Sunday, March 9, 2014

Trip to Helsinki, Finland

Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden at Luomos, the Finnish Museum of Natural History
I've just returned from Helsinki! It's a beautiful city, even in wintry March, and I had a great time working with fern colleagues at the Finnish Museum of Natural History. Aino Juslén and Henry Väre were my hosts, and we have some big projects on Dryopteris, among other things, planned together. We had never met before, despite having co-authored a paper, so it was wonderful to spend a whole week with them. We poured over herbarium specimens they had received on loan from Kew, Berlin, and Stockholm, as well as Helsinki's own great collections, I gave a talk on reticulate evolution in ferns, and we ate some delicious food. I thought I'd share some photos reflecting most of these activities, as well as Helsinki itself.

The entrance to the herbarium
Beautiful wooden cabinets 

Carvings on each of the doors (not necessarily representative of the plants inside...)
Henry, Aino, and me
Sorry vegetarians, but there were lots of delicious sausages to be had...

A sunny day!
Main University of Helsinki building
Finnish Museum of Natural History
Finnish National Theater
Waterfront
Senate Square
Helsinki Cathedral
Statue of Alexander II, who established the Diet of Finland in 1863.



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