Isfestivalen Uppsala

For the last week, Uppsala has been having an Ice Festival with ice sculptures carved by (mostly Swedish) artists. I went around last night and took pictures. I don't think I managed to find all of the sculptures. Most of them are in the city park but there are others elsewhere.



In Stora Torget (the big Square) there are two on display.



This one had a sign saying that it won the ice sculpture contest this year. The light behind it pulsed so it looked like a beating heart.



You can't see it all that well but this one had faces carved on all sides.



Over to the city garden.



 



 



This sculpture and the next two were part of a children's park made of ice.



 



 



And the rest of the sculptures.



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



From the city park, you can see the Cathedral in the background.



On one of the many bridges.



Unfortunately for the sculptures, we've warmed up a bit and are right around freezing now. When I first set out the sculptures looked a bit wet. At the entrance to the park there is a pond that was being used as a skating rink for quite a while. The weather forecast says that we are supposed to drop down again, so we'll see. I'm still enjoying the snow (while explaining to everyone that we don't get snow in Victoria.)  We've gained about two hours of daylight since December.

Fettisdagen and Unicycling in the Snow

Today (Feb. 12) is Fettisdagen (Fat Tuesday) in Sweden. According to Wikipedia, it takes place on the day before Lent and you traditionally eat Semla.



Semla is made from a wheat bun spiced with cardamom. The bun is hollowed out and filled with some sort of almond paste and whipped cream. Then the top of the bun is put on as a lid and covered in powdered sugar. I'm not really sure what is the best way to eat it. Wikipedia says some people eat it in a bowl of hot milk. When I was buying it in the bakery (the entire conversation was in Swedish!) there were some girls who just picked it up and ate it. It's alright. They seem to be very popular. There was a line-up at the bakery of people buying them. And one person had even pre-ordered some.

We've still got lots of snow. (It did melt for a couple of days.) Thankfully, we're in the bearable cold (read: warmer than -10C). For a few weeks we were around -20C. The last couple of days it's been doing this:



And yes, (crazy) people still ride their bikes. And yes, the guy who's closest is riding a unicycle. I was quite impressed.

Helsinki Part 2

A bunch more pictures from my last day in Helsinki. It should be noted that Helsinki is a city of churches.

Temppeliaukio Church - It has very good acoustics so it is often used for concerts. The walls are made entirely of rock.



Helsinki Parliament House



Sibelius Park



The park was very pretty.



Sibelius Monument with an effigy of the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius in the back. It was very big. According to Wikipedia, there are 600 pipes and it's 8.5 × 10.5 × 6.5 metres.



Uspenski Cathedral



 

 

 

 

 In the background, you can see Helsinki Cathedral.

 

 And that was Helsinki.