Gymnaestrada - Welcome

So begins my journal on Gymnaestrada, and for us it begin at the Exhibition and Convention Centre in Messukeskus Helsinki.
 

Helsinki - Smoke

Clouds or smoke?
 

Helskinki - Airlines

Our daughter Eva is an airlines!
 

Helsinki - Airport

Early on July 17th 2015, on a misty Friday morning, it was time to say goodbye to Helsinki.
 

Helsinki - Author

Born Alexis Stenvall (10 October 1834 – 31 December 1872) [Aleksis Kivi] was a Finnish author who wrote the first significant novel in the Finnish language, Seven Brothers (Finnish title: Seitsemän veljestä). Although Kivi was among the very earliest authors of prose and lyrics in Finnish language, he is still considered one of the greatest of them all.

Reference: Aleksis Kivi
  

Helsinki - Mannerheimvägen

The rugged column: its paint peeling, the remnants of a bar bolted to it, the lengthy street name.  Just a stone's throw to the right is our hotel at Mannerheimvägen 50, 00260 Helsingfors, Finland.
 

Helsinki - Suomi

I thought Suomi was a city in Finland.  But a nearby shopkeeper said it was the Finnish word for Finland.