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Searched the web and found that a better (?) version
 of this quote could be "Ire necesse est" 
(=(to) travel is necessary) Comments?:)

I like this!

Found this in my friend's Facebook, totally stealing it! ;)
(Hoping not to offend anyone, I do not own the rights to this picture)

In september Princess Victoria of Sweden and her spouse, Prince Daniel, came for an official visit to Turku. They arrived by boat ("Tre Kronor"), and I thought that they actually had sailed from Stockholm to Turku. But alas! They had not. They came by plane, jumped onboard the ship outside Turku and then graciously sailed into the city harbor - waving in a very royal manner!:)

As the school where I work is close by the harbor, I took my students to see Her Majesty. Here are a few pictures!

Children sang a Moomin song for the Princess. Here in her red costume, Little My.

Press people were there, of course.

First glimpses at the Princess!

Royal wave! :)

The little girl that was to be the flower girl.
Later she threw a temper tantrum! :D
Oh boy, will she hear that story when she grows up! :D

Meeting and greeting Turku representatives.

She is so sweet! Daniel was by her side at all times.

The Princess gets her own seal!
The seal is a symbol for the environmental work that is been done for the Baltic Sea.

Her Majesty points out the place where her name plate is going to be.

Paying close attention...

"I wonder if they can do the work properly?"

Tall Ships' Regatta 2011, Turku

Because of the European Culture Capital year, Turku also had the big ships visit this autumn. This event is usually during the summer and it's (usually) called Tall Ships' Race. So, to avoid any misunderstanding, this event was called Tall Ships' Regatta 2011...

Whether the name was a good choice or not, I leave it up to you to decide, but here are a few photos from when the ships were leaving (28/8/2011)... It was such a grey day, so it's only appropriate that the photos are B/W.

Russian "Akela" leaving (click name!:)

Decorative (Russian "Shtandart").

Russian "Shtandart" behind the pier on the left leaving (click links on the names:).
Right ahead/in the middle, Russian "Sedov".

Sails down.

Curious people with a view to the river Aura.

Note to self: Remember Alice!

I've been doing quite a lot of blogg surfing recently and I've found a lot of inspiring and beautiful blogs. I like reading diary-like entries, but I'm mostly fascinated by different photo blogs. Maybe I'll make a list of them once I've established which I really like - like for a longer period of time :)

So. Just now I found this wonderful photo blog, and I want to share it with you. This particular entry is about Jessica/Silversaga having an "Alice in wonderland" theme party (I love theme parties!). The best pert is that it's from HERRÄNG (Sweden) where they have these legendary dance camps (I love dancing!), mostly for lindy hop dancers, but maybe even other rock n' swing dancers go there? My friends from Turku have been there, and if this is the result (dancing AND photographic inspiration), then I MUST go there next summer! Take a look at this beautiful blog called "Once upon a time"!

World of Tango, Tampere (17-18/9/2011)

Quite awesome to have tango dancing friends!
A car full of tango dancers (aka 4 people:) took off to Tampere for the World of Tango Festival main weekend. We had a lot of fun!

I stayed with a friend, and what a good thing that led into: Riikka talked me into going to London with her and her friends! On Saturday we ate tasty burgers at restaurant New York, on Sunday we had coffee at café Runo.

As usual, here are a few photos!

Putting on some contact lenses and tango shoes and we were good to go!

Silla & Jere, Saturday day milonga at Telakka.

Charming lamp and ceiling at Runo.
Upstairs on the balcony more seats.

Runo café.

Rikkaa having coffee, chocolate treat and fashion :)

Me at Runo.

Summer adventures vol. 8: Man on a trapeze

"Panem et circenses!"(*)  

Again, one show that was organized on the behalf of the Turku 2011 Culture Capital events. Too bad that there were no good places to take photos of the acts that they had on the Theater Bridge. It was a bit too bright for the guys juggling with torches and also the railings of the bridge were in the way. Luckily the main act, the guy on the trapeze (Viktor Kaiser), had a spotlight, which made him easier to shoot.

Here, take a look and tell me what you think!

People by the river Aura.
Viktor Kaiser is going to walk the trapeze over to the rock, somewhere above the hole.

Experimenting with shutter speed.

Shutter speed pt. II.

Shutter speed pt. III.

Harder to keep hands still if the object is far away..

Viktor Kaiser on the wire.

You can see the old mill in the background..

Kaiser is about half way... 

Here you can see the masses watching closely if Kaiser will fall or not!

Summer adventures vol. 7: Colourscape, Turku

This was the coolest thing this summer! Because of the Culture Capital year, we have been spoilt rotten with all of these cool events. So on the 9th of August me and two friends headed out to experience "Colourscape", the "inflatable sculptures" as they are called on Wikipedia (see the whole (but short:) article here).

There is also an article (and a few others) on Turku 2011 web pages, which you can see here.
Apparently over 15.500 people went to see these coloured bubbles, awesome!

The photos are hard to edit because the color is so rough and strong. The atmosphere was very Sci-Fi and I absolutely loved it. If they come again (or I have the chance to see this elsewhere), I will definitely take the time and visit them again.

We had a blast, hope you do too! Enjoy! :)

In the middle section there was an interactive show:
weird music and a dancer making you a part of the art.

Kids confused.

Me fooling around. I didn't notice the halo behind me!:)

Fooling around pt. II.

Fooling around pt. III.

Fooling around pt. IV.

That was our super cool visit to Colourscape.
Thank you Colourscape!

Summer adventures vol. 6: Slutwalk

A friend of mine came to visit Turku (06/08/11) and she asked me to go experience "SlutWalk" with her. I had planned to see the event because it was for a good cause and so on - and yet I might not have gone, but now that my friend was coming to town, I definitely wanted to see this cool parade with my own eyes. Here is a little bit I found on Wikipedia (read the whole article here):

"The SlutWalk protest marches began on April 3, 2011, in Toronto, Canada, and became a movement of rallies across the world. Participants protest against explaining or excusing rape by referring to any aspect of a woman's appearance. The rallies began when Constable Michael Sanguinetti, a Toronto Police officer, suggested that to remain safe, "women should avoid dressing like sluts." The protest takes the form of a march, mainly by young women, where some dress in ordinary clothing and others dress provocatively, like "sluts." There are also speaker meetings and workshops. Some objectors have remarked that this approach is an example of women defining their sexuality in male terms."

The protest march started from the market square, went over the river on Aurakatu, past the river boats, back over the Theater Bridge and via Kristiinankatu and Yliopistonkatu to Puolalanpuisto, the park behind the city Art Museum. I was really happy that I participated! They had quite a few loud women shouting in megaphones and that helped the shy Finns to start shouting!:) After the march there was a gathering in the park with speakers and music. The atmosphere was engaged and slightly aggressive (in a good way) :)


I hope these photos do not offend anyone. 
But also, I stand behind my statement and totally agree with the ideology of the SlutWalk. 


Here are a few photos! 

Flyer with cheers and slogans

"Why is rape the victim's fault?"

People getting ready to march.

Girl with a message.

Up on the hill, outside the City Art Museum.

Young girls that want to grow up without fearing violence. 

Friends enjoying the atmosphere and the last rays of sunlight.

Minna's pill box! :)