Sibelius-Monumentti (1967)

Bluebird day today. First up was a trip to the public sauna at Löyly - three sauna options, indoor, outdoor and wood fired. All with the cool down option of a plunge in the Baltic. It was as its name suggests but surprisingly bearable for a few strokes.

After lunch on the sun deck overlooking the sauna, we headed to the Olympic Stadium tower via a church carved out of granite.

The tower provided a spectacular 360 view of the city, really satisfying to see having run round it two days ago. There is no high ground nearby or on the distant horizon, just miles of forest and lakes. Testament to the power of the ice sheet that scraped the land down to bare rock a few thousand years ago. Any more resistant bumps have been built on in the city for churches, observatories and even the stadium itself.

Next we walked down to the lake shore to the Jean Sibelius park where we found this sculpture and a man in shorts with his head inside. Then a pleasant walk home around the lake passing beachgoers, volleyball tournaments, padel courts, kayakers, cyclists, joggers, commuters. I could live here.