Today has finally arrived. By which I mean the day I fly to Europe for the first time ever, and Helsinki, Finland in particular. Why Finland? many have asked when the usual Australian rite of passage to Europe begins with London...
My work and study life has focussed largely on Japan and so my first trip overseas was to Japan, and there have been many trips since. Also, for work/conference-related reasons, I've travelled to Seoul, to Bangkok and several cities in the United States but have never made it to 'the Continent'.
So, why Finland you ask? A simple answer really. My music. As I've had the pleasure and privilege to play in bands and orchestras over the years and attend many, many concerts, I've learnt to appreciate many many composers and their work. But it was a story about Sibelius I once heard, more than ten years ago, that made me set my sights on visiting Finland. I really enjoy listening to and playing his music. I heard that his house, Ainola, named after his beloved wife, has been preserved as a museum just outside Helsinki. He used to sit on the veranda and wave and greet orchestral musicians as they passed by his house in reverence to the master. Somehow that image just stuck in my mind and I thought, one day I will see that house and imbue that spirit of music and musicianship. (He died in 1957 by the way, I wasn't expecting to 'see' him...)
And with those thought, it was on the bus and through the streets of early morning Tokyo on the way to the airport...
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| Ikebukuro in the morning |
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| Sun trying hard |
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| Empty-looking Tokyo downtown |
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| That's the one |
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| First glimpse outside the hotel window |
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| Let the planning begin |
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| The cobbled streets |
I was keen to get my plans together for the next day. An encounter some years in the making.
[Camera : variously the Lumix TZ-85, iPhone6s and iPad Air, whatever was at hand at whatever time given the changes in time and space...Tokyo pics 7.00-7.30am; Helsinki at around 5.00pm local time; a long 7 September 2017]
