A few years ago, Mari, the creator of Pienten Helsinki had an idea. What if there was a dedicated, community-driven map of all the interesting, family-friendly places to visit in Finland. The idea came about when we were on our many roadtrips and it seemed like the first time we ever heard of places was when we were literally passing their roadside sign.

There are thousands of small animal farms, public beaches, hiking paths, things to do and see, but for the most part, finding them was harder than actually visting them.

The Story of Pienten Helsinki

Pienten Helsinki is a Finnish language blog founded and authored by Mari Nieminen to help families discover things to do and explore in the Helsinki region. The blog was inspired on a rainy day in 2017 when Mari, a mother of two, realized that while Helsinki offered numerous child-friendly locations and activities, information about them was scarce. She set out to consolidate tips and data previously scattered across various city divisions, libraries, and organizations.

From my personal archive

I’ve worked from Jätkäsaari in Helsinki ever since my employer moved there in 2011. Over the years Jätkäsaari has seen a massive transformation from a container dock into one of the biggest urban neighboorhoods in Helsinki. Here are a few pictures I’ve taken from the office through the years.

Images from the past

While I’m still figuring out what I’m actually going to write about on this site, not to mention in what language, I thought a good starting point would be some old scans from images my father took.

During Covid, I started digging through my dads old photo archives. Boxes upon boxes of old negatives, some still in decent shape. So let me introduce you to Jyrki Paasi (1941-1995).