Sibelius Hall and Lahti Harbour

Today I met with my future host sister Henni Ala and we walked around Lahti for a while after school. In particular, we visited the harbour area in Lahti which is very close to the downtown area and is location of the famous orchestral theatre Sibelius Hall (known in Finnish as Sibeliustalo because talo means house!)

You might recall this picture I posted in my 2nd post on this blog showing Sibelius Hall. I retrieved this photo from Wikipedia.org but it has since been removed from the article on Lahti.



Well...... here's proof that I've been there! :) The chimney in the distance on the left is almost in the exact same spot in both photos!



Here is Sibeliustalo and I'm standing on a dock. The harbour is on the lake "Vesijärvi". This lake suffered from eutrophication in the 1960's and a restoration project was started in the 1970's.



Here is another picture I posted in that 2nd post about Finland, showing the backside of the building.



And now this is the picture I took! The window on the far right is the same, to give some perspective :) I am unsure if these are the main steps leading to the Hall since they are located on the opposite side of the road, facing the water.




Below is a shot of the Hall's interior taken from the reception area. The stairs lead to the auditorium, which was off limits of course :) Everything inside is very polished and it reminded me of the Stratford Festival, complete with it's box office and somewhat overpriced giftshop :)



Here is a landscape shot including a smaller section of the harbour.



This is me on a curious outcrop in Lahti harbour! (currently my Facebook profile picture)



Credit to Henni Ala for taking most of the photos (the ones with myself in them anyway) and keep checking in for more pictures and information - videos? Host family? :D I am going shopping on Saturday with my host sister Anni so except some new attire. I'm also going on to my family's summer cottage 2 hours north of Lahti so some pictures will be posted early next week for sure!