White Christmas – Helsinki’13

My friend Jay and his friends planned a white xmas trip to the Northern Europe and got me to join. Tbh, I’ve never thought of traveling to that part of the world but I was glad I did. It was an unique experience having met Father Santa on Xmas day itself, crossing the arctic circle and traveling by land, sea and air. I must say an experience of a lifetime, not to mention the awesome company that made the trip.

We flew to Stockholm first, took an overnight cruise from Stockholm to Helsinki and spent a night there. Then we took a 15 hour train(!!) into Lapland – Rovaniemi.

Holiday Inn, Helsinki. Haha that was the best accommodation of the trip!

Musiikkitalo- Helsinki music centre.
Mannerheimintie 13A, 00100 Helsinki, Finland
The Scandinavian architects and designers are known for their minimalism and functionality approach, epitome of the phrase ‘less is more’. This building subsequently inspired me for my major project with their treatments for the space!

Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma.
Mannerheimplatsen 2, 00100 Helsingfors, Finland

Along the streets while we find the church in the rock. Yeahhh Helsinki is one of the cleaner Europe countries I’ve been to!

Haha as the church is at the basement beneath the rocks, we climbed the wrong way and went ABOVE the rocks! Very awkwardly, we hurried down to where we were supposed to enter, almost hoping we don’t fall on the way down.

Temppeliaukio Church – Church in the Rock
Lutherinkatu 3, 00100 Helsinki, Finland

Chapel of Silence.
Front of Kamppi Square.
This chapel is built in the middle of the city centre, said to provide a place for contemplation amidst the hustle bustle. And also, a community area (as seen on the last image) for people to linger and gather. This is what I like about Europe, people are conscious about lifestyle and are more inclined to start an initiative towards a social issue. I personally like the concept of this chapel a lot, even though I don’t adore the form too much!

Actually I think this was taken around 5pm. Ahh definitely not a fan of winter, more sun please! Still, I think Manchester has a better Xmas market haha (right Caroline?)

Museum of Finnish architecture.
Kasarmikatu 24, 00130 Helsinki, Finland
It was a pity we didn’t get to visit Alvar Aalto’s house though..

Foodwise, I’m not a fan of Scandinavian food and the Chinese food there is not fantastic. And it is true that the Northern Europe is more expensive than any other parts of Europe. Their Macdonalds is one of the most expensive I’ve had so far, even more expensive then in uk ( which is already very exp ). Next up, Stockholm!

London – December’13

London! The name that makes you go wow!! Yeah of course I also got wowed over the fact that I get to have a day of stopover before embarking on my epic Northern Europe trip (as referred to by my friend) but.. It was the Murphy’s law realized at its truest for me. I had my train stopped and delayed for an hour ON THE TRACKS because of some random trespasser. According to the PA system, he was suspected to be hiding in the bush (??) and the train will not move until they are clear..
and then a very weird guy beside me started chanting. It was really creepy.

After which the big storm came on that night when we were supposed to visit winter wonderland. There u go, yeah I missed it. And according to my Londoner friend.. It doesn’t really pour like this in London. And then our train to Gatwick got cancelled. We counted, it was about 10 consecutive unfortunate events which my friend said, was bad luck on yours truly. Hahaha. So my impression on London became wow, wth? Haha. But I grew to love it a lot la, after my next few visits here(will update more on that later)

St Pancras station! Known for that non existent platform Harry potter ran into. And also, the main station where most trains drop at (euston as well) . I love that organic ceiling btw.

For those thinking of taking up those popular summer courses of CSM, here’s a peak on their campus at granary square, just behind st pancras.

Fortnum and mason! It was so Christmassy there with orchestral playing at one of the levels, all the Xmas decors and yes, go have afternoon tea at The Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon 4th floor, which was opened by HM the Queen! I haven’t got to try so let me know if it is worth the rave!

Then of course, it is the must see Big Ben and London Eye. I recently saw the back portion of the Big Ben, amazing really. Because I didn’t think too much of the front portion as shown above.

Burger and Lobster! I would say worth going! But please go in advance to get a seat, they don’t take reservations for less than 4pax and 60% of their seats are kept available for walkins. The restaurant’s busiest hours are between 6-7pm. Why do I know so clearly? Because they wrote me an email rejecting my reservation lately and this was what they told me. #jusysaying

Ahahaha ready for my white Xmas holiday and better luck ahead!

This was after my white Xmas holiday, anyway it is common for us to fly from London to Europe because it’s cheaper. These were taken at Oxford Circus Regent Street where all the shops are – shoppers please take note! And we had tea at The Cafe which Jay told me celebrities frequent that cafe. So we went there, hoping to be star struck or scouted (just kidding) haha but the cakes are really nice la. Try the one with an orange tube in the middle of the cake, nice!

Next up is my epic Northern Europe trip, stay tuned cause I’ve got to run and pack now!