SIbelius Monument and Rock Church

As you may have guessed, I didnt make it to the shops. Instead I decided to be more cultured. On the way back from Seurasaari Island yesterday, the bus went past a strange sculpture that I thought I recognised but wasn't sure where from. Today, I did some digging and found it was the Sibelius Monument, in honour of the composer (see my post on Finnish music to hear one of his compositions). And I recognised it from Eurovision 2007, when it was featured in one of the little videos before each song.

So anyway, I decided to head off and find it. Got lost trying to find the tram stop, and then got off at the wrong stop so got lost again! I'm not very good with trams apparently. Thankfully a Finnish woman saw me standing with a map staring at the road sign trying to work out where I was and just asked me if I needed help - that would Never happen in London. She showed me to the right road and I went on my way.

Here are some of the picture of the sculpture. It is made up of 600 different metal tubes, and weighs 24 tons (thanks wiki). Its pretty impressive and I studied it for a while. There is also a steel image of the composer to the side of the monument, but I found his cloudy eyes and bit creepy.





After that I wondered down to the coast just behind the monument and planned my next move. I decided to look for the 'rock church' marked on my map. When I found it, it didnt appear to look like a church at all. I was expecting a medieval style church made of rock, but instead it is like a church built in the centre of a giant boulder of granite.


I couldnt go inside as there was a service going on, but is just a few minutes from the metro so might make the trip another day after class. Instead though, I climbed upon the mound of rocks, and explored the views. Was very strange to think I was climbing around on top of a church while a service was going on below.

I actually really enjoyed wondering around today, and enjoyed the two sites I discovered, however despite that I am rather independent it was strange to be doing these things alone, and didnt have a friend with me to do the tourist pose with the monument and church. Still, it wont put me off searching out some more sites this week.