Finland in World Atlas

Hi,

Just to show where Finland is exactly / Worldatlas.

Our neighbouring countries are Sweden, Norway and Russia.

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/europe/fi.htm





Thanks for showing your interest.

Skiing in Finland - vivid & magical

Hi,

At the age of 3-4 years , even earlier, a Finnish child usually gets a first set of cross-country skis maybe a set of downhill skis, too. It is easy to practise your balance and leg/arm co-ordination following a skiing route in your own garden or in a common place. Skiing is an excellent pastime during winter. Children have skiing days at school, you can go skiing after work or during weekend alone or with your family. Often this hobby continues well through your life.

In Kuopio region http://wikitravel.org/en/Kuopio skiing is made easy and there are excellent places to do it. The city provides app.200 kms of cross- country skiing routes. You can ski on the frozen Kallavesi lake and admire spectacular views or ski on Puijo area and go up and down hills in forest area. Some cross-country routes are lit in the evenings which makes skiing quite magical in snowy forests. Awesome!

After your fresh air experience go and have a lovely cup of coffee with a homemade bun, a slice of cake or a savoury pie in Kuopio Kauppahalli http://www.kuopionkauppahalli.fi/.

You can enjoy downhill skiing in Puijo or Antikkala slopes but for more adventurous and advanced skier Tahko slopes are a must. Tahko is situated 56 kms from Kuopio .There are 23 slopes, the longest slope 1,3 kms. The views are breath taking. Accommodation offered  is good: there are hotels, rental cottages and very good restaurants, too. You can ride a horse or rent a ski-do, test your car driving skills on ice. Lots of different after-ski entertainment is available. Relax in a SPA. www.tahko.com or skiing school www.luminetti.fi

Then again if you love skating there will be Finland Ice Marathon 18.2 - 19.2 for school children, 20/2 Moonlight skating with fire works.

21/2 is the Finland Ice Marathon race and fitness day .You can skate any length up to 200kms. www.finlandicemarathon.com

We all know that Father Christmas lives in Korvatunturi, Lapland. He is now very busy getting ready for Christmas 2015 but we can travel up to the north to ski on high peaks, hills and mountains of Lapland.

 In J.R.R.Tolkien's book Letters from Father Christmas (edited by Baillie Tolkien) Father Christmas tells about his chief assistant The polar Bear and his polar cub nephews Paksu (Fat) and Valkotukka (White Hair).They get up to all sorts of things and love the northern lights. The beauty of Lapland must be seen and felt.

There are so many great places to visit In Lapland not just for skiing but for all sorts of activities, among popular places are Levi http://www.levi.fi/, Luosto http://www.luosto.fi/winter_eng/ and Inari region http://www.lonelyplanet.com/finland/lapland/inari

Enjoy skiing in absolutely clean air, no fuss just lovely nature around you in snowy Finnish regions.

On recent positive art notes: There are/ have been  two excellent art exhibitions one at Didrichsen Art Museum on Edvard Much's work until 1/2 and another art exhibition in Joensuu Art Museum on Nikolai I which is closed now.

Finnish food

Hi,

Finnish food is a vast subject. Just few thoughts on food.  

The Finns are spoilt for choice and eat well.

As from 1948  we have had free school meals. From 1960's school meals improved from the earlier years and  legislation guarantees a well balanced meal for all pre-primary and basic education children also for some children in  higher secondary education. In the total app.900 000 children enjoy free school meal every day.it is important to maintain pupils' health and energy levels to do school work  as a school lunch makes a third of a child's daily food intake. 30% of schools can offer also an afternoon snack.

At early age children learn to eat different types of food and get familiar with various ingredients ie. vegetables, fruit, fish, meat etc. Special diets are taken into account when needed.

Finnish  food has both eastern (Russia) and western (Sweden) influence. Nowadays differences are not so distinct but regional food variations still exist. However chefs will provide new recipes and fusion foods using traditional ingredients.

Finnish food is safe and healthy:super food. Our forests are full of berries and mushrooms and they are still picked every autumn. Thousands of lakes and rivers ( 188 000 ) are full of fish but we also enrich our diets with sea fish.

There are hundreds of milk product variations : yoghurts, piima/sour milk, viili, rahka/quirk etc. these products also come gluten-free, fat-free, lactose-free. All cheese producers have variety of low fat cheeses from 5% to 17% and they are still very tasty cheese experiences.

For example 
http://www.valio.fi/tuotteet/valio/ and http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luettelo_Suomen_juustoloista

Interesting food
http://www.lappires.com/ and http://www.wanhamestari.fi/kuopio-muikkuravintola-sampo

I must mention our passion for coffee with my food notes. Finland was a part of Sweden in 1720 when we had first coffee in western areas of Finland. C. F. Blomberg opened the first Finnish coffee roasting business in Helsinki  1883 in small scale.The first industrial coffee roasting was started by Gustav Paulig 1904.With a coffee drinking habit baking became important : there is a saying that you need to have at least 7 different cakes, biscuits and buns on a coffee table  for your guests. Today we Finns  drink 10 kg of coffee per person /year but maybe 7 cakes & buns are not so important anymore. We value  good quality filter coffee, instant coffee is not so popular. We used to vote for a special  coffee symbol Paula-lady.

http://www.paulig.fi/paula

On positive notes:

Positive notes on Finland and Finnish people

On the  22/1/2015 I write my first blog on Finnish people, very important matters or less important matters which affect everyday life, attitudes and general opinions. They may be just very short notes or bit longer remarks.

The main idea is that matters and news are only of positive nature.

Today my blog is more in a list form.

I can start with Esa-Pekka Salonen's appointment as he has been named composer in residence at the New York Philharmonic as the orchestra announced on Wednesday.

Finland is so lucky to have so many famous composers and conductors. Not long ago Hannu Lintu was conducting the Halle Orchestra here in Manchester. We have seen and heard Leif Segerstam, Paavo Berglund some years ago, Susanna Malkki ,Sakari Oramo and John Storgards who is a Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.

Last year Esa-Pekka Salonen received The Nemmers Prize presented by  Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music at Northwester University, Illinois.

It is fantastic that the Guggenheim Museum was so interested in Finland that Helsinki has a great opportunity to see new architectural ideas evolving around Tahtitornin maki area with a very innovative new building for art and design hopefully rising in Etelasatama with beautiful sea views.


Last year we saw an Oscar nomination for a short film Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?
directed by Selma Vilhunen , written by Sinikka Saari.Such an achievement is worth of few hurrays. What next I wonder? We are waiting.

Harri Nykanen, a Finnish crime writer, had his books,  for example  Raid and The Black Sheep, translated into English. Finnish Nordic noir literature  is doing well. Very exciting reading.

Roope Tonteri has won silver medal in slopestyle in World Champioships in Austria which is such a joy.

Last but not the least on  today's list  is Kemi's Lumilinna /The Snow Castle which has been built by the local people and attracts people to enjoy ice and snow in remarkable surroundings. You can even get married or christened there.
http://www.visitkemi.fi/en/snowcastle

Next time I will blog on Finnish food.