Finland, Oulu: Introducing The Doghill Kids (Koiramäen lapset) at the Museum of Northern Ostrobothnia

Mauri Kunnas must be one of the most loved illustrators and storytellers in Finland. The books on his wonderfully delightful Doghill Family have been concurring the world and the imagination of many, many children.


The books represented in the permanent exhibition at the Northern Ostrobothnia Museum in Oulu, Finland are 'The Doghill', 'On the Doghill Farm' and 'The Winter at the Doghill'.


The 1990's Doghill project was very large involving the Museum, The Artists Workshops, the Youth workshops and the Oulu Theatre. The aim was to bring history nearer to children by creating scale models of the very true to history books by Mauri Kunnas.

Through viewing the larger scale models and the tiny precise models of the everyday life equipment of the old days, children could relate to the real historical artifacts placed at the other parts of the museum.


Here for example are the looms that were used in weaving in the old days.


And here is the way the hay was harvested.

I found that while visiting the Northern Ostrobothnia Museum, the little exhibition on the Doghill Family was just so much fun.

Suddenly I remembered reading all these books to my own children. I remembered their great joy in looking at the illustrations and the way we could talk about the old days through the stories of the books.

It is just wonderful to see them as 3D scale models at the museum. I wish everyone could see them.

So, if you happen to be in Oulu, I urge you to do so. (You might at well see the whole thing, 4 floors of excellent historical displays, including the one on the seafaring).

It will be so very enjoyable.

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UK, London: Lessons in History at Hampton Court Palace and at the Maze

I have been planning to visit the Hampton Court Palace while in London for quite some time now. Finally, on my recent stay in London I got that opportunity.

One of the reasons, I especially wanted to explore it is that The Wilderness Garden there houses the oldest maze known in Britain. It was built for King William III and Queen Mary II in 1690. I have longed to 'get lost' in it for a bit.


I chose my visiting day according to the weather report. And accordingly, it was a really fine day in London when I boarded a train at the Waterloo station for The Hampton Court Palace. It pays off to choose a good day against a rainy one as the gardens there are such a huge part of the visitor experience. My day was also a bank holiday in UK, so there were some extra attractions, like a big picnic on the lawn that made the visit really pleasurable for me and other visitors.

Since I did not really know much about the palace beforehand, I was very pleasantly surprised to find such splendor. It really homed on me how the history can be told in so many interesting ways to make it alive even for today.


What I learned is that actually there are two palaces there; first one a Manor house developed into a palace by Thomas Wolsey, who was a powerful administrator for Henry VIII. He entertained the king there as well as a huge number of foreign dignitaries. In reality the place was a genuine hotel with kitchens servicing 1200 guests per day.


The second palace is a lovely baroque building built for Mary II and William III. They made the palace in what it is today.


And then there are the gardens from different eras kept with great dedications and research of which the Wilderness and the Maze (originally there were four of them) is the most popular.


My day at Hampton Court was all about understanding the dedication and the compassion of the people who have preserved the history for us in a way that speaks to a modern visitor. Even just seeing half of it convinces me that how we relate to history is through well written and illustrated storytelling. Learning about the young king Henry VIII certainly proves that.

What we remember from our history books is a completely different picture we get from the beautifully told story at Hampton Court Palace. There you come to understand the tragedy, the intrigue and the romance gone wrong that you otherwise might miss between Henry VIII and his first wife of more than 20 years, Catherine of Aragon.

I was walking through the rooms that depicted the young Henry VIII and came to a stop at the end. "This is a really sad room", I heard a father telling his son beside me.

On the wall there are all the names of their stillborn children (mostly boys) as well as the names of those children who died at birth. And of course Mary I and the little boy who lived for six weeks is there, also. The explanations on the chairs named Catherine, Henry and Thomas tell about the decision Henry made to divorce Catherine and how it affected the nation. Their individual stories.

This is real history lovingly brought to life for us in the modern world. I was left thinking how important it is to know those stories today. Now 20 years of their life and all those children has not gone unnoticed just because history has preferred hero stories instead of real life stories.


I really liked walking through the baroque palace with its wonderful ceiling art and small details, including bits and pieces of the Mary's famous porcelain collection.


There was an exhibition there about the the secrets of the State beds. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed otherwise I would have photographed the queen's bed that reminded me of the fairytale of the 'Princess and the Pea' with its layers upon layers of silk mattresses, just like in all the illustrations I have seen. What a story it turned out to be, firmly grounded in the historic reality.


Finally, it was really fun 'getting lost' in the maze for a while, walking the old paths with lots of laughing families. And of course we found 'the heart'. It was not a very difficult task at all:


And the gardens were lovely, especially the Wilderness, that called the visitor to sit a while on a bench while taking in the atmosphere.


All in all, a day at the Hampton Court Palace was a success and I must go back since I missed the famous kitchens and the King Henry VIII's apartments and much more, I am sure.

But it was a start and a lovely day at that! I recommend it very warmly for anyone wanting a flash back to the long gone eras of royal life in Britain.
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USA, Indianapolis, Indiana: Christmas Cheer at Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art

If you ever think of visiting Indianapolis for family fun, you could choose the time when the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art is at its best. That would be in November and December, every year.

For the past three years, during the Christmas season, the museum has exhibited an ever expanding Model Trains and the American West section where the whole family can enjoy the joy of seeing many of the famous landmarks of the American West in 1:32 and 1:28 scale. What a fun thing to do!


The attendant, I interviewed about it said that the aim of the exhibition is to get families to the museum and also at the same time introduce them to the magnificent collection of Western Art exhibited at the Museum otherwise.

I can surely appreciate that it truly is magnificent. The best I have ever seen. It draws you and gives you insights to the way the American West was occupied by the white people. The art is absolutely fabulous.

I saw a painting which made me comment to the friend that I recognise the style. It is the Russian St Petersburg School of Art style which I have seen in my own country.

It tuned out that the painter was Russian. How marvelous was that. In fact there were two Russian style painters depicting the Western life. It soon became clear that it were the painters who were the true anthropologists of the West, preserving the lost Indian culture to the future generation.


The Christmas exhibition brings people from all over to the museum. Is makes around 50% of the total visitor numbers to the museum during the whole year.

For the compassionate world traveler, the museum is a gem. It reminds us of the times gone by and the commitment of some truly talented people who saw the future of the West and wanted to gift the pictures of the life in the past to the future generations.

Visiting the Museum makes you sad but also makes your heart sing to see the quality of care that has gone into presenting the artifacts and the art to the modern audience.

I warmly recommend the experience to everyone.

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Australia, Victoria: Visiting the Historical Town of Yackandandah

Australia is a huge place to tackle to visit on one go.

I have heard a few stories about how people who are not so familiar with the distances have asked their friends to give messages to other friends thinking that it is only a short way to travel from one capital city to another on the Australian continent. This kind of stories are a great amusement to the Australians who of course know that it takes days by a car or the train to travel between the largest cities and that it is not possible to know everybody from your ethnic background across the nation, not even if you live in the same city.

So, when my friend said to me that she had moved to Melbourne, I believed her to mean the CBD, or there abouts and said that of course, I'll come to visit. And true to my word, I hired a car, and started driving along the Hume Highway towards Sydney. It took me three hours to reach my destination. By that time, after seeing all the beautiful countryside along the way, I was quite intrigued by what I would find.



What a person will find is a very interesting scenic drive through a few of the most adorable little historical country towns that have become a very popular destination for tourists.

On a fine sunny day, we visited Yackandandah (forgot to ask the meaning of the name), a little historical town along a route of several other similar town. We found a lovely street full of shops, including a large Buddha shop, nice cafeteria and a very interesting Art Gallery. And I should not forget to mention the the organic store and bakery, which by the way bakes rye bread in the style I am familiar with from my Scandinavian heritage. Yum!




It will be worth your while driving around the place, absorbing some Australian autumn weather by walking up and down the main streets of the little towns, visiting interesting stores, parks and art galleries. At the same time it will give you an opportunity to remember the history of the Australian Gold Rush of the 19th Century that led to the building of these towns.

It will also be a compassionate act to help the local economy by finding some cool things to buy, like for example this nice leather case from b.sirius® for an iPad to keep it safe while writing the blogs about where you have been.




I most warmly recommend to anyone a few days holiday along the Victorian Historic Towns of Indigo Shire.
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Australia, Queensland, Sunshine Coast at Bli Bli; The Finnish Memorial Park

On the Finland Rd at Bli Bli, at the Sunshine Coast, there is a park that would interest the Finnish immigrant population to Australia, if not all the immigrants to Australia. It is the Finnish Memorial Park, created by the Finnish cane cutter families that lived there during the times when cane was still cut at the Sunshine Coast.

It was about 17-years ago that I had last visited this place. Then it was just cane fields, but the place for the park had been selected and the organisers of the planned park were just getting to ordering the memorial sculpture. After much discussion they settled in inviting Martti Väänänen, a sculpturer from Kiiminki in Finland to create the memorial. The park itself was opened in 1997. At the same time it was also donated to the Council for upkeep.

The Finland Rd as such is a long and lumpy ride amongst the last cane fields at Sunshine Coast. Not much of them is left as the new suburbs are born across the coastline. However, it is a delight to suddenly end up in a small, well tendered park that makes one remember those people who came to Australia on ships, after spending weeks on the oceans, and months on the migration centers in the south and ending up in Queensland on the cane fields.

The Migration Museum at Peräseinäjoki in Finland, previously presented on this blog, carries matching information about the emigration of the Finnish people to around the world. I am hearing that more than million Finnish people live permanently abroad.

One of the highlights of the Finnish Migration Museum is the cane cutters cottage that was actually dissembled in Ingham, Queensland and sent to the Museum at Peräseinäjoki, where it was reassembled in a totally new surroundings to the delight of many people interested in the migration history of the people of the area.

The Finnish Memorial Park at Bli Bli carries on the delightful tradition of people building spaces for themselves where they can comfortably meet and have a picnic in memory of the times gone by. I, for one, can very well see this park as a functional meeting place for a family gathering, even a wedding as there is a kind of Finnish style pavilion included in the park just inviting dancing.

When choosing a place where people could meet at Sunshine Coast for a celebration, the Finnish Memorial Park is a good pick. It is well kept, secluded and spacious. See you there sometime on your travels.

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Australia, Sunshine Coast, Bli Bli; The Sunshine Castle

For a compassionate world traveler interested in the historical sights of the world visiting the Sunshine Castle at Bli Bli in the Sunshine Coast of Australia is a curiosity without question.

History

The Bli Bli castle is a modern replica of a Norman medieval castle. The building of it started in the early 1970's by an enthusiast who thought to build a castle in Australia.

The first time my family visited the castle was in 1996. We were told by friends that this is a curiosity that we just must see. And truly, even then while we were swept beyond belief by the idea that someone would build a castle in such a place, we were also charmed by it, especially by the then new doll displays.

Visiting the castle today when it has grown and flourished into a real awarded tourist attraction is greatly inspiring.

The castle is a compelling experience of mixed and matched kind

The compassionate visitor is introduced to the medieval life through the objects and signs around the castle, including a considerable display of swords.

Visitors can dress the part, walk around the battlements hunting clues to the questions about the life in the medieval times and at the same time get the more frivolous fairytale feel of childhood memories through marveling the expanded doll exhibition and the fairytale panoramas scattered around the place. There is also a nice miniature train display to see.

Our only disappointment was that there is no access for the higher parts of the castle to people with wheelchairs. Some creative thinking would be greatly appreciated in getting the young disabled persons to see the dolls and experience the spectacular battlement views over the coastal area.

One of the highlights of the exhibitions is the room displaying different castles around the world. It is on the ground floor and would be accessible even to the people in wheelchairs. It truly shows the owner's love of castles, especially the German ones.

The other curiosity that greatly interested our younger mediaevalist minded friends is the original chair that was used in the production of the Hercules and Xena TV series.

The second highlight of our visit was the castle shop. It is filled with quality toys and figurines of knights, fairies and castles.

Our experience

All in all our visit was highly enjoyable. Our friend, who has lived near the castle for a long time, but never visited it before commented that it will be a great place to bring her grand children over the summer holidays. "It is just a place to wake their curiosity", she said. Be prepared to spend a much longer time there than originally planned.

If a visitor were to spend a longer time in the costal area there are scheduled events, such as opera and other theater events throughout the year, including a Medieval Fair.

The Sunshine Castle is a place that a traveler can visit again and again as it keeps growing and developing just like the old castles did. It's presence has been printed in my mind for the last 15 years and I look forward to taking my friends and family for renewed visits there in the future.

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UK, London - Florence Nightingale Museum

"I craved for something worth doing instead of frittering time away on useless trifles." Florence Nightingale

It is often said that the most horrible experiences produce the most extraordinary changes in human condition.

The Florence Nightingale Museum at the heart of London attest to a remarkable story of a woman and people who tirelessly work to change the human condition.

Florence Nightingale's struggle as a young woman




Being a woman from a wealthy upper-middle-class background during the early 20th Century, Florence had to fight for her rights to become something more than just a suitable wife and mother. In fact, she never married, instead she felt that she had been called by God to become a nurse.

She often wrote about her frustration of the expectations of the society for a woman of her status. However, she had devoted friends who supported her aspirations, even if her family did not do so right from the beginning.

After much struggle, she got her initial training as a nurse in Germany. Her upper-class status put her into a position of influence and her eager interest in statistics backed up her claims for a total health reform in the British Army. She was most hailed for her work at establishing the English female nurses to Constantinople (Istanbul) during the Crimean War.

Crimean War (1854-56)



Initially the Crimean War experience in Turkey proved to be a medical disaster for the British Empire. More solders died from the wounds than from the battles.

Due to the new technology, it was the first time in history the public was able to follow a war through the daily reports in the major papers. The public opinion influenced the politicians to act as the horrors of the war were laid out in article after article.

Florence was asked to lead a group of female nurses (38) to the war hospital in Scutari. In there she displayed a great skill in diplomacy, in organisation and in managing the hospital resources.

She battled dare conditions, appealed to the public who answered through donating funds through the Times. The reluctant army officers were forced to act. Her image as 'the Lady with the Lamp' was established and served to draw attention to her and her appeals for reforms.

Through her principal work and publications, Florence was able to petition for nursing to become an established part of the hospital health system.

The Museum at the St Thomas Hospital in London



The Florence Nightingale Museum is a great little museum to visit. A compassionate world traveler is introduced to her life as a young woman and her struggles to became a nurse.

The visitor gets a comprehensive understanding of her work at the Crimean War Hospital and her life after the war. It was filled with research and writing. She published some 200 publications before she died at the age of 90 in 1910.

My thoughts on the visit

I have been interested in the Crimean War and it's relationship to philanthropy for a while. Many new charitable reforms were initiated after the experience of this war.

Being from the Finnish background I am aware of the Baltic battles as well and the effect they had on the Finnish economy then and during the famine not long after the war. I am also acquainted with the history of the Russian and Finnish nursing as well as the history of the founding of the Red Cross. The effects of industrialisation could be traced everywhere and it in it's turn brought a new kind of focus on charity and reveled the compassionate side of the humanity. To me the Florence Nightingale Museum proved to be a wonderful experience.

The aim of the museum is to demonstrate the way Florence Nightingale's ideas and influence relate to today and the set up of the museum succeeds in showing the relevance of her work for today's health care.

All around the museum walls the visitors can follow the development of nursing from it's beginnings to the highly respected profession it is today. This is her 'legacy'.



Other interesting things you get to be introduced to are:
- Florence Nightingale's temperamental pet owl Athena
- Alexis Soyer and his famous 'Soyer Field Stove'. The British Army used it for 120 years after the Crimean War
- Mary Seacole, a herbalist and a hotel keeper who set up a general store, canteen and an unofficial surgery on the way to the front line.

The Museum is also focused on giving children a good learning experience.Very enjoyable.



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