Finland 100: 18 – Squares

I wouldn’t want to give the impression that everything in Finland is in pristine condition when it comes to urban development. Thankfully, it doesn’t take long for the clean lines to take on a more lived in look, like in this busy pedestrian walkway in Ruoholahti, with its squares within squares. For me, seeing a layer of grime on things makes me feel a bit more attached to my surroundings, at least in a city. When I first moved to Helsinki, I lived a block away from Kaivopuisto park, a very pleasant part of town. And, yes, like many others, I enjoyed my strolls through the park and along the seafront, looking out over the water to the yachts moored in the marina, stopping off at the occasional cafe for a welcome latté. But it wouldn’t take long before I would start feeling like I was in a kind of picture perfect Disney World and would develop a need for a sudden dose of reality to shake me out of my comfort zone. Maybe it’s a fear of middle age and middle class, maybe it’s just having lived in London for so long. Whatever the reason, I moved north of Bulevardi.