I love details. Spending one summer in Ullanlinna and walking around the “real” Helsinki after work, it’s almost inevitable that I happen upon many small details that shop owners so carefully put out onto the streets, many of them probably unnoticed. I loved this little “wind-powered” fish installation, the ideal alternative if you like the mesmerising movement of fish, but don’t want to have a real fish in a bowl. Cute (watch the little video).

Now, I have reached an age where I need to stay away from sweets of any kind,  but I can still dream in front of this cute little “Karkkikauppa” in Punavuori, where the sweets get a free ride all day long in their little Ferris Wheel. How cute is that? And the old bicycle with its carton marketing…

The new eatery on the 3rd floor at Stockmann is kind of hard to find (after 14 years in Finland, I still get lost in this department store, their geography puzzles me every time), but I liked their little cactus collection and the richly patterned tiles at the counters (ah yes, I liked the food, too. It follows the general Helsinki food fashion trend of “international-fusion-modern-if possible-vegetarian-everything”, but tasted nice and was very fresh).I found a shoemaker and a tiny designer shop showcasing lily of the valley-bedlinen.

What keeps me wondering is the fact that most of the time, most of the shops are closed or, if they are open, I don’t really see many customers and I wonder, how they survive. It’s mystifying…they probably sell everything online.