My Finnish Commute

Sunrise from our apartment

The fall colours are making for a beautiful walk to the lab. I really think the fall is my favourite time of the year. Something about the brisk air, the rustle of your feet kicking through the falling leaves, the bright colours made more dramatic by the lower sun on the horizon. Plus, compared to the "endless" days of summer, you're reminded to enjoy each and every day of nice weather because it might be the last for many months! So here are some scenes from my daily 15 min walk to the lab...

I'm a sucker for ivy on buildings and fences, especially in the fall. This is right outside our apartment.

I start by going down to the end of the block on our street of Hesperiankatu, then turn right down the fairly busy (by Euro city standards) Mechelininkatu road. You can either walk/bike on either of the wide sidewalks, but I prefer to wander down the very wide centre green strip under this wide canopy of trees.

About 700 m down Mechelininkatu, I then veer left through Sibelius Park where the big monument to the composer is. Even early in the morning and throughout the day, hordes of tour buses disembark here to see the Sibelius monument. Right now in the mornings the monument looks awesome with the colourful trees in the background.

Took this picture on the walk in this morning before sunrise (sun rises at 0820h now!) while the nightlights were still on the monument and before the hordes of tourists.

From the park, the rest of the walk is through a quiet residential area. One street has a massive series of chestnut trees dropping chestnuts all fall. Not the good-to-eat kind unfortunately!

And so I wind up here, at the Foundation for Sport where our lab has their offices, usually ready for a second coffee of the morning! Our offices are on the ground floor, but the main sports med clinic and lab is in view in the middle floor.

Another view of the sunrise from our bedroom way up on the 11th floor. Not a bad way to get to work, and definitely beats biking up crazy-busy Keele St in Toronto or through downtown TO during my Ph.D. days!