What I Love about England.

Verdant evergreen plant growing wild (or half wild) literally everywhere.

Old darkened gates and porches – more often than not leading to private yards of the lucky upper-class people.

Funny street signs. Do you think that me laughing at this could even be categorized as the ‘famous British humour’?

Amazing old churches everywhere. So romantic, almost Gothic vibes that make you want to read ghost stories under the blanket with a warm cup of tea…

Another, really similar-looking church to the one above.

British song-making tactics and vibrant lyrics. Referring to a quite well-known case of Eleanor Rigby with the actual place which the song got its name pictured above.

Especially in Liverpool these places just exist all around. Am I the only millennial fangirl gasping when realizing that I’m actually walking on that Penny Lane!

The plant above, Lamprocapnos spectabilis, is called ‘broken heart’ (särkynytsydän) in Finnish. It’s probably one of the first cultured ones that I learned to know when I first became interested in botany as a child. I can still quite vividly remember looking up the plant from a huge gardening edition while visiting the local library as a 6-year-old or something.

Old railroads and stations almost straight out of Harry Potter! (Yes, you get all the clichés here…)

Yours,

Miah

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Ancient Agora of Kos.

This is mostly picture-oriented photo post of the Ancient Agora (meaning forum) located in the centre of the Kos town.

My best guess is that the pic above might represent one of the three main gates to the Agora.

General view of what the archaeological site looks like nowadays.

Above the general map of the Agora site and below a more in-depth official description of the historical background.

Just take a look at the detailing that can still be admired in the (post-)modern days!

As far as I’ve understood, the area has been frequently rebuild with different kind of materials after earthquakes that have struck the island repeatedly. Consequently the scholars can analyse from the differences in the building materials the time period of the layers.

What has been left is a rich and multi-layered excavation site for archaeologists and scholars of all kind.

Apparently the first ones to dig up the site was Italian Archaeological School after the massive 1933 earthquake. So basically the destruction made the excavations possible, and the Agora was kept as a monument during the reconstruction of the other parts of the town.

Ending this post with a classic type of photo framing for this blog! Hope you haven’t already gotten bored of it…

Yours,

Miah

(Not-So-)Urban Exploring in Russia.

This is the story of a quick exploration into the forests somewhere in Russia in order to search for forgotten ruins of a farm that a friend’s family used to own back in the beginning of the 20th century.

As the old story goes they used to own a farm located nearby where this road nowadays goes.

This is where we stepped into the wild…

With the help of a map drawn by an elderly relative of my friend (and a couple of more maps in actual books) we were able to locate the exact place where we should stop and park the car in order to hop into the forest.

And indeed – we did found something!

Could you believe that there used to be a proper cellar in the middle of where this picture was taken? Maybe I just don’t have the eye for archaeology but I probably couldn’t have spotted the place. Luckily my friends were more of an experts than me!

The farm used to be a small-scale lemonade factory back in the days in the 1930’s. This is the old well where they (and apparently some of their neighbours too in the time of droughts) got their water from.

No wonder this particular area of the forest was FILLED with mosquitoes which tend to like dark and moist places. In the picture above you may distantly see small ‘canals’ that were used to getting the water where they wanted. The terrain might look quite flat but in reality the bottom of the canals were all deep and muddy – clearly still regularly filled with natural water at a times.

The last site that we were able to locate was the place where the main house used to be. The old grandpa had a memory of ‘blue flowers’ blossoming right next to where one side of the house was built. My friend was quick to notice the plants (Aconitum napellus) growing in a surprisingly straight line just next to the spruce trees.

After this trip, I was left to wonder about all the forgotten historical places where people might have one day lived before having to flee because of war or move to a better place; perhaps a bigger city with better working possibilities. Sometimes the species of plants once gardened by humans may be the only remains marking the settlement after the man-made structures have collapsed, rotted and taken over by wild plants.

With the help of my friend, the harebell plant (Campanula rotundifolia) above, I wish you a mysterious and most inspiring day!

Yours,

Miah

Lenin of Vyborg.

Hi guys!

Today I am here with a short post about my relatively short trip to one of the neighbouring Russian cities close to Finland, Vyborg.

Unfortunately, at this trip I wasn’t able to explore and photograph the city for you guys but I did manage to take a couple of pics of the Lenin statue, built in 1957, that is located in the main square of Vyborg called ‘the Red Square’. Previously the same place was known as Punaisenlähteentori in Finnish when the town actually was a part of our country before the wars that took place in the 1940’s. (Up to this day some old people choose to believe that Vyborg or Viipuri in Finnish should ‘belong’ to us, but that is a story about ignorance to be saved for another time.)

If you thought a historical monument like this could only be found in a capital city like Moscow, you’re wrong. What I’ve learned about the history of Soviet Union, is that the party liked to implant symbols of the communist power regime basically in every Soviet city (or town) despite of the location. It could be statues or names of the streets but up to this day many Russian towns still have their own Lenins. I mean, if modern day Russia is a HUGE country, Soviet Union was even bigger with multiple ‘member states’ composing it. Of course you had to remind the people about the story of the one great nation, right?

Mister Lenin-the-Statue was undergoing a series of restorations around him. Apparently the reddish building you can see behind the statue represents the style of ‘art nouveau’; designed by Finnish architect Jalmari Arvi Lankinen in 1929.

I just have to end this post with a pic of a random sweet Russian old lady running errands on a ordinary weekday in Russia. Despite of all the cultural differences, people are still pretty much the same everywhere you go…

Yours,

Miah

Fankadelik Vintage Store.

Now, I’ve saved the best part of the Tallinn Old Town for the last. May I introduce you to the Fankadelik Vintage shop?

The atmosphere in the store is carefully planned and the personnel will happily assist you if there is something particular you are looking for. I have always personally found the ladies working here super friendly. Especially when I told them about this blog, they insisted me of taking as many pictures as I liked and needed for a good post!

Though the store is filled with clothing racks, the space doesn’t feel like too small. There is also a hairdresser and a make-up artist working in the same premises; offering vintage-inspired transformations for the customers!

My favourite part is probably trying on possible purchases in the Dita von Teese fitting room! Fankadelik isn’t definitely a cheap place but, again, the overall experience and high quality of their collection, location and service is worth spending the extra money.

The latter room of the shop is dedicated to a more glamorous collection of evening gowns starting from the early 20th century!

Fankadelik Vintage has also a good collection of accessories and jewellery to complete your look (from whichever era it is inspired from).

Just look at all these small purses, sun glasses and brooches…

You may find the store from the second floor of this yellow building. The entrance (notice the blue capital letters there!) is between two restaurants so after a good tour in the store you are able to rest your feet and enjoy a nice cold drink under the shade – or in the sun, however you prefer!

Fankadelik also has a spectacular, well-thought Instagram account if you’re interested in seeing the collection more in detail and up-to-date!

Yours,

Miah