Day 32 A day in Finland's old capital: Turku

Today was a very exciting day for me, because we visited Finland's old capital: Turku. To pronounce this word, you have to say it like "tur-ra-ku", heavy emphasis on the "r" sound. Turku has a population of about 180,000, the fifth largest city in Finland by population.

Enough with the wikipedia info on Turku. So what exactly did I do?

(Photo: We took the 9:03 am train to Turku, it costs us 14.5 Euros student price, single journey.)
(Photo: The train-ride took about 2 hours. So after taking this picture, I fell asleep.)

(Photo: That is us, arriving finally in Turku. Today was a Sunday afternoon, so the street was crazily quiet. It is crazy if I compare it to Hong Kong, usually Sunday is the busiest day of the week!)

(Photo: The Turku orthodox Church, we passed by it when we were at the main market square.)

(Photo: The Turku Museum of Art. We did not pay a visit there because we did not have time.)

One of the major attractions that we went was the Turku Castle. The outside of the castle was really impressive, but I did not appreciate their renovations of the interior of the castle. Honestly, just as you were admiring this old castle, you see modern electrical wires everywhere. I mean, renovations of historical sites should be to "restore" its old-self, not to make it better or anything.


(Photo: Outside the Turku Castle, inside was just disappointing.)


(Photo: Although it was disappointing, we did manage to get everyone in two photos!)


(Photo: Notice no arms? That's because some Protestants ruler came to this country and forbided the Catholics to pray by cutting off their arms. This statue reflects the catholics then.)

Lunch was really awesome. We were looking for a Japanese restuarant, but stumbled upon this Thai restaurant.
(Photo: I ordered a Phat Thai, it was so delicious!)

Another highlight of the day was the Turku Church. I was impressed both on the outside and the inside of this church!

(Photo: While we were there, there was a church choir practicing for a concert in the church. We sat down and listened to it for a while. This was perhaps the highest quality of church music I have ever listened to. The sound of this music was like water gently touching the rim of a crystal cup, it was so smooth and it swirled in the dome of the church for a while before the sound disappeared next to your ears. It was almost like someone was putting a tuning fork next to your ear or onto your forehead, the sound vibrates into your ears, into your head and touched your heart. Yet, it was neither too much nor too little, every sound the choir made was just right. It was so beautiful. It was really different from the peacefulness that eastern Buddhism suggests, I guess that is what they call the calm in western religions. If anyone of you were there, you would never want to leave the place. I am officially listing this as one of the things you have to do, before you die.)

(Photo: On our way back to the train station, we passed by the oldest building in Turku. It was made from wood.)

(Photo: Today ended with a light snow. Walking back home from the bus-stop was such a pleasant experience. Everything was so peaceful, and so perfect!)