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FINLAND throughout the seasons (ongoing)

I don't think my home country of FINLAND gets nearly enough attention on this forum and that should be fixed. We tend to visit home every 1-2 years and in recent years I have also started taking more and more pictures on these trips.

This will be an ongoing photo thread with more being added every year. :yes:

We start with our second latest trip from the very last days of 2019. Snow had already started falling and days were very short, making for a dark yet very atmospheric winter season.

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The following photos are from the region of North Karelia (Pohjois-Karjala) in the Eastern Finland. We made a day trip to the small town of Nurmes, where there is a newly renovated spa next to a heritage village.

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The spa was really nice and one can find many nice spas in Eastern Finland. Most of them used to cater to Russian tourists, which were still plentiful back in 2019. I would highly recommend them especially during cold winter days.

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The capital of North Karelia is the city of Joensuu. It is a busy university town of 77,266 people with 115,000 people living in the metro area. It is where we went to school and will always have a special place in our hearts.

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In the early 2010s the city renovated several old buildings into an Arts & Crafts Quarter which is nowadays quite nice with a couple of small cafes.

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The second tallest building in Joensuu is a 14-floor mass timber structure which is housing for university students. The building was completed in 2018 and is located in the new Penttilänranta neighborhood.

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Since it's seasonally appropriate, I am also including few photos from Koli, a small national park in Eastern Finland. We have visited here often as on top of Ukko-Koli there is another excellent spa. The views from the very top are considered a protected national landscape of Lake Pielinen.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Klazu (Post 9819286)

https://cdn.vuosiamaailmalla.fi/blog...n_kylpyla2.jpg

The mounting of the satellite dishes on the frames of the round windows is interesting.

this thread needs a soundtrack

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Great photos, I've always been curious about this part of the world. :tup:

Quote:

Originally Posted by geomorph (Post 9819362)

The mounting of the satellite dishes on the frames of the round windows is interesting.

I noticed that too, it seems oddly appropriate. The design is sublime.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dc_denizen (Post 9819506)

this thread needs a soundtrack

Perfect.

Beautiful; keep it coming!

Last pic is like a painting.

I did my second year of art school in Finland, in Hameenlinna - the country is so beautiful in so many ways

Quote:

Originally Posted by dc_denizen (Post 9819506)

This thread needs a soundtrack.

Can I just say how impressed I am for someone from NYC to know this classic song! :tup:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Architype (Post 9819581)

Great photos, I've always been curious about this part of the world. :tup:

No worries and look forward to more to come. Finland is a bit unknown country, although more and more people have been discovering it in the past decade. Sadly, most people's experience is still only limited to Helsinki, as the country is much bigger and very different outside of the capital. I don't spend a lot of time in Helsinki, so hoping to show various other locations from around the country.

Quote:

Originally Posted by muppet (Post 9826230)

I did my second year of art school in Finland, in Hameenlinna - the country is so beautiful in so many ways

Very cool. I have actually only once been to Hämeenlinna and even that trip was just to get some paperwork from a government body located there. I need to get back there to see more, including the castle!

On the same trip as above and right after the New Year, we had few days to spend in Helsinki before our return flight to Vancouver. While I am from nearby the capital, I actually visit Helsinki rarely and hadn't been to the city center for more than decade! Because of that, this was the perfect opportunity for us to do sightseeing and snap photos with my cell phone.

We took a train to Helsinki, which arrived at Helsinki Central Station. It's a beautiful granite building from 1919.

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From railway station we made our way to our hotel, which was located next to Kauppatori. This market square is popular with outdoor markets and during holiday season there is a small Christmas Market in here.

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As one can see also from the first photo set, winter is a dark and gloomy time in Finland. The sun sets early and these photos are from 4pm in the afternoon.

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The next morning it wasn't gloomy at all and we rose up to a beautiful winter day.

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Presidentinlinna, the official Presidential Palace is located next to Market Square and the building was bathing in the glorious morning light.

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We decided to check out the Kauppahalli (Old Market Hall), which was starting to get busy with customers.

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Built on top of a tall rock in 1868, Uspenski Cathedral is the main cathedral of the Orthodox Church of Finland.

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It's a beautiful building from the inside.

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From up here, one can easily see Helsingin tuomiokirkko, which is the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran cathedral in Kruununhaka neighborhood.

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The cathedral stands tall on the north end of Senaatintori (Senate Square).

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Inside, the catheral is not quite as decorated as one might expect, but it is still a busy tourist spot.

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Lux Helsinki is a special light festival that place over the holidays. The festival paints many of city's landmarks in moving light patterns and colors.

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We ended our walk by the Sibelius Monument, which is dedicated to the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. It's one of those famous structures one has so see when in Helsinki and it is hard to tell how large it actually is without anyone standing by it.

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Our day ended with a dinner at Olo Restaurant, which is a 1* Michelin Star restaurant near our hotel. Needless to say, the food was superb.

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We would still spend another sunny day in Helsinki, so more photos to come on another post. :yes:

just remember folks, it's SOW-nah, not SAW-na. :tup:

Great photos!

I have been to Helsinki, but it was literally decades ago, back in 1997. Brings back memories. I remember the Lutheran and Orthodox cathedrals, the train station, the Sibelius monument, the Temppeliaukio Church... and the Olympic Stadium, being that I'm an Olympics freak.

Looking forward to seeing more photos! :)

People in my country want to see polar lights up there.
They call that kind of lights in the sky "aurores boréales". Moreover, you have to walk in snow in the winter and all.
It's like some kind of pilgrimage to them, so to say.

Otherwise, the Finns must be some kind of secret people because we don't hear much of them over here.
That probably means they're ok up there. When we hear too much of some people out here, it's usually because they're in trouble.
We hear of the Swedes sometimes... More often, I should say.
I wonder whether the Finns wouldn't actually do better. Lol.

I think you're correct that Finland doesn't get enough attention, so thank you for these. I love the photos of Helsinki, especially the train station and that fountain with the sea lions or seals, or whatever they are. For some reason it really makes me smile to see a classical-style fountain or statue that incorporates the flora and fauna native to the place where the artwork is located.

With this next post, we will be rewinding the clock back to the warm summer of 2011. Back then we were will still living in Berlin, Germany and had just rented a nice BMW Z4 roadster for a big road trip all the way from Germany to Finland and back again.

Our story begins in Stockholm, where we are about to board a Viking Line passenger ferry to take us across the Baltic Sea to Turku, Finland.

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Out in the open sea, it was blustery weather.

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Today there are newer ferries sailing between Stockholm and Turku, but the old ferries back in 2011 were not too bad either.

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Finally at home in Finland.

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Ah, summer. Finland being the Land of Thousand Lakes, what better is there to do than go fishing?

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Fiskars is an old mill town an hour away from Helsinki. It is very picturesque and popular with tourists from near and far.

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Tammisaari is another small town nearby with lots of old wooden houses. Unfortunately, I only captured few shots while we had a cup of coffee there.

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Before we knew it, our two-week vacation was over and it was time to head back home. On the return trip we elected not to drive, but take a ferry from Helsinki to Lübeck, cutting down significantly on the driving.

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And there you have it. A quick time travel to a summer long ago. More recent photos to again come in future updates. :yes:

Great set, would love to visit one day. It looks very clean and orderly. Does Finland have some rough edges too?

Quote:

Originally Posted by AJW (Post 9893442)

Great set, would love to visit one day. It looks very clean and orderly. Does Finland have some rough edges too?

Thanks! Finland is indeed clean and orderly for the most part. There are some suburbs in Helsinki that have in the last 10 years become more dangerous due to gang activity, but nothing to the scale and level of Sweden next door. Almost everywhere in the country children still walk to school independently, even those attending elementary school.

Definitely a country I want to visit!