And now, after the newly constructed modern buildings, a
little about a different part of Helsinki.
The commentary, for the most part, is from Mikhail Pyarnyanen.
This place is called
"the Old City" (Vankha Kaupunki)
The street running over the bridge is
called Viikintie. In this district, ancient stone and wooden houses are
preserved and maintained, and there is also a lot more vegetation.
It is presumed that the city was founded
precisely here, and from here it developed. This is not the center, but
actually more like the periphery of modern Helsinki. The little house
you see in the photo is situated on a small island: the river in its
estuary flows around into two branches. In ancient times there was first
a water mill here, and then a small factory operated near this dam.
This is the factory building on the other
side of the dam - this building housed the workshops. Now a technology
museum is located on the premises and the surrounding territory.
The premises and grounds are full of exhibits; ancient machine-tools
and presses and other devices of the kind. By the way, if you take the
road further past these museum sites, in a couple of kilometers or so
you will come to another historical locale - the place where the
composition that has now become the Finish national anthem was first
performed. Now this little square has a small monument. The anthem was
original written as a Finish students' song :-)
Another exhibit of the technology museum.
It is likely that this was once installed on a trolley (now it's upside
down). The most modern exhibit that we saw - a large transformer from an
electric power station, bristling with insulators.
Yes, this river is called Vanta. The
little island with two channels - in the rivers very estuary. This photo
shows the second of the river's branches, which is not impeded by a dam.
But here the bottom is rocky and full of
rapids.
Trout swim along it (against the flow) to spawn. The rest of the time
lovers of fishing often sit here. All around there are signs that
fishing without a license is prohibited. You even need it for a simple
fishing rod, but it doesn't cost that much and is easy to get. From time
to time, an inspector walks along these places; he can demand a license
from any fisherman he meets along the shore - if it's not produced there
will be a fine.
To make spawning more
interesting, stones cemented together have been laid across the river in
certain places :)
If we look in the direction of the gulf
from the site of the technology museum - in front of us in all its
beauty appears the new, large pedestrian/bicycle bridge, built two years
ago. It connects two park zones. Near by there is a place of interest to
ornithologists - to the left, if you take this bridge, you will come to
a forested area where thousands of small migratory birds flock (they
make a short stopover to rest). The birds are ringed there in the
spring.
