A vacation isn't a vacation unless one can visit another nuclear bunker!
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(TGR version)
July 2019, Hospital in the Rock, Budapest, Hungary
Caving (Man-Made, Rock); Urban-Exploration (Bunkers)
The museum of Communism's Achievements? Also known as the Museum of Terror... terrible stories about the killings, beatings, and imprisonments of the communist era. People who didn't follow the party line, or just happened to have a house that a party official wanted.
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July 2019, House of Terror, Budapest, Hungary
History; Urban-Exploration (Prisons)
Cave in a park in Philadelphia? Unreal...
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July 2019, Gorgas Creek Cave, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Caving (Man-Made); Urban-Exploration (Tunnels, Quarries)
I attended a workshop at a private corporate facility in Kirkkonummi, and it turns out that there was both a very nice sauna, swimming place, as well as ruins from the Russian occupation times: a railroad leading to a rock, almost disappeared harbour pier. Nice surprise!
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June 2019, Corporate Sauna, Kirkkonummi, Finland
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Indoor, Outdoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool, Waterbody-Sea); Urban-Exploration (Ruins)
Today's abandoned mine exploration was in Leppävaara.
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June 2019, Kaivoskallion louhos, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Kaivoskallion siirtolohkareen alusluola, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Quarries); Caving (Man-Made)
While in London, we happened to walk through the Banksy Tunnel, a pedestrian walkway tunnel where graffiti is ... tolerated if not legal. Pretty nice!
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May 2019, Leake Street, London, United Kingdom
Urban-Exploration (Tunnels); Caving (Man-Made)
Booze tunnel in Helsinki... not from prohibition times but built between Alko's factory and warehouse. Decommissioned, now as a reserve shelter. The tunnel is underneath the Ruoholahti mall, in floor -6... deep under everything else. So deep that it is even underneath the kid amusement park Hoplop in floor -5 :-)
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May 2019, Ruoholahden kauppakeskus, Helsinki, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Tunnels); Caving (Man-Made)
I had an opportunity to visit Tallinn for a couple of hours yesterday, and the obvious question was whether there'd be anything underground to visit. And there is, Kiek in de Kök bastion tunnels. But, they were closed on Monday. Luckily, however, we run into an old bunker under the Tallinn Meremuuseum.
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April 2019, Tallinna linnamüür, Tallinn, Estonia; Bunker under Eesti Meremuuseum, Tallinn, Estonia
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)
Jarmo and I visited the Leppävaara area fortifications, inspired by Tony Hagerlund's excellent blogs about them. There's plenty of trenches and also bunkers! These are World War I era fortifications built in a circle around Helsinki. We also found a small natural cave under a boulder!
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April 2019, Bunkkeritunneli 1, Vallikallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Bunkkeritunneli 2, Vallikallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Romahtanut bunkkeri, Vallikallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Bunkkeri 1, Laturinkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Bunkkeri 2, Laturinkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Siirtolohkareen luola, Laturinkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Bunkkeri 3, Laturinkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Romahtanut bunkkeri 4, Laturinkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Iso bunkkeri, Laturinkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Tykkiasema 1, Nupukivenkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Tykkiasema 2, Nupukivenkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Tykkiasema 3, Nupukivenkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)
On our search for thermal baths in Iceland lead us to Hjalteyri on the northern shores of Iceland, north of Akureyri. We found an abandoned fish factory with storage tanks for fish oil and herring. It was fun to explore, luckily there was no rotten fish smell left :-)
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March 2019, Hjalteyri, Iceland
Urban-Exploration (Industrial, Silos, Smokestacks)
A bunker. A ventilation shaft. R2-D2 mod. What's not to like?
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March 2019, R2-D2, Folimanka Park, Prague, Czech Republic
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)
Lets say that the tour guide was not a big fan of communism.
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March 2019, Parukarka Park bunker, Prague, Czech Republic
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)
I took the train route to the Helsinki-Vantaa airport this morning, wanting to both see the deep underground station and to test the route should my 27-year old car some day not work :-)
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February 2019, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Tunnels, Railways)
Janne and I visited the cathedral of Milan, Duomo di Milano. This magnificent piece of art, construction, and religion was a wonder to visit, particularly from the upper floors and roof. The cathedral took a whopping 600 years to complete, and is the fourth largest church building in the world.
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January 2019, Duomo di Milano, Milan, Italy
History; Urban-Exploration (Ruins)
Given that I like underground places, it was surprising that it took me a year to visit Länsimetro, the new subway towards west from Helsinki. The new stations are spectacular and modern.
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December 2018, Tapiola, Espoo, Finland; Iso-Omena, Matinkylä, Espoo, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Railways)
I recently blogged about a possible new cave in Laajalahti. But I didn't go there to look for a cave, I wanted to see the fortifications from before World War I, built by the Russians. I found many, including many small bunkers that one can easily visit.
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December 2018, Laajalahden bunkkeri 1, Espoo, Finland; Laajalahden bunkkeri 2, Espoo, Finland; Laajalahden bunkkeri 3, Espoo, Finland; Laajalahden bunkkeri 4, Espoo, Finland; Laajalahden bunkkeri 5, Espoo, Finland; Laajalahden bunkkeri 6, Espoo, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)