being to Porvoo today - the second oldest town in Finland, dating back to about 1346. The old town is almost completely made out of wood - that is the reason, that there are no original buildings left - those all burned down at some point of time. The oldest one seems to be something like 200 years old. Depending on the manner of how the wood is ordered, it is also possible, to discern different building periods as earlier the wood was done vertically and later on they also used a horizontal manner to fix the boards.
When some king was visiting, they started painting the houses in red so they looked prettier, but this also increased their lifetime.
The churchroof burned down last year again, as it consisted of wooden shingles, so they are reconstructing it at the moment. Our guide also told as about the devilstairs: The story goes, that the church roof is very steep, so that the devil cannot land there. And the church square is triangular and so representing trinity so he cannot stay there also. This was the reason why he hurried off to the north where there is a huge granite stone looking like some kind of natural step.
After coming back, I was met by a French-Italian guy who was talking to me - and thinking of xkcd (I came here to give you a hint: take chances, talk to a stranger and stuff) i gave it a try. We went for a drink and it was quite nice - apart from some very obvious boasting, but I will not want to meet him again although he went out of his way to tell me to call him as soon as I am bored (this does not really happen here anyway ;) ) - so no chances there *g*
and one thing I noticed is, that here I am almost the oldest one which is quite strange, as normally I am always the youngest one around.
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