HELSINKI, FINLAND

                                           A Lovely Park

            Being an outdoors person I manage to find parks everywhere I go. I would much rather walk through a park than along the street. In Helsinki, Finland we found delightful Esplanade Park, which stretches west to the main thoroughfare Mannerheimintie. The park was established by the city administration in the beginning of the 19th century. It was meant to mark the border between downtown and new uptown. Soon, the park became the place for the bourgeoisie to stroll on Sundays in fancy clothes – it was the park to be seen in.

 Running from Market Square to the Swedish Theater the boulevard has a broad expanse of trees with gardens in the middle. Small shops, department stores, and cafés abound. At the east, the park ends at a fountain, behind which opens up the view to Helsinki's Market Square  and the sea. At the western end the Esplanade green space is bordered by the Swedish Theater, behind which runs the busiest street in the center of Helsinki. The theater building acts as a wall blocking traffic noise, so Esplanade Park is close to the busy city while providing a calm respite.

Esplanade Park is both clean and safe. Many pieces of old Helsinki architecture border the Esplanade while statues of Finnish poets decorate the park.  During my visit there was a series of bronze sculptures, called Las Meninas, in the middle of the wide center path of the esplanade. The sculptures looked like stout Spanish women dressed for a ball. They held out their skirts like they were ready to enter a room , curtsy or climb a flight of stairs.  They were graduated in size. I wondered who did them and how many there were?  We never did count them, but did find out they were a summer art exhibit done by a Spanish sculpture.

            Free concerts take place almost daily during the summer. A stunning combination of architecture and illumination,  Esplanade Park won the 1999 Edison award for lighting design. We leisurely strolled through the park until we hit Stockmann’s department store which is the Finn equivalent of London’s Harrods. We spent a fair amount of time in the store as my friend looked for crystal.