Helsinki is perfect for a winter holiday for those who are not afraid of snow and some nippy weather. Over this week and next, Jaunted’s Vancouver-based, Finland-born contributor Tuija Seipell of The Cool Hunter, will report on some of her recent finds in the cold temps of her homeland.

Helsinki’s restaurant culture is really starting to “arrive.” We've seen more and more great food, inventive menus, authentic atmosphere, consistency and real value begin to arrive at the city's eateries, both pricey and budget.

Recently, we found a great breakfast buffet at Klaus K Hotel, the only hotel in Helsinki that's part of the Design Hotels network. Delicacies such as smoked trout, sauna-smoked ham, special local cheeses, free-range eggs, mushroom salad, oven-baked barley porridge and homemade blueberry soup were on offer. Additionally, the printed menu’s map of Finland shows the location of the small farms where each item originates. Amazingly, the buffet is included in the room price, but costs 21 Euros if you are not a guest of the hotel. If you eat late (the buffet closes at 10), you can easily skip lunch for the day. ]]> TuijaSeipell 2010-12-23T16:20:44-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/12/21/241/78148

Helsinki is perfect for a winter holiday for those who are not afraid of snow and some nippy weather. Over this week and next, Jaunted’s Vancouver-based, Finland-born contributor Tuija Seipell of The Cool Hunter, will report on some of her recent finds in the cold temps of her homeland.

So far this year, Helsinki has not managed to break its all-time December snow record of 27.5 inches (70 centimeters), from 1915. Yet. There are still quite a few days left in the month! So, while you are shopping in the wintry wonderland of Finland's capital, you will want to stop for a latte or hot chocolate and a light lunch at the very least, in the name of keeping warm. We've got a few favorite cafes of our own, and since we're in the holiday spirit of sharing...

· Café Kakkugalleria: Among the many shops in the Helsinki Design District is the Design Forum Shop at No. 7 Erottaja Street (Erottajankatu) mentioned in our last story on Helsinki shopping. It has the most diverse selection of designer wares and a bonus feature: the in-house Café Kakkugalleria (Finnish for Cake Gallery), maker of arguably the yummiest and prettiest cakes in Helsinki. Tasty quiches and other savory treats abound, too. If you really want to indulge, go to Kakkugalleria’s newest shop nearby, at No. 41 Fredrik’s Street (Fredrikinkatu), for the daily all-you-can-eat cake buffet. ]]> TuijaSeipell 2010-12-21T15:04:26-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/12/16/22615/031

Helsinki is perfect for a winter holiday for those who are not afraid of snow and some nippy weather. Over this week and next, Jaunted’s Vancouver-based, Finland-born contributor Tuija Seipell of The Cool Hunter, will report on some of her recent finds in the cold temps of her homeland.

If you have only a short time to spend shopping in Helsinki, don’t worry because if there's one great thing about having a compact and highly walkable downtown core of the city, it's that you will find shops for all of the best-known Finnish brand names in a small area.

Take the city map and find the Main Post Office (Posti) and the main Market Square (Kauppatori) and then walk from one to the other, sidestepping three or four blocks in each direction, and you will have spotted most of the best shops. Along the way, you will also see quaint one-of-a-kind local fashion boutiques, global brand boutiques, coffee shops and restaurants. ]]> TuijaSeipell 2010-12-16T15:51:13-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/12/14/31749/993

Helsinki is perfect for a winter holiday for those who are not afraid of snow and some nippy weather. Over this week and next, Jaunted’s Vancouver-based, Finland-born contributor Tuija Seipell of The Cool Hunter, will report on some of her recent finds in the cold temps of her homeland.

Helsinki is the World Design Capital 2012 and although we will eventually talk design later in this series, for now we’ll look at some downtown Helsinki Christmas markets.

For those who do not live in Helsinki, the massive snowfall Helsinki has received this winter (and last year!) has made the city both beautiful and fun. For locals, the weather is a big hassle. But it makes the visits to the annual St. Thomas Market (Tuomaan Markkinat) in the Esplanade Park (Espan Puisto) next to the main Market Square a real fairy-tale experience.

The snowy path is lined on both sides with more than 140 tiny red wooden huts where artisans, artists and yes, designers, offer high-quality handicrafts. According to tradition, all Christmas preparations must be completed by St. Thomas’s Day (December 21), but this market stays open until the 22nd. ]]> TuijaSeipell 2010-12-14T16:15:43-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/8/22/144134/909
Photo: Ted Topping

Vancouver is still basking in the afterglow of the 2010 Winter Olympics and one of the best remnants of the Games is the public art that now decorates the city’s parks and buildings. For the next few weeks (actually this the final one!), Jaunted's Vancouver Embed Tuija Seipell of The Cool Hunter will be reporting on the best of the bunch.

When I first saw this sculpture that sits on the small hill overlooking Sunset Beach, I dubbed it “Letterhead.” Without knowing its story, I felt it spoke many languages and looked friendly and open in its lacy lightness. To my surprise, I wasn’t too far wrong with this.

The sculpture is called "We" and the artist, world-renown Barcelona-born Jaume Plensa, describes it as a celebration of linguistic diversity, a fitting topic for the multicultural and multilingual Vancouver. Plensa has created the hollow sitting human figure, a “human container,” using random letters from eight alphabets—Latin, Greek, Russian Cyrillic, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Arabic and Chinese. The sculpture is made of painted aluminum and it is beautifully lit from below at night. ]]> TuijaSeipell 2010-08-26T12:57:33-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/8/21/212350/230
Photo: Ted Topping

Vancouver is still basking in the afterglow of the 2010 Winter Olympics and one of the best remnants of the Games is the public art that now decorates the city’s parks and buildings. For the next few weeks, Jaunted's Vancouver Embed Tuija Seipell of The Cool Hunter will be reporting on the best of the bunch.

A-maze-ing Laughter happily competes with The Meeting for the title of the most-photographed and most-posed-with among Vancouver’s coolest public art. Each of the 14 happy bronze-cast males is 8.5 feet tall (2.5 meters) and weighs 551 pounds (250 kilograms).

The sculptures were shipped from China, the homeland of the artist Yue Minjun, and then transported to the Morton Park Triangle at English Bay in the West End. After being lifted by cranes to their places in the circle, each figure was welded to its base. ]]> TuijaSeipell 2010-08-24T15:00:37-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/8/14/213541/291
Photo: Ted Topping

Vancouver is still basking in the afterglow of the 2010 Winter Olympics and one of the best remnants of the Games is the public art that now decorates the city’s parks and buildings. For the next few weeks, Jaunted's Vancouver Embed Tuija Seipell of The Cool Hunter will be reporting on the best of the bunch.

The circular grouping of eight crouching, life-size men at Cardero Park is possibly one of the most photographed sculptures of the Vancouver International Sculpture Biennale (2009-2011). I suggest you sip your iced frappuccino on the patio at the Starbucks in the adjacent Westin Bayshore hotel—the hotel where the IOC stayed during the Olympics—and watch the public interact with the artwork. The parade of people posing and taking pictures is continuous as visitors and locals just cannot resist the idea of joining the bright red men of Chinese sculptor Wang Shugang’s The Meeting.

People mimic the mens' pose, they climb on them, hug them, and they sit around them as if one of the bronze sculptures were part of their group. ]]> TuijaSeipell 2010-08-19T15:36:25-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/