道東旅行 Eastern Hokkaido trip

神の子池　Kaminoko-ike

友人に車を出してもらって道東を回ってきました。美しい風景に感動の嵐でした。

We travelled around Eastern Hokkaido with a friend who kindly drove us. The natural beauty affected us profoundly.

まずは神の子池。摩周湖（カムイトー＝神の湖）の伏流水からできているという言い伝えから「神の子」池と呼ばれています。水深５ｍで水が澄んでいるので底までくっきりと見えます。水温が年間通して約８℃と低いので、倒木が青い水の中に腐らずに沈んでいます。

First, we went to Kaminoko-ike, pond of offspring of gods. It is said to be created by water flowing underground from Lake Mashu, whose old name was lake of gods. The depth of the pond is 5 meters and the water is clear to the bottom. Fallen trees in the cobalt blue water have not decayed because the water temperature is low, around 8 degrees, throughout the year.

オンネトー湖　Lake Onneto

阿寒湖の近くにあるオンネトー湖にも行きました。角度や天候によって湖水の色が変化するので別名「五色沼」とも呼ばれているそうです。湖を１周約４ｋｍを歩いて神秘的な湖を堪能しました。

We went to Lake Onneto, near Lake Akan. The colour of the water changes depending on the weather and an angle. Therefore the lake is also called Goshiki-numa, five colour pool. We enjoyed a 4km walk around the mysterious lake.

イギリス人の夫が一番感動したのは屈斜路湖湖岸の露天風呂。男女別とはいえ、公共の場で裸になる公衆浴場は嫌がっていた夫ですが、この天然露天ぶろは水着着用ができて、目の前には屈斜路湖が広がるという贅沢さ。しかも無料で入れます。コタン温泉露天風呂の管理人さんに感謝です。

コタン温泉と屈斜路湖　Kotan onsen & Lake Kussharo

What impressed my husband the most was an open-air onsen, hot spring, by Lake Kussharo. As a British national, he was reluctant to go to a public bath in Japan because one had to be stark naked although men and women were separated. However, at the open-air onsen, one was allowed to wear swimwear and one had a splendid view of the lake. It was also free. Couldn't be better. Thanks to the person who keeps the Kotan open-air onsen available for everyone to enjoy.

砂湯　Sand onsen

屈斜路湖には他にも無料露天風呂が点在しており、掘ったら温泉がでてくるという場所（砂湯）もあります。 スコップで掘って足を浸すと泥水だけど温かい！楽しかった。

There are several other free open-air onsen by the lake. Also there is a place where you can dig and make a foot bath by yourselves. It is called Suna-yu, sand onsen, as hot water bubbles up when you dig sand on the lake shore. We scooped the sand with a shovel and put our feet in the hole. The water was dirty but certainly warm, above all, it was fun.

東藻琴　芝桜祭り　Higashimokoto Moss phlox festival

東藻琴の芝桜祭りにも行きました。桜色に一面に覆い尽くされた丘の斜面にも、その匂いにも圧倒されました。

We went to the Shibazakura -moss phlox- festival in Higashimokoto. The hill was covered with pink flowers and the sweet smell swallowed us up, which was overwhelming.

北海道はやはり大きい（日本国土の約２２％を占め、オーストリアと同じ位の面積だそう）。美しい自然が残るこの地を見るにはもっと日数が必要です。また行かねば。

Hokkaido is just huge. (It is almost the same size of Austria and 22% of Japan, although it is one out of 47 prefectures in Japan.) It will take many more days to go around there where beautiful nature still thrives. We have to come back again.

日本のホテルはすごいらしい Japanese hotels were terrific

洞爺湖　Lake Toya

北海道では両親が一緒に旅行に連れて行ってくれました。はじめは洞爺湖（火山活動でできたカルデラ湖）へ。湖の中心に中島があり、フェリーで渡れます。そこで自然歩道を散歩して鹿や蛇に出会いました。長さ１ｍ以上もある蛇は青大将といって日本本土最大（南西諸島を除く）の蛇らしいです。毒はなし（とは知らなかったので多少びびりました）。３匹も見ました。

青大将　Japanese rat snake

My parents took us on a trip in Hokkaido. First, we went to Lake Toya, a volcanic caldera lake. There is an island in the middle of the lake, called Nakano-shima. We got across there by ferry and ambled on a nature trail, meeting deer and snakes. The snakes seemed to be Japanese rat snakes, more than 1m long. They are the largest snake in Japan outside the Southwest Island. I was a bit alarmed, not knowing they were harmless. We spotted three of them.

大湯沼川　Oyunuma brook

煙が上がる活火山を見学した後、登別に移動しました。登別は火山活動で形成された地獄谷で有名で、その名前はぼこぼこ泡を立てて煮えたぎる水が地獄を思わせることに由来するそうです。美しい自然に囲まれた温かいお湯の川沿いを歩いて足を浸せたのは極上の体験でした。

After we visited active volcanic mountains emitting plumes of smoke, we moved to Noboribetsu. which has another area created by volcanic activity, called Jigokudani, Hell Valley. The boiling and bubbling water reminded one of Hell where demons live. But the walk along the hot water river and dipping our feet in it were heaven.

色々楽しんだ中、夫が最も感動したもの。それは、ホテルのバイキング。えっそれですか！？夫いわく「仕事で世界の高級ホテルに行ったけれど、こんなすごいの見たことがない。」　その場で調理してくれるステーキやてんぷらをはじめ、世界各国の料理が楽しめる。その種類の多様さ、少量ずつ好きなものを試せるシステム。そしてなにより何度でもおかわりできる。日本のバイキングはレベルが高いらしい。

ホテルの庭　Hotel's garden

Amongst various interesting experiences on this trip, the one which most impressed my husband were the buffets in the hotels. Seriously!? Yes, he said that he had never seen such an amazing buffet although he has been to many posh hotels in the world for his business. We could enjoy every kind of food including steak or tempura cooked on the spot. The variety and the arrangement which enabled us to try different foods, little by little, were marvellous. On top of that, we could refill a plate as many times as we liked. Buffet in Japan came across to him as high-grade.

余談ですが、先日寺の宿坊に泊まった翌日、場末のラブホテルに泊まりました。日本の別の面も見られるように・・・というか、普通のホテル予約サイトで予約できてかなりお得な値段だったので。普通は車でこっそり行くもの（？）なので駅から遠いのが難点でしたが、夫はその設備のすごさに驚嘆するばかり。キングサイズベッド、大きな液晶テレビ、映画のスクリーン、カラオケ、マッサージチェア、ジェットバス、スチームサウナ・・・「この値段で５つ星のホテル並みの設備」とのコメント。イギリスにはラブホテルなんてないので、夫は驚いたようです。前日（寺滞在）とはまさに正反対の体験。外国人観光客にはやるかも。

Incidentally, the day after our temple lodging, we stayed at a so-called 'love hotel' on the outskirts of a town. I booked one to show my husband another side of Japan, or should I say just because it was very good value and I found it on a normal hotel search website. The drawback was the distance from the station, which one should expect as the place is normally accessed furtively by car. However, my husband was astonished by the facilities, his eyes opened wide. A king-size bed, a huge flat screen TV, a film screen, a karaoke machine, a massage chair, a bubble bath, a steam room...etc, he described the room facilities as like a five star hotel's, but at a bargain price. There are no such love hotels in the UK, so my husband was surprised by the difference, a complete change to the previous day. I think these hotels may grow in popularity amongst foreigners.

寺の宿坊に泊まる Temple lodging

イギリス人の夫に日本の伝統を体験してもらおうと、高野山では寺の宿坊に泊まりました。夫が「ベットじゃないと眠れない」と贅沢をいうので、他の全ての宿泊はベットがある部屋を予約していたのですが、宿坊だけはさすがに畳に布団。「睡眠薬を持って行く」とぼやいていたけれど一応快適に眠れたみたいです。

We stayed at shukubo -temple accommodation- for a night in Koyasan in order to let my British husband immerse in Japanese tradition. He said sleeping on the floor would be impossible. So I arranged all of our stays in a Western style room, i.e. double or twin room. But this shukubo was an exception. There, we followed the traditional Japanese sleeping way, which was sleeping in a futon (a mat and a duvet) on tatami mats. Having said he was going to bring a sleeping pill for the night, he seemed to have slept all right without it.

布団より問題は床に座ること自体だったようで、あぐらも辛いみたい。正座できないのは分かるけど・・・。食事は食膳で運ばれてきて床に座って食べる方式だったのですが、夫は椅子を持ってきて座って高い位置から食べていました。なんか見た目変だけど仕方がない。食事は精進料理で美味しかったです。

Rather than that, sitting on the floor itself was a great problem for him. I expected that seiza, a Japanese formal sitting style , would be difficult, but even sitting cross-legged was too hard for him. Our meals were delivered on an small dining tray designed for eating on the floor. So my husband brought a chair and had the dishes from the high position. It looked strange but couldn't be helped. The meal was vegetarian food originally designed for monks, which was delicate and tasty.

修行の一環として、部屋で写経をしました。手本を見ながら紙に書いていくのではなく、トレーシングペーパーになっていて筆ペンでなぞる方式だったので、文字を知らない夫もできました。お経は右から始まる縦書きなのですが、夫は「右から書いたらインクが手について紙が汚れちゃうから左から書く 」と言い出しました。えっ？確かにその通りだけど、それじゃお経の意味ないけど・・・。まあ仕方がないよね。そして夫は最後の日付から書き始めました。「『月』という文字の前に月の名前をいれるんだよ」と説明したら夫は「ＭＡＹ月」と書いてしまった！それじゃ「５月月」だよっ！正直おかしすぎてその後しばらく写経に集中できませんでした。

As a Buddhism practice, we tried 'shakyo', copying of a sutra in our room. It was possible for my husband who didn't know any letters to write the sutra because we could follow the letters on tracing paper by a calligraphy pen, rather than copying them on a paper after a model. The sutra was written from top to bottom and from right to left, which is traditional Japanese way. My husband decided to write from left to right, saying that would avoid smudging the ink. I thought it would lose the meaning of the sutra but it couldn't be helped. So he began to write from the last sentence, which was a date. I explained to him to put the name of this month before the letter '月'. We Japanese call months a number (starting from January) plus '月' (gatsu), e.g May is 5 gatsu. Then he wrote 'MAY 月'. That means 5 gatsu gatsu in Japanese. It was so amusing that I couldn't concentrate on 'shakyo' for a while.     

瞑想体験もしました。部屋に集まったお客の半分はなんと外国人。英語の説明もあり、椅子に座ることもできました。無の境地になるのは難しいので、初心者の私たちは呼吸を１０まで数えてそれを何度も繰り返すという方式を実践しました。私は正直眠くなってしまって瞑想に成功したのか謎です。夫にも聞いたら同じで椅子から転げ落ちないで良かったと言っていました。

We also experienced meditation. To my surprise, half of the people were foreigners. There was an English explanation and one was allowed to sit on a chair. We tried a method of meditating, counting each breath up to 10 and then repeating the process. That was because it would be too difficult for beginners to meditate without thinking. To tell the truth, I got sleepy so I wasn't sure I succeeded the meditation. My husband seemed to be in the similar situation as he said he was relieved that he didn't fall off the chair. 

翌朝は早く起きて朝の勤行に参加して、護摩を焚く儀式を見ました。護摩は真言宗・天台宗などの密教独特の儀式で、小さな護摩木を燃やします。 宿坊に泊まったおかげで高野山もじっくり見学でき、色々な体験ができてよかったです。

The next morning, we got up early, attended the morning service and saw the Goma fire ritual. Goma(homa) is a ceremony for Esoteric Buddhism such as Shingon or Tendai Buddhism, lighting a holy fire by burning small wooden sticks. Thanks to the temple lodging, we experienced various Buddhism customs as well as seeing more of Koyasan.

比叡山と高野山 Hieizan and Koyasan

伝統的な日本建築、文化を見みるなら昔の都、京都・奈良かなということで、イギリス人の夫を連れて旅をしました。ついでに欲張って比叡山と高野山にも足をのばしました。

To show traditional Japanese culture and architecture to my British husband, we went to Kyoto and Nara, old capital cities. And my ambitious plan included remote Hieizan and Koyasan -'san' or 'zan' means a mountain. 

比叡山は788年最澄（伝法大師）が開山した天台宗総本山で、最盛期には３千にも及ぶ寺院がひしめいていたそうです。1571年織田信長によって全山焼き討ちされ、全ては灰と化しましたが、その後再興して現在は150ほどの塔堂があります。

Hieizan (Mt.Hiei)  is the holy mountain headquarters of a Buddhist sect, Tendai. Saicho (Dengyo Daishi), the founder of Tendai Buddhism in Japan, established a temple on the mountain in 788. In the golden age of Hieizan, it was said to have had around 3000 temples crowding close upon one another. However, all the buildings were set on fire by Nobunaga Oda, a samurai warrior in 1571 and reduced to ashes. Later Hieizan was re-established and now houses about 150 temples.

比叡山には愛知県からわざわざ来てくれた友人夫婦と一緒に行きました。ケーブルカーの駅から山道を歩いてたどり着いた寺は喧噪からかけ離れた荘厳な雰囲気。寺建築に関係している友人がしてくれた説明がおもしろかったです。例えば、懸魚（けぎょ）－神社仏閣の屋根に取り付けた妻飾り。火除けの意味で魚を象徴－とか。ゆっくり回って点在する寺と自然を堪能できました。

そういえばおみくじひいたら、友人夫婦は両方「大吉」、そして私たち夫婦は両方「凶」でした。凶って滅多に出ないはずでは・・・。

比叡山の猿　A monkey in Hieizan

We went to Hieizan with my friend and his wife, who came all the way from Aichi prefecture to join us. Going up by funicular car, we followed a mountain pass to get to the temples. There was an atmosphere of solemnity away from the bustling cities. My friend was involved in architecture of temples and his knowledge was most interesting. For example, 'kegyo' is a fish-shaped ornament on the end of the gables of shrines and temples, designed to give psycological protection from fire. We enjoyed an unhurried walk, seeing the scattered temples and the beautiful natural environment.

By the way, we drew an omikuji, a fortune telling paper strip there. Both of my friends got  'Dai-kichi', excellent luck and both of us got 'Kyo', bad luck. I thought 'Kyo' papers were really rare to be picked.

高野山には奈良から約2時間半かかってたどり着きました。ケーブルカー駅からバスで急な坂を上がる途中「女人堂」を通りかかりました。1871年まで「女人禁制」で女性はその寺までしか登ることを許されなかったようです。

Another day, we extended our journey to Koyasan from Nara, which took about 2.5 hours. From a funicular station, we took a bus, going up steep slopes. On the bus, we passed by Nyonindo, the women's temple. Until 1871, no women were allowed to enter Koyasan and they were only admitted to Nyonindo.

高野山は空海（弘法大師）が開山した真言宗総本山で、816年嵯峨天皇からこの地を賜りました。現在は117の寺があり、有名な戦国武将を含めあらゆる人々の供養塔が数10万基と建ち並んでいます。 

Koyasan (Mt. Koya) is the holy mountain headquarters of a Buddhist sect, Shingon. Kukai (Kobo Daishi), the founder of Shingon Buddhism in Japan, was given permission to establish a monastic complex at Koyasan by the reigning Emperor Saga in 816. Now Koyasan holds 117 temples and tens of thousands of graves of various people from various eras including famous samurai warriors.

たくさんのお墓があるのは、奥の院と呼ばれる弘法大師御廟まで通じる参道の両脇。樹齢何百年の杉が高くそびえ、緑と墓に囲まれた参道を進むと別世界にいるような感じがしました。帰りは違う参道を通ってきたのですが、そこは比較的新しいお墓が立ち並んでいました。なかでも目を引いたのはコーヒーカップの形をしたお墓。斬新です。

The numerous tombs stood on both sides of the approach to the Mausoleum of Kobo Daishi, in the area called Okunoin. The path was surrounded by green and graves, which made me feel as if I were in another world. The towering hundreds of years old cedar trees looked especially impressive. We took a different path on the way back and found relatively newer graves there. The one that caught my eye was coffee cup shaped. Most innovative.

巨大美術館とすごい教会 A colossal museum and tremendous churches

サンクトペテルブルク滞在２日目、３日目。

300万以上の芸術品が収納されると言われる世界最大級の美術館、エルミタージュを訪れました。２日券を買って２日に分けて回ったのですが、それでも全部は回れませんでした。有名な芸術家の作品はもちろん、旧ロシア帝国の冬宮殿を利用したこの美術館はそのたくさんの部屋自体も見所。お昼に買ったサンドイッチが乾いておいしくなかったこと以外、感動の体験でした。

On our second and third day in St Petersburg, we visited the Hermitage Museum, one of the largest museums in the world. The collecｔion is said to contain more than three million works of art and artefacts. We bought 2 day-tickets but 2 days were not nearly enough to see them all. The museum is housed in the Winter Palace, the residence of the Russian emperors. Not only famous artists' work, but the numerous rooms themselves are must-see things. Apart from the fact that sandwiches we bought for lunch there were dry and tasteless, the whole museum was awe-inspiring.

巨大美術館で足が棒になりながらも、教会も２つ訪れました。

１つ目は聖イサアク大聖堂。旧ロシア帝国のランドマークとして19世紀半ばに建てられた当時ロシア最大の大聖堂です。緑のマラカイト（くじゃく石）と青のラピスラズリ（瑠璃）でできた柱をはじめ、その豪華さにはまさに驚嘆しました。

We managed to visit two churches although touring around the colossal museum made our feet stiff.

One was St Isaac's Cathedral. It was built in the mid-19th century to be one of the most impressive landmarks of the Russian Imperial capital and was the largest cathedral in Russia. Its grandness, including the columns of malachite (green) and lapis lazuli (blue), filled me with wonder.

２つ目は血の上の救世主教会。この生々しい名前は教会が皇帝アレキサンダー二世が暗殺された場所に追悼のために建てられたことに由来しています。初め見た時は「アラジンの魔法の宮殿みたい・・・」と思いましたが、この玉ねぎ型ドームはロシア中世の建築様式らしいです。モザイク画で埋められた内部も素晴らしかったです。

The second church we went to was the Savior on the Spilled Blood. This bloody name was derived from the fact that the church was built on the spot where Emperor Alexander II was assassinated and to commemorate him. At first glance, it was just like a palace in Arabian Nights. But actually its onion-shaped domes are said to have been a traditional Russian style in the middle age. The inside was covered with marvellous mosaics.

旧ロシア帝国の贅の極みをみた３日間でした。

Three days passed by swiftly, seeing the extravagance of the Russian Empire.

サンクトペテルプルクに寄り道する A detour to St Petersburg

ヘルシンキに滞在中、フェリーでロシアのサンクトペテルブルクを訪れました。ロシアに入るには通常ビザが必要ですが、フェリー往復で3日以内の滞在だとビザなし渡航ができるのです。

During the stopover in Helsinki, we went to St Petersburg in Russia by ferry. Normally a visa is needed to enter Russia but a ferry visit of 3 days or less is exempt.  

サンクトペテルブルクはロシアで2番目に大きい都市で、１８世紀初頭ロマノフ王朝第五代皇帝ピョートル大帝が町を建設して以来、旧ロシア帝国の政治、経済、文化の中心地として栄えてきました。ロシア革命後はレニングラードと改名されましたが、ソ連崩壊後に、旧名が復活。３日間では到底見所を回りきれないので、いくつかに絞って観光しました。

St Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia. It had flourished as the centre of politics, economy and culture of the Russian Empire since Peter the Great, the fifth emperor of the Romanov dynasty (1613-1917), built the city in the early 18th century. After the Russian Revolution, in 1918, its name was changed to Leningrad. It returned to the name St Petersburg again after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Three days weren't enough time to look around all the must-see spots there, so we narrowed down our objectives.  

フェリーで到着した1日目はエカテリーナ宮殿を訪れました。 エカテリーナはピョートル大帝の第2の妻です。市内からかなり離れたところにあるので、ネットで行き方を調べて電車とバスで行ったのですが、電車の駅には、英語の表示が全くなし。券売所らしきところを見つけて一つしか空いていない窓口の長い列に並ぶことに。なかなか進まない列に並んでいると、親切な女性が英語が話せないながらも私たちの行きたいところを理解したようで、「ついて来て（とロシア語でたぶん）」と言って、彼女の連れを置いて並んだ列を離れ、かなり離れたところにあるホームに連れて行ってくれ、無事に券を買って乗り込むことができました。たぶん長蛇の列は長距離列車のものだったのでしょう。夫いわく、「あの人がいなかったらシベリア鉄道に乗っていたかもね。」　

On the first day when we arrived by ferry, we visited the Catherine Palace. Catherine was the second wife of Peter the Great. The palace was far from the city centre, so we took a train and a bus to get there using information on the Internet. At the train station, there was nothing in  English. We found a ticket-counter-like place. Only one window was open so that we had to queue up in a long line. While we were waiting in a slow-processing queue, a kind lady who seemed to understand our destination despite the fact that she didn't speak English, said 'follow me. (in Russian),' maybe. She led us to another platform a long way off, leaving her partner at the queue. Thanks to her, we got a ticket and caught a train there. The long queue might have been for long distance trains. My husband said that we would had been on the Trans-Siberian Railway without her.

駅名もロシア語表記しかないので、人に聞きながらなんとか目的地にたどり着きました。そして外の券売所で（英語表記がないので正直なんの列なのか不明でしたが）土砂降りの中待ちました。広い庭園を回った後、宮殿でまた券を買うのに並びました。並んでいた窓口が突然閉まって別の列に並びなおしたり（現地の女の子が「これがロシア方式だから、仕方がないのよ」と英語で教えてくれました）と時間がかかりましたが、ついに入れた宮殿はまさに豪華壮麗。黄金色に輝くホールをはじめ、何十ものデコレーションされた部屋が見れました。なかでも琥珀部屋は他に類を見ないもので圧巻でした。ドイツナチス軍が侵略して壁の琥珀を押収していったのですが、のちに修復されたそうです。

Station name signs were written with Russian symbols but we managed to get to our destination with people's help. Outside the palace, we waited for a long time in a queue in the pouring rain although we weren't sure what the queue was for, as there was no English written. After we went around a huge garden, we queued to buy tickets to enter the palace again. The ticket counter that we were waiting for suddenly closed and we had to queue another one. A Russian girl told us in English that we had to accept it because it was the Russian way. The process took a while but was worthwhile. The palace inside was absolutely sumptuous. Apart from the dazzling golden hall, there were tens of lavishly decorated rooms open to the public. Above all, the Amber Room was a unparalleled masterpiece. Amber work in the room was plundered by the German Nazis, but restored later.

宮殿はすごかったですが、行きつくまでの交通もある意味すごかった。このメジャーな観光地でここまで分かりにくいとは！でも私はそこにたどりつくまでが「おーロシア（異国）にいる！」って感じがしてよかったです。ロシア語ちょっと勉強しとけばよかった。

The palace was splendid without doubt. But for me, to get there was most interesting because I felt I was in Russia, a foreign land. It was difficult to understand the transport system despite the Catherine Palace being a major attraction. I should have studied Russian beforehand. 

     

ヘルシンキに立ち寄る Stopover in Helsinki

ヘルシンキ大聖堂　Helsinki cathedral

日本に行く途中、ストップオーバーでフィンランドの首都ヘルシンキに立ち寄りました。ヘルシンキはヨーロッパ大陸で一番北にある首都だそうで（モスクワかと思っていました・・・）、５月の初めに訪れたのですが、確かに寒かったです。雪も降ってきました。

We stopped over in Helsinki, the capital city of Finland, on the way to Japan. Helsinki is the northernmost national capital on the European continent, which is surprising as I thought it would be Moscow. We stayed in Helsinki at the beginning of the May. It was certainly cold since we even had snow.

海から見たウスペンスキ寺院　Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral from seafront

フィンランドは12世紀～19世紀にかけてスウェーデン王国の一部でしたが、ロシアとの戦争に敗れ、1809年ロシアの大公国となりました。そして1917年ロシア革命の年に独立を宣言、その後もロシアとの間で戦争が続きましたが独立を守り通しました。

Finland was a grand duchy of Sweden from the 12th to 19th century. After Sweden lost the war against Russia, Finland became an autonomous duchy of Russia in 1809. Then it declared its independence in 1917, the year of the Russian Revolution. Although there were wars against Russia subsequently, Finland has defended its independence.

カンピチャペル　Kamppi Chapel of Silence

ヘルシンキの私の印象は「清潔、快適、気軽に回れる」。街路にゴミは落ちていないし、壁に落書きもない。ほとんどの人は英語が分かるし、ほとんどの標識は英語で書かれていました。古い歴史ある建造物は少ないですが、岩の教会とか変わった現代建築が見られます。

My impression of Helsinki is that it is clean, pleasant and easy to go around. No rubbish was in the streets, no graffiti were on the walls. Most people understand English, most signs are also written in English. There weren't many old historic buildings in Helsinki, but there was unconventional architecture, such as Rock church.

鯰尾　Catfish tail

サザエ　Turbo shell

博物館で「武道の精神」という日本の武道についての特別展示がたまたまやっていました。そこで知られざる日本を発見。それは"strange helmet"（ストレンジ　ヘルメット）＝「変わり兜」。戦国時代にはこんな兜があったとは。アーティスティックってより確かにストレンジですね。

At the National Museum, there was an temporary exhibition,"Spirits of Budo," about Japanese martial arts. I found unknown Japanese things there, which were 'strange helmets.' I didn't know such odd helmets existed during the Warring State period. They were certainly strange although one might describe them as artistic. 

ポルヴォー　Porvvoo

ツーリストシーズンは5月半ば頃始まるようです。フィンランドで2番目に古い町ポルヴォー（ヘルシンキからバスで1時間位）を訪れたのですが、そこへの観光フェリーはまだ始まっていませんでした。今度は暖かい時期に行って たくさんの島々を自転車で回るツーリングとか湖をカヌーで回るとか、フィンランドの自然を堪能してみたいです。

The tourist season seems to start from the middle of May. We visited Porvoo, the second oldest town in Finland, one hour by bus from Helsinki. At that time, there was no ferry as it was out of season. Some day I would love to explore the abundant nature in Finland, by cycling around some of the numerous islands or canoeing around some of the lakes, perhaps in a warmer season.