Suomenlinna before the day-trippers

At Kauppatori the gulls were already going through the bins, and apart from them the square was nearly empty. The idea was to be on Suomenlinna before the crowds, walk down to the King's Gate and back, and be in town again in time for breakfast. In May the fortress fills up by late morning, and I wanted the walls with nobody on them.

The sun had been up since before five, and the tram down from Kallio had been almost empty. One man in work boots, and one young woman who looked as if Saturday had not quite finished with her. The ferry is just the ordinary HSL boat.

Most of the other passengers were going home. Several hundred people live on the islands, and on a Sunday morning they come back from the city with bread and dogs. Halfway across, the fog came in. It lay low on the water, so the walls appeared top first, grey on grey, before there was anything underneath them.

From the main quay I went through the arch under the barracks, past the church that is also a lighthouse, and south over the bridge. The first time I came here was on a school trip. All I remember is the submarine and a boy called Jani being sick on the ferry. This time I noticed the grass growing out of the ramparts, and how quiet the place is when the cafés are still shut.

The King's Gate was empty. Beside it are stone tablets with text by Ehrensvärd, who designed the fortress. One of them says King Gustav laid the last stone, and leaves the year blank, because he never came to lay it. It is still blank. From the gate I could not see across the strait at all. A ship somewhere out there sounded its horn, and I never saw it.

The Canonet had a roll of Tri-X in it, and in fog I had to think about settings after all. In automatic the Canonet chooses the aperture itself, and fog fools it into making everything darker. There is no compensation dial, so I turned the film speed ring on the lens down to 200 to give it a stop more. Focusing was worse. A rangefinder needs something with a hard edge to line up, and there was not much of that. I focused on cannons and bollards and hoped the rest would follow.

By nine the fog was thinning, and the ferry from town let off a long line of pushchairs and a tour group. I went back on the boat they had come on. Somewhere near Kauppatori I remembered the film speed ring. So the last eight frames, a perfectly clear harbour and one gull on the railing, are a stop over. Tri-X is supposed to forgive that. I will find out.

Breakfast was porridge and two coffees at a table by the window near Esplanadi, with my socks still damp from the grass. Now I am home, and the roll goes in the tank tonight. I would quite like a nap first.