Estonian (and "house" beers) it also do a very large (for Tallinn) range of imported German, Belgian, Czech and English beers too (mostly bottled), including some I never would have expected to find. Bottles of Westons Special Reserve (8.2%) are sold for just over €4 a pop - very cheap when you think about it. They also do happy hours where you can get a half-litre of lager for around €1.65.

I had a small 33cl bottle of Meantime Coffee Porter that I think set me back about €3.30, something of that order. Had the house Müchener beer without knowing its ABV and only found out later that it's actually 6.2%. Prices are about the same as most pubs in Tallinn from what I remember.

Great pub; wished I stayed. Recommended.



After that we went to a pub up the road called the Karja Kelder. We didn't stop because the music was too loud and the pub was simply too dark.

I ordered pigs' ears and they just weren't crispy enough:



After that, we left there and went for a walk to a lovely Estonian restaurant near the ferry area. The best food on the whole trip at this place, called the Kohvik Moon.

I had salmon glazed with honey and mustard which cost €10:



And my mum being my mum had chicken breast:



I washed my food down with a large glass of Puls Tume, a dark lager:

OK, please can someone post some photos of their own, if only to break this up a bit? It's getting terribly tedious looking at mine all the time.

Last Thursday.

not sure when...a while ago.

Where is that, emlion?

south west of england. i forget where exactly, i should label my photos...