Finding Your Scandinavian

The Finnish capital of the country, Helsinki. And the nicest people I've come by in a long while.

I give you the Rock Church. It's a Lutheran church with the real name Temppeliaukio Church, built directly into solid rock. Because of the rough surface that's essentially been unworked, it has excellent acoustics.

At the time it was built in 1968, there were some college kids that were part of the 60's revolution who thought that the extravagant spending it took to build this church could have been put to better use. They got together and spray painted: BIAFRA on the outside of the church. BIAFRA was a state in Nigeria that wanted to separate, and these college students thought that the famine happening over there would have been of much more benefit than building this church. My opinion is to disagree. Sorry Africa, but you haven't sat in this room and heard the sound.

And then an old man walked out and sat at this organ, this beautiful array of pipes, and began to play. And as I sat there quietly listening, trying to decided whether he was as old as the organ or the rock it was built into, more musicians arrived. There was a violin, a cello and a viola. And it reminded me of another time, far, far away which involved those same instruments and a few Canadians.

One has to enjoy walking around the wharf, breathing the air deeply and seeing all the boats docked. And up on a hillside, lay the Uspenski Eastern Orthodox Cathedral overlooking the city and the red "Undersgrund" restaurant built inside a boat on the water.

And the other one, built in the neoclassical style, The Helsinki Cathedral in the center of the city. The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral of the Diocese. Not much else to say about this one, just that it is far more majestic in real life.

And with a dash of Qatar - there lies a place in the northern part of the city of Doha called Katara. It has seemingly been under renovation for the entirety of my existence here in Qatar, but the Symphony Orchestra has been in operation for some time. The talent of the Symphony, is of course pristine and it was an excellent performance, but I must say, the sound quality of the old man playing the organ was far better.

And with a blink of an eye, September was gone and she turned 30. Goodbye, youth. What's next, probably diapers.

Bailey Sue