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 after sweating in sauna by magor65
But going to a real Finnish sauna was a true adventure. We had been told by our friends that if we wanted to do it "Finnish style" we must jump into a lake after staying in sauna for a few moments, and we should repeat the whole procedure several times. On that day in Tampere the temperature was about 12 degress C with the icy wind blowing so no wonder we put on thick pullovers and jackets. The sight of the lake made us feel even colder. After changing into our swimming costumes we entered the sauna. About ten people - men, women and children were sitting in the room full of steam on wooden benches. I took the seat on the lowest level since the temperature here was a few degrees lower than above, but it was still almost 100 degrees C. Luckily we had been warned to take off all metal things. After about 10 minutes, encouraged by friends, we decided to go out and get into the cold lake. The experience wasn't as painful as I had expected. After the first touch the water diddn't seem icy any longer. And yes, we did repeat the whole thing several times. And I felt great after it! Leave a Comment
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Before our trip to Finland I read somewhere that traditional Finnish coffee is served with cheese. The combination then seemed rather indigestible to me. While in Rovaniemi I asked our charming landlady if they drink coffee this way. She only smiled and on the next day she prepared some traditional Finnish dishes. We had reindeer meat ( very tasty), rieska (barley bread), kariala pirakka (special buns with rice) and some kind of cheese (rennet?) served with cloudberries for the dessert. It was the first time I had eaten cloudberries - their taste, a bit bitter, came as a surprise, so I didn't take much notice of the cheese. But then Aino-Leena said: 'now put the cheese into your coffee (of course without cloudberries) and you'll have it in the traditional Finnish style'. So we did it and it wasn't bad at all! Leave a Comment
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 kahvi ja pulla, Finlnd by sinoda
Coffee and pastery. Finns would have invented coffee if no one else would have. Finns drink their coffee mostly black.
As a companion goes the pulla, a very finnish pastery made of wheat flour, milk and butter, Hmm very tasty, you should try to have some freshly home made ones... Watch out you don't swallow your tongue right along.
Finns will have their coffe in the morning for breakfast, at 9 o'clock for coffe break, after lunch and in hte afternoon once again.... 8 ) Leave a Comment
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 Hannunvaakuna; Finland by sinoda
This is an indicator that in the given direction there is a significantly interesting nature spot or culturally important location, building etc.
The accompanying text is not always very clear, so you just have to go and see for yourself whether it is worth being "inspected" or not.
The hannunvaakuna is an old fenno-ugric sign of protection.
Finnish Kalevala koru (jewelry) has the hannunvaakuna in their assortment. Leave a Comment
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 in the foyer of Kino Engel,
Helsinki by sinoda
Only exceptions are children movies, which normally are shown in both the original and a finnish version.
some finnish theatre chains:
KamrasFilmGroup
sea.fi
finnkino.fi
sandrewmetronome.fi Leave a Comment
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 Kata in the Sauna by Gili_S
People are nude in the sauna, it is strictly forbidden here to wear anything in sauna, so just feel loose and relax while there.
Good temperature is about 80 degrees c.
Be natural and relax, that's the meaning in having Sauna. Leave a Comment
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the finns have a tradition of swimming in icy lakes.
this sounds totally insane to an outsider but if you steam your body in a sauna for 15 minutes before going in the water then it's doable for most people.
i have tried it myself and must say that it was a very unusual and special experience.
i kinda felt fine untill i got out of the cold water.
that was when i started to feel very very cold.
before that it was rather pleasant. Leave a Comment
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 Home made Pulla and my Latte
Macchiato :))) by Gili_S
But these days you can get nice cappuccinos and cafe au lait as well.
Pulla is cardamom type of pastry, it is not original for Finland but it is very common here. Leave a Comment
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 by linda1501
The sauna has a long history and close relatives in other cultures: the Russian banya, the Native American sweat lodge or inipi, the Turkish hamam, even the Japanese onsen. In Finland it has at least a thousand years of history.
The traditional sauna is a wooden building where the bathers sit on benches splashing water on the hot stones of the stove and gently beating themselves with leafy birch whisks.
It is used for bathing as well as for mental and physical relaxation.
Many Finns cannot manage without a sauna...
"There they sat, side by side, amidst the steam and enjoyed the pleasure of the flesh. Antti was musing: "D'you think there might be a sauna in heaven? "Couse there must be," said Jussi." Leave a Comment
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 sauna by StelllaLeave a Comment
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