Finland & Estonia

October 09, 2017

Finland & Estonia

Finland

I enjoyed every minute of my stay in Finland! Such a beautiful country and very cold which I loved. One of the first things I noticed when I landed was that there were "birds chirping" in the airport through the speakers... very peaceful! I took a train from the airport to the city center of Helsinki and there were beautiful evergreens, tons of people biking, everyone wearing big jackets, clean air and fall colors along the way!

A few fun facts about Finland:

The population of Finland is 5 million.
Finland is the country of "less is more." Most Finns are humble people and don't show off wealth.
Finland has the best education system in the world (according to my guide) with shorter school days, playground time every day and short homework assignments.
On Christmas Eve families make a special desert with one almond in it and whoever gets the almond has good luck for the whole next year.
Finland was the first country in the world to give women the right to vote.
Finland is full of beautiful parks and lakes.
I read that lost wallets and phones get returned to their owners in Finland and I witnessed that on the bus tour! Someone accidentally left their super fancy expensive camera at one of the bus stops and someone turned it in to the bus driver. The driver kept it with him and was able to return it to the owner when they got back on the bus tour later that day.
60% of all the "ice breakers" in the world are built here. These are giant ships that are made to break up ice up to 5 meters deep!
Stockmann's department store is Finland's version of Macy's in New York city. There's a saying the Finn's use here "if you can't get it at Stockmann's then you don't need it."
The bear is the national animal.

The Yard hostel I stayed in and a delicious "oumph burger" at a nearby pub. It kind of looks like shredded pork but it's vegetarian!

Turns out it was fashion week in Helsinki when I visited so it was neat to see all the artists and art work around the city.

Helsinki canal cruise

Helsinki canal cruise: Fun fact, the cruise ship driver said the ship almost ran into an Elk family swimming around!

Helsinki canal cruise: Finland has over 3 million saunas and only 5 million people in the entire country! The Finns love their saunas! I saw a ton of them on this canal cruise (top left picture in collage above for example). In Finland, you sit in the sauna completely naked (yes they're public!) and sweat and drink beer, put your bathing suit on, then run outside and jump into a "heated pool" or the sea then run back into the sauna! You do this over and over until you feel "brand new." I tried it and loved it! I couldn't bring myself to jump into the frigid sea though in fear of giving myself a heart attack!

Helsinki market by the sea

Main bus station in Helsinki (bottom right)

Best salad I've ever had (top right)

Rock Church

Sibelius monument

Recatta cafe: Stumbled upon this fantastic little cafe while walking around the Sibelius monument. Cutest cafe I've ever seen!

Recatta cafe: I got a feta broccoli pie and a smoothie. I can't imagine how beautiful this place is in the winter with all the snow! One of my favorite parts of the trip for sure!