“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” Joshua 1:9
Two years ago we had been to see the seals with my brother and other friends. Our Australian friend took a break from work to come to Edinburgh, so we decided to take her to see the seals. I had just arrived in Edinburgh from Helsinki the day before and rested that afternoon, so I couldn't wait to get outdoors and experience the awesomeness of God's creation!!
The path to an adventure!!
Setting out on our adventure in the cliffs off the South East of Scotland in the Borders - Graeme, Camden and I
The amazing sky scape
We had to gently scramble down the cliff to see the seals better - can you see the seals on the sand?
Action shot
All the seals on the beach
This was an amazing experience!! Not to mention an amazing exercise!!
Artistic shot
Sitting to see how the seals would respond to us coming closer - they didn't do anything different. One of the seals who was a mother with her baby kept looking at us checking us out, and she even moved closer to us, but did nothing to warn the others.
My expression at how amazing an experience it was!!
It was so amazing seeing the waves crashing on the rocks!! How do the seals survive in such treacherous waters?
I tried to do a panorama shot ;)
We were just getting up to leave the seals be, but when we got up the seals started dashing to the sea!! We felt so bad for disturbing them!!
Coming back up the cliff was so much quicker than going down!!
We made it to the top of the cliff!! Now to get back to the car.
Coming back from our adventure
When we got back to the car we drove to get a Fish'n'Chips to give ourselves heaps of energy to warm up.
What a day!! We definitely made the most of our time in Helsinki together: skating, visiting the new art gallery and visiting a public sauna with a sea pool. I am getting tired just thinking about all we did!!
We (mum, dad, Graeme and I) started the day having a poached egg breakfast in our apartment. Our traditional breakfast ever since I learnt how to poach eggs at home Ec in Grade 9.
We then went out for lunch in Helsinki to a restaurant called "No Pizza". And can you guess what they had? Pizza!! Well, sourdough pizza.
Graeme and I then went iceskating while my parents went shopping.
We then went for a walk through the streets of Helsinki.
My favourite place in Helsinki is the White Church!! And yes, it is actually called such a simple name ;)
Graeme and I had then planned to meet my friend from high school, Aigerim, and her boyfriend, Gintas to go to a new type of art museum called Amos Rex, renamed after being called Amos Anderson Art Museum.
The museum is named after Amos Anderson, who was a patron of the arts in Finland, and owned the largest Swedish speaking newspaper in Finland. Before his death he asked two architects to design a building in the centre on Helsinki for a combined personal living quarters and work space. After his death it became an art museum dedicated to the man. It was then reopened last year with a new type of interactive exhibition called "Massless" by a collaborative called TeamLab from Japan, where we are encouraged to interact with the exhibition.
The first exhibition at the Amos Rex museum. It was a room of waves that were formed by lines moving.
Graeme and I in the room
The second exhibition was a huge room full of moving graffiti at first glance. When you looked closer you realised it was colourful animals and flowers all moving. When we checked the museum guide it said that we could touch the exhibition. So we touched the walls and flowers started growing, which attracted butterflies.
We then went to a room where you could colour in an animal that could then be let loose into the room with all the colourful flowers and butterflies on the walls. There were also frogs and crocodiles. So I coloured in a frog, Graeme coloured in a crocodile, and Aigerim and Gintas coloured in a crocodile as well. We then let them be scanned and uploaded into the room, where they bounced and moved all around the walls and floor.
The next room after that was a big room where we waited to go to another exhibition. The room had heaps of moving lines moving up. The room was called a "Vortex". The next room was a video of a crow flying through space. It was very moving. Get it? ;)
I think by far my favourite of the exhibition was the Graffiti room. It was so amazing to be able to touch the wall and flowers grew!!
We went to dinner at a quaint Vietnamese restaurant called Onam, where we had a lovely Pho soup
After eating we had to rush to get to the Allas Sea Pool. When Graeme and I got there, we realised that the mixed sauna was closed due to a party being there. So we were a bit annoyed that we couldn't go to a sauna together. So we went to our individual changing rooms, and hopped into the sauna, realising that because it was a Finnish sauna most people weren't wearing any clothes!! I was fine because I didn't have my glasses on, and was more used to it than Graeme. Graeme, however, walked in and out again, apparently, the first time he went it ;) He had his contact lenses in so that he could see everything much more clearly than me.
We then met at the outdoor pool. It was a very slippery path to get to the pools. Not to mention that it was cold!! I think it was around 3 degrees celsius. So the first time I walked to the pool I slipped on the ice :o I was fine.
The warm outdoor pool
There was also a sea pool that guests could use. Graeme wanted to go and have a swim in it :o I definitely did not want to ;)
After going back into the sauna and swimming in the warm pool a couple of times we were ready to leave. We were very relaxed, but needed some sugar to give us energy after our bodies had to keep adjusting to the hot and the cold temperatures.
We were walking up the Esplanade, and I was just telling Graeme about the most expensive cafe in Helsinki. And before he could hear me he went straight in to the cafe I was talking about to get something to eat!!
Having tea and hot chocolate at Kamp, while looking out over the street
Our awesome desserts!! I had an amazing, the best in my eyes, creme brûlée!! It was so creamy and delicious!! Graeme had a nice macaron with ice cream.
Sneaky kiss with the Christmas decorations in the Esplanade park
If you look closely the reindeer has a red nose!!
We were then so incredibly tired that when we got back we literally fell on our beds!! The next day Harri was arriving on a plane from Cardiff.
