Dreaming of Freedom

Today is 30th April and that means that the Chalmers students will be out on the streets of Gothenburg. Each year the students design their floats to make fun of events in the news. It starts at 18.15 from Chalmers University of Technology on Gibraltargatan.

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I spent the day walking around Stanwick Lakes. The ex quarry has been turned into a series of lakes and paths for wildlife and people. I spent a few enjoyable hours wandering around in the sunshine, bird watching from various huts and hides and swinging on the modern tyre swings. There is an adventure trail, adventure playground and an assult course as well as a brand new visitor center that is being constructed as I type. At the weekends and over the school holidays bikes can be hired. It’s definitely a place to go if you are in the Nene Valley area.

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The Greenpeace ship, The Rainbow Warrior, is in town. They are here to prevent deep sea trawling as it damages the fragile ocean floor and marine life there. GT have an article up entitled A Celebrity In Town. A few pictures have been posted up of the ship arriving and being docked here at the habour.

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Since coming back to Gothenburg I’ve been cafe hopping. I spent a rainy morning in Café Kringlan with Jo and a sunny afternoon with Moragh in Starcups. Starcups is great - the slices of cake are huge and incredibly satisfying. The place is immaculately cared for and there is free wifi access. Best of all Starbucks the evil giant doesn’t like the name of the place and is engaged in a dispute with the owner.
I breakfasted at Egg and Milk yesterday morning with Cheri and was pleasantly surprised at how good their smoothies were. It’s a 1950s style America diner and it was fun watching people much on their syrup covered pancakes in the depth of Sweden. We enjoyed sitting out in the sun so much that we wandered up to the botanical gardens and had a coffee outside their cafe. I then spent the afternoon and evening hopping from Starcups to Condeco to Notting Hill with Moragh. This is the life.

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It was our last day in Helsinki today and we thought we’d head out to Suomenlinna on the ferry. This group of islands served as a military fortress and prison for the last two hundred years and has been placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as an example of European fortification architecture. There wasn’t much open on the island at this time of the year but the information centre with attached museum was open and provided some tables and chairs for chilled picnickers as well as free washroom facilities. We wandered over the islands and wished it was was summer so we could really appreciate it. We ended up in Cafe Chapman for a cup of coffee before getting the ferry back and dashing to the airport just in time to get our flight back to Gothenburg. I was pleased to discover that Blue 1 offer complimentary coffee on their flights - the coffee was all the better for being free. The sun was shinning when we got back to Gothenburg and it felt like we were coming home.

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I got up this morning to try that most Finish of things - a sauna. The hotel has one for boys and one for girls and it’s not just a sauna - it’s a whole complex complete with room to put your clothes, a relaxation room, shower room and sauna. I had the whole thing to myself and spent a good half hour in there. Another day and another ridiculously huge buffet breakfast. We then borrowed some bikes from the hotel and cycled round the city. We stopped and looked at the Finish Orthodox church - which stands on a hill looking down over the harbour. The air was heavy with incense and the the floor packed with worshipers. I then headed off randomly cycling around the city to get a feeling for the place and ended up at the Botanical Gardens. There was much outside but the glasshouses are beautiful 19th century glass constructions. I even saw some little kids dressed up as witches which is apparently an Easter tradition very similar to ‘trick or treat’ at Halloween.
It’s an easy city to cycle around and I managed to see some of the landmarks including the massive white Lutheran Cathedral.
I ended by back at Kiasma - the Museum of Contemporary Art and spent a very pleasant afternoon inside. The entrance fee was a hefty 7 Euros but you can leave your coat for free as well as take a free audio guide round with you so it seemed reasonable enough. My favourite was Drop by Heikki Ryynänen.
After a cup of tea K and I were ready to find a bar for a drink and a catch up with the author of the Globos project.

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I flew to Helsinki from the Landvetter Airport yesterday after work on one of Blue 1’s uncrowded planes. It was a real pleasure after flying on Ryanair. The staff were really friendly and even gave me a map of the city, as well as directions to my hotel and information on which bus to take into the city. To get into the city centre you take the number 615 from just outside the airport - it takes you to the bus/train station in the centre. We’re staying in a hotel in the Katajanokka area- which is to the west of the city centre. It’s easy to walk to from the station. The weather is somewhat drizzly and the water is frozen with chunks of ice in it. The city has a 1930s feel to it due to the architecture and it really is surprisingly soviet as well. Apparently Finland is often used instead of Russia when filming Russian based films because it looks so similar. Most of the signs here are in Finnish, Swedish and English which makes everything easy. Generally people seem quite comfortable speaking in English too - which makes travelling here nice and easy.

Today after gorging ourselves on a huge buffet breakfast, we wandered up to the Museum of Contemporary Art only to find a demonstration outside protesting the situation in the Congo. Find out a bit more here. They are preparing a petition to give to market giants such as Nokia in a bid to make them more ethically responsible. After this sobering start I spent the day at Pixelache drinking coffee in Cafe Kiasma and checking out what was going on. I went to the Open Forum and got to hear lots of interesting talks about projects past, present and future. Afterwards I went to listen to someone from Art+Com speaking. The stuff they are doing is really inspiring but it clearly takes a lot of money so it’s just not possible without corporate clients to pay for it.

Afterwards we walked up to Töölönlahti which is a large lake behind the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma and then past the Opera House and round the north bit of Helsinki which wasn’t that nice. We then dropped down to the train station and ended up in a little cafe looking out over Kiasma. After a quick wander round the city we headed out of the perpetual drizzle into nice warm hotel.

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The G20 protests really kicked off today and reports of police violence are making it to the mainstream media.

To get up to the minute reporting on the protests - go to Indymedia or Put People First.

Loads of people are involved in the protests - here are some of the groups involved:
Alternative London Summit
Put People First
Stop the War
London Anarchists
G20 Meltdown
Climate Camp
Fossil Fuels

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