Tallinn also has a lovely new tram route going through the harbour (or the route of tram number 2 now includes the old harbour).

for half an hour in the busiest bus
in Helsinki. Last week I tried a short train ride to Oulunkylä, then light rail to Itäkeskus and then the metro replacement bus to Vuosaari and it took about as long while being much more comfortable.

Like today when I need to go from Käpylä to Vuosaari. If the metro was working up to Vuosaari I would take the train to the central railway station and then the metro but currently it’s more complicated. A few weeks ago I tried a combination of two buses but had to stand

My favourite line in Helsinki is the 13 Pasila to Kalasatama, shown in the photo temporarily using the turquoise light rail tram. My second favourite is probably the light rail number 15 from Itäkeskus to Espoo. It’s usually not on my usual routes so I’m happy when I get to use it.

Rut Bryk is probably my favourite artist wirkkalabryk.fi/en/rut-bryk/

The common sauna may seem strange but it’s common in Finland for people to have saunas in their homes so the common sauna was meant to be more communal. The residents also act as caretakers by turn, to save money and again to strengthen the community. Among the duties is warming up the sauna.

We also had family parties there and for many years there was a common meal on Saturdays. We didn’t have cable tv at home as at least some of adults considered it harmful but we could watch MTV at the common house as teenagers.

The common house was a daycare during the day and could be used by anyone in the evenings and weekends. The daycare was very convenient for parents (and children). There was one former worker at the party who still remembered me after all the decades.

What is cohousing? This article en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cohousing explains the concept well but in our case it was a collection of private residences, both privately owned and rentals owned by the municipality that had some common amenities, like the common house and a shared sauna.

There’s also Pihlajasaari, a nice beach but also beautiful rounded cliffs to explore. Harakka has a H. R. Giger statue. I did the Eastern archipelago cruise last week, it’s beautiful and you can get off the boat on various islands.

Nearby is Vallisaari which is similar but more nature and currently there’s an outdoor art exhibition there. I haven’t seen it yet but the island is great anyway. You can take a boat that goes to both Suomenlinna and Vallisaari, or the public transit ferry to Suomenlinna.

I don’t know you but was just thinking about things I would recommend in Helsinki. At the moment I feel like the best thing about Helsinki is maybe the sea and it might be slightly cooler there? Suomenlinna is a classic but it’s really great, it’s one of my favorite places to wonder around in.

I could obviously just buy frozen berries from the supermarket but it’s more expensive and where’s the fun in that? I grew up picking berries so maybe it’s a learned behavior but it also feels like a primeval instinct.

I will occasionally also buy lingonberries, based on how full my freezer is when they’re in season. There aren’t enough of them near me for picking though sometimes I’ll find a handful of them while on a walk to snack on. They’re their best after a frost. I also make apple sauce.

My favorite to pick and eat are would raspberries. They’re just starting to ripen, this photo is from last year and I hope that I can repeat it this year. Bilberries are good but raspberries are divine at their best. Their combination makes the best jam though, called queen jam in Finnish.

My berry preserving season starts with strawberries. I could go to a place where you can pick them yourself but it’s difficult to get there without a car and usually you don’t even really save money. This box was a bit pricey at 43 euros for 5 kg but the quality was very good. I freeze them puréed.

I saw a frog and heard goshawks. It’s a popular recreation area so I saw some riders on the horse trails. There are often mountain bikers and dog walkers and just people walking around, I love it. There’s also a gay cruising spot nearby, though I’m usually there way earlier in the day.

The forest near me is actually a semi maintained urban park. It’s not the best spot but I live next door so it’s the easiest. There are ticks and some other things I prefer to avoid so I wear rubber boots and a long, light rain coat and prefer not to wear those on public transport when it’s hot.

You can pick berries almost anywhere here with some restrictions. You don’t have to have the landowner’s permission but you can’t pick too close to someone’s home, for example.