Finlandia! Today’s excursion was a somewhat short (three hour) bus tour that hit a lot of the key tourist-y spots with great efficiency. We first toured around the harbour area and then headed up into the downtown area to see Senate Square and the adjacent cathedrals, university and open-air marketplace. Then up past the new Opera House, Olympic Stadium, up and around the Meilahdenpuisto region (where the President lives) and down to Sibellius Park, dedicated in honour of Finland’s favourite composer whom I’d never, ever heard of before setting out on this trip (not that I’d claim to be an expert on 19th century Finnish composers). I really liked the monument there, which is a fascinating sculpture composed of hollow steel tubes meant to represent music (as well as a bust/sculpture of the composer to appease the less imaginative). Unfortunately, it had started raining just then, so my photos have a little bit of water blotching to them. It wasn’t raining hard enough to actually get me wet, just enough to muck up the camera.

The next stop was Temppelaikukio, or the “Church in the Rock”, which was quite accurately a church built into a huge chunk of granite. Located mostly underground, the round Lutheran church was built around three decades ago and is quite stunning inside, with it’s large copper dome ceiling and stone walls. The acoustics are also supposed to be superb, making it a popular venue for concerts. The tour bus then swung through the more modern, commercial part of downtown en route back to the ship where I grabbed a quick lunch and then caught a shuttle back into the city. I then engaged in some general wandering and photography. A stop in a record store gave proof to the rumour that metal is still very big in Scandanavia, with Iron Maiden sharing feature rack space with Sigur Ros. Unfortunately, the intermittent rain was getting more mittent and heavier so after a couple hours it was time to duck back on a bus and retreat to the cozy confines of the Star Princess.

So what about the architecture? Everything has a very clean, classical look which is pretty remarkable considering that most of the city’s buildings are less than 200 years old (the country in its current incarnation hasn’t even been around for a century yet). It helps that much of the city’s public buildings were laid out to a master aesthetic plan by the architect Carl Engels and the rest of the city seemed to follow along, stylistically. I didn’t get to see too many of the modern buildings (Temppelaikukio notwithstanding) except from the bus, so most of my up-close-and-personal experience is from the older-styled building around Senate Square and the downtown commercial area. As I wandered, I couldn’t help thinking how drab and uninspired Toronto is in comparison to here (and everywhere in the world, it seems). It’s like that almost every building there is remarkable in some fashion, and there’s so many of them that rather than being made heritage buildings and tourist destinations the way they would at home, they’re turned into retail shops, drug stores, etc. And even with the bar set that high, buildings like the train station or Museum of Modern Art are as simply made even more spectacular. I can understand why Helsinki’s buildings have such an excellent reputation.

Like Stockholm, I found Helsinki wonderfully understated and charming. Even the Presidential palace was impressively subtle. Despite the somewhat dodgy weather, I found the whole place to have a real nice feel, like a perfect blend of modern and classic influences. I also liked that I was able to spend more time in the less tourist-y part of town than I did in Stockholm and I daresay the women here are better looking than in Sweden…

Tomorrow we hit Russia, which necessitates turning the clocks ahead yet another hour. Just when I get adjusted to one time zone, we go to another. Overcoming jet lag is like a moving target. What’s most nuts is that by the time my day is almost over, most people back home are just getting started. It’s like I’m in the future.

Finally, landfall! Though to reach land, it took another boat. For whatever reason, the ship was docked offshore at the port town of Nynashamm, about an hour outside of Stockholm, and we had to take the ship’s liferafts (called “tenders”) to get ashore. Naturally, the weather was dismal with wind and rain and pretty choppy waters. We made it without incident though, and it was on the bus for a drive through the Swedish countryside into the capital. Not counting my brief sojourn between airport and ship in Copenhagen, this was my first ever time in a truly foreign country. America is weird, but not really foreign, so I don’t count it.

The tour package for the day was called “Stockholm on Your Own”, which as the name implied, meant they dropped us off in Gamla Stan (“Old Town”) and said they’d pick us up in four-and-a-half hours. Otherwise it was every man for himself, which suited me fine. I started out just wandering the cobblestone streets of Gamla Stan, which were wonderfully chaotic in size, shape, slope and direction. The tall 16th and 17th century buildings lining the streets were mainly shops and restaurants, but rarely excessively tourist-y or gaudy. It all still looked very authentic. I just happened to make it to the Kungliga slottet (Royal Palace) around noon when the changing of the guard was underway – I just passed by so I don’t really know how much I saw or how long it was going on, but there were many many soldiers in both ceremonial and combat uniforms lining the streets, practicing glaring at people. The palace was impressive, but also somewhat subdued as far as royal palaces go. That was actually my impression of Stockholm overall – charming and modest, content to be what it was. I liked it.

More wandering took me over to the Riksdagshuset, an island just off Gamla Stan where the Swedish parliament sits. Or so I was told, it looked like a big street party to me. Maybe that was just the outside. After peeking around a bit, I backtracked onto Gamla Stan and around the perimeter to check out the harbour district and then down to the ferry docks to punt across the harbour to Djurgarden. I’m under the impression that Djurgarden is a little like Coney Island off season, not that I’ve ever been to Coney Island. It had a theme park which was closed for the year, and was generally empty. There’s little sadder than an empty, chained-up amusement park. There were definitely signs that this was a place that was usually more hopping with people, but as it was, it was kind of barren.

The main reason for heading over to the island was to check out the Vasa Museum, which was one of those tourist must-see attractions. It houses an enormous 17th century Swedish warship that was to be the flagship of the navy… if it hadn’t sunk on its maiden voyage. Apparently this is still something the Swedes are proud of, because it was finally raised almost completely intact in 1956 and placed on display. It is pretty massive and impressive – they also salvaged a lot of the decorations and detailing of the ship, as well skeletons of some of the crew who died on it, and all are on display. That was about all to see on Djurgarden, I didn’t have the time or energy to check out Skansen, an outdoor Nordic museum and zoo. Apparently if I’d gone in, I could have pet a moose.

I killed the rest of the afternoon again wandering Gamla Stan, checking out the souvenir shops and listening to some impressive buskers. By this point the sun had actually broken through the clouds for a bit, so it was nice to see the city with some colour instead of the grey, overcast-ness that had defined most of the day.

Oh yeah, it’s true – almost everyone in Sweden seems unnaturally attractive. Even their unattractive people are good-looking. I found it quite unsettling, to be honest. But otherwise, I rather enjoyed Stockholm. It was smaller and more modest a city than I’d been expecting, but I’m probably too accustomed to sprawling North American metropolises. There is something to be said for small, but with loads of character. If you want to learn more about Stockholm and Sweden, visit your local library! No, don’t Google it, go read a goddamn book. What’s wrong with you?

Tomorrow – Helsinki!

Know what being at sea on a cruise liner is like? It’s like Die Hard in a retirement home. Don’t ask me how, it just is

This was one of two travel days on the trip, which meant I had pretty much the whole day to kill, and ship programming considerately gave me the option of playing shuffleboard or bingo to while away the time. I spent a goodly amount of time wandering the ship, looking in vain for something interesting to do, but to little avail. I figured I could hit the casino and work on my gambling habit or maybe sit and contemplate my employment future (which could very well involve sitting in front of a slot machine for hours on end), but instead I opted to sit in the lounge chairs on the aft deck of the ship, reading Harry Potter, watching the wake of our passing and pondering the curvature of the Earth. Weighty stuff, I know, but come on – I’m on vacation. There wasn’t much in the way of scenery to enjoy – some transport ships off in the distance, some turbines as we pulled away from Denmark in the AM but mostly just water. Lots of water.

Otherwise, much of the day was spent waiting for meal times (the food here is pretty damn good) and avoiding spending too much time around the poolside (Consider what I’ve said about the passenger demographic. Now put them in swimsuits. Shudder). There was a presentation designed to whet our appetites about seeing St Petersburg in a couple days (which it did) but otherwise, it was pretty lazy.

But hey! Tomorrow is Sweden. I’m pretty excited about getting off the boat and checking out some local colour. It will be an early morning though, we are out of here at around 8:30 AM local time, which is about 2:30 AM back home. The jet lag isn’t quite as bad as I’d feared, but I will be turning in early tonight.

And that’s the day.

Sunday, September 11, 11:30 PM EDT, ??? Local time

I’m just over halfway through my flight to London Heathrow, which should put me in the North Atlantic, probably somewhere around Iceland? They said that daylight would come very quickly upon us as we headed east, but it’s still pitch black outside. Among other firsts, this is my first red-eye flight so as I write this, the cabin is mostly dark and the passengers mostly asleep, save for the smallish number of people choosing to watch Moulin Rouge rather than catch some shut-eye. I’ve never seen the film but I don’t have a great angle on the screen and figure I’d rather see it in more comfortable environs. It’s the second film of the flight, the first was Monster In-Law. You’re damn right I slept through that.

I’ve had Billy Bragg stuck in my head for most of the first part of the flight, and naturally I didn’t bring any of his music along though I did think of it before I left. “Here Comes Richard” was replaced in my mental soundtrack by Jim James yelping “Off the record! Off the record!” and while I actually did bring my copy of Z along with me, I really don’t feel like installing the copy protection software that would allow me to play it on the laptop so I’m currently enjoying the dulcet yet sardonic croonings of Swedish troubadour Jens Lekman. Seems appropriate.

If I had any sense, I’d be asleep too. For whatever reason, I’ve been nigh-narcoleptic all day, barely staying awake long enough to check in, board and eat… But I just caught a few hours of shut-eye and honestly, I found the image of being gently illuminated by my laptop screen at 39,000 feet near the top of the world while everyone else around me slumbers too romantic to resist. Yes, I find that romantic. I’m weird. Having Ewen McGregor and Nicole Kidman singing silently to one another out of the corner of my eye is just gravy.

They’ve just promised us turbulence. I am going to stow my carry-on baggage in anticipation. And maybe get some more sleep.
(more…)

If America wants to improve US-Canada relations with the next generation of Canadians, they would do well to make Sufjan Stevens their new ambassador to the North. Judging from the rapturous response from the crowd at Trinty-St Paul’s last night to his Illinois travelogue, he’s the one man who could make a country of cynical twentysomething lefties love the red, white and blue the way he does.

Laura Veirs opened things up with a set that drew heavily on her excellent new Year Of Meteors, and definitely benefitted from the wonderful church acoustics. Reports that her four-piece band were now rockers were somewhat exaggerated, but the sound of the keyboards and taut, sinewy electric guitar work in the arched hall really added some atmosphere to the songs. At the core of it all, though, were Veirs’ meditative songs and reserved, confident voice. Something about the live setting gave the material slightly more edge or tension than the recorded versions, but it all sounded excellent either way. It’s a shame that more people hadn’t shown up early to catch her set – the floor was pretty full but the balconies were pretty sparse.

After being summoned out enthusiastic if somewhat impatient audience (are you allowed to stomp in church?) Sufjan Stevens started the show off with a gorgeous, solo acoustic performance of Seven Swans’ “To Be Alone With You” which sent the crowd into a frenzy, but that was nothing compared the the excitement when Stevens’ band bounded down through the aisles in their cheerleader/pep squad uniforms. The next hour was solid Illinois love, with songs from the album interspersed with brief history lessons about the place in question and accompanying coreographerd cheers. To the more jaded, it might have seemed overly precious or chintzy (I know because that’s the response I’ve seen on some message boards), but to the converted – and there was a church full of them here – it was sheer unbridled joy. Despite his almost paralyzingly shy boy demeanor, Stevens seemed to be loving every minute of the show and commented more than a few times about how nice it was to be performing in such a (presumably) different venue than normal. And the full grand piano at the side of stage was nice, too. You don’t see that too often. After the too-short main set, the band returned, sans costumes, for a couple more numbers including a beautiful closer in “All Of The Trees Of The Field Will Clap Their Hands”. Having two Seven Swans numbers to bookend the show was a nice touch.

If I was disappointed in any sense, it was from reading the reviews of Stevens’ recent five-night stand in New York where he trotted out all sorts of different costumes and tricks to keep things interesting. I guess we just got the standard tour version. And an hour twenty just didn’t seem long enough. Ah well. Photos turned out pretty well despite the forest of mic stands all over the stage. Bright costumes help, too! But truly a beauteous night of music. If I could only go to one show over two months (and I can), I’m glad it was this one.

Camera Obscura doth have a new website and a blog. No real news otherwise, but work continues on a new album. Via For The Records.

Old 97s release their double-live album Alive And Wired on September 20 and Stereogum has a track to preview.

Rolling Stone shoots the shit with Death Cab For Cutie. Via LHB.

Pop (All Love) has rounded up a bunch of Feist links for your reading pleasure.

So no Sunday Cleaning for the next couple weeks, nor will there be the usual reportage of music, movies or whatnot. The cruise ship I’ll be on is wifi-ed throughout and I’ll have my laptop with me, so I exepct to be blogging my trip. Daily? I dunno – the time zones are gonna mess with my head, but when I can. And I’ll even try to get pictures up as we go. And sorry if the Sufjan review reads a little rushed, ’cause it is. I have a plane to catch.

And we’re off.