Thursday, March 12, 2015


Trip to Finland
 
Our trip to Finland was in February so we were greeted by plenty of ice and snow and the air was cold. We caught a bus from the airport to Tikkurila and then we caught a train to Seinäjoki where we were met by our hosts. Up until that point, apart from the language, there was nothing that I saw that was particularly different from any other western country in winter, however, when we stopped at a supermarket and got out of the cars, the ice which we walked was like nothing that I had ever walked on before, it was amazingly thick. When we got to the hotel it was quite a challenge to get across the equally icy car park with our suitcases.
 
 
 
I thought that the view from our bedroom balcony was breathtaking beautiful but it was nothing compared to the impossibly picturesque lakes and the natural wilderness that we saw over the following four days. Many things were packed into those four days, but I think that the most memorable were sledging down a hill on a piece of plastic no bigger than a tea tray and then later, after getting very hot in a huge sauna, jumping into a frozen lake.

 
 
 
 
As a visitor to a new destination, there is often the tendency to rush around so as not to miss any “must-see-highlights”, and in doing so you never get the opportunity to spend time chatting to the locals about their customs or traditions. The Grundtvig project gives you this opportunity. In addition to the afternoon spent on the mountain, our hosts proudly showed us their country; we did a bit of shopping, visited a cathedral, a church, a library and an art gallery – all very simple things, yet it was this simplicity that made it a travel experience to remember. 
 
 
Janet Harriman

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