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Matti (FIN)
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Posted: Sun May 17th, 2009 02:36 pm |
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Helsinki, in its cleanliness, trendiness and high-tech cityscape did kind of remind me of my city (Seattle), Except without our mountains in the background.
Helsinki is the connectionpoint between East and West.
Tallinn Ferries - Book a Tallinn Ferry with AFerry.to - [ Käännä tämä sivu ] Viking Line has two round-trip sailings between Helsinki to Tallinn, one during the day and one night sailing. The journey is 3 hours long aboard the ...
Big part of Caribean Cruiser comes from Finland.
Merima / Referenssit / Royal Caribbean International - [ Käännä tämä sivu ] 2007 M/S Majesty of the Seas for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. at Grand Bahama ... Royal Caribbean International, N.B. 1348, Kværner Masa Yards Inc., Turku New ... 1997 M/S Enchantment of the Seas, RCI, N.B.493, Kværner Masa Yards Inc., ...
And Alvar Aalto comes from Finland.
Alvar Aalto - Great Buildings Online - [ Käännä tämä sivu ]
3D Model * Aalto Summer House, at Muuratsalo, Finland, 1953. * 3D Model * ... Alvar Aalto was born in Kuortane, Finland in 1898, the son of a surveyor. ...
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Matti (FIN)
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Posted: Sun May 17th, 2009 03:27 pm |
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Laivamatkoja
Ruotsiin
Seuraavien varustamoiden aluksilla matkustat Ruotsiin sekä Ruotsissa:
- Viking Line
- Silja Line
- RG-Line
- Destination Gotland
Saksaan
Viroon
Seuraavien varustamoiden aluksilla matkustat Viroon:
- Viking Line
- Tallink/ Silja
- Eckerö Line
- Linda Line
Nyt meillä myös välimeren- ja karibianristeilyt!
Costa cruises
Carnival Cruise Lines
Muut kohteet
Matkatoimisto Forte - Kauppiaskatu 7 Parainen - Puh: Last edited on Mon Jul 6th, 2009 11:21 am by
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Matti (FIN)
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Posted: Tue May 19th, 2009 07:30 am |
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(Yes, Ethnic Scandinavians make up a large demographic of the Population here, especially in places like Ballard and Paulsbo)
Since I've been to Finland, perhaps it's your time to visit my neck of the woods? You'd feel at home here, given many of the similarities to Scandinavia. 
Are you an American Indian? If I'll come there I want to see real Americans. Finns are living like Indians. Spending a lot of time in nature. Do you have MiddNight Summer there. We have big festivals during MiddNightSummer. Only totem is missing but we have something which reminds it. Could you deliver one totem here I could deliver something which reminds of Finnish summer. One bottle of Finlandia Vodka. I've heard that Indians like Vodka and bear.
Those photos remids me a lot of places in Scandianavia. And as well places were real Americans= Indians are living. Would like to visit there.... Where we can meet? Do you have tent? I'm living in tent during summer and I don't want to spend summer without tent...
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Matti (FIN)
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Posted: Tue May 19th, 2009 02:07 pm |
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| Do you have Sauna?
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Pseudo-Soviet Dictator
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Posted: Tue May 19th, 2009 05:06 pm |
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No, I'm not an American Indian. I'm a first generation Russian-Jewish American.
We aren't famous for the saunas here, but there are plenty of Natural Hot Springs in the Mountain Forests in both Washington and Oregon. And yes, camping is very much popular here among people who enjoy the outdoors.
Every state in America has Indian reservations you can visit too.
My state, Washington, has several major Indian reservations, and many tribes own big casinos on their lands.
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Matti (FIN)
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Posted: Fri May 22nd, 2009 09:52 am |
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Pseudo-Soviet Dictator wrote: No, I'm not an American Indian. I'm a first generation Russian-Jewish American.
We aren't famous for the saunas here, but there are plenty of Natural Hot Springs in the Mountain Forests in both Washington and Oregon. And yes, camping is very much popular here among people who enjoy the outdoors.
Every state in America has Indian reservations you can visit too.
My state, Washington, has several major Indian reservations, and many tribes own big casinos on their lands.
Russians like Saunas. Sometimes too much. Long time ago they wanted to come to Sauna with their weapons and tanks. Several Million Russian at the same time. They all wanted to go into one Sauna. Didn't want to wait invitation. 100 Million Russians in one sauna is too much. We can arrange sauna shifts for smaller groups. Then you are allways wellcome....with your towel and swimmingpents.
Do you have a lot of PikNiks in Oregano? Can you boil HardBoilEggs in HotSpring. Really hard boil eggs you can boil in middle of Vulkan. Just but eggs their... wait a couple of minuts... go back.... and it your eggs? Do you eat outside? In Finland people eat outside. Just have to find right place in middle of beautiful nature and eat right kind of food. Eating and making food outside in middle of the Archipelago and in middle of our 60.000 Lakes is allways very special experience.
In following video I'm telling more details about it what you can eat and where you can eat in Finland. If you want somebody can deliver your meal to forest or to your "campingplace" somebody will do it for you.
YouTube - Finnish Army: Special meal
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Matti (FIN)
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Posted: Fri May 22nd, 2009 09:57 am |
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| Food
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Matti (FIN)
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Posted: Fri May 22nd, 2009 10:08 am |
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Sauna food
Sauna is, of course, accompanied by heavy drinking of - usually - lager, sometimes liquor, cider or something else. Anything goes as long as it has alcohol. The traditional sauna food is grilled cheap sausage ("lenkkimakkara") with mustard and tomato sauce.
However, the sauna is also used to prepare food! The sausage is always placed on the stones of the heater (stove). The heat of the stones and the hot steam give a very special flavor to even the cheapest sausage (and the cheapest ones are often used for sauna food).
Even when not used for bathing, the sauna is used to prepare food. Malt for beer and the strong, unfiltered, country beer of Finland ("sahti") are prepared in the sauna. Frequently, finnish families have pork - usually half a whole pig - slowly ripening in a low heat of an electrical sauna. This gives pork an exquisite aroma!
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Matti (FIN)
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Posted: Fri May 22nd, 2009 10:53 am |
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Toughest Soldier in the Finnish Army
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Matti (FIN)
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Posted: Fri May 22nd, 2009 12:11 pm |
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Midsummer Celebration in Finland
Midsummer is the holiday when finns drink the most alcohol!
New Year holds the second place. Usually everyone gets at least 4 days' vacation at Midsummer weekend (somewhere near the end of June, after 21st day). This weekend must be spent somewhere else. Not at home, never!
So, everyone goes to somewhere else by car. Everyone has to go at the same time, so there are huge traffic jams (Finnish traffic jams are actually nothing compared to most other European countries, but to us, these feel huge). Of course, all interesting places are at least a couple of hundred kilometres away. No matter where you live, the interesting place to be is always far away.
There are two ways to spend this Midsummer weekend. The rich people go to their summer cottages. There they take sauna baths, and drink a lot of alcohol. There isn't anything else to do in a finnish summer cottage. The poor people (teenagers, students) go to a "rock festival". At the rock festival, there are Finnish bands, but no one goes just for them. There has to be at least the current "hit of the week" teenage babe "singer", or "this year's boy group", or whatever. As long as it is something embarrassing with a couple of dance hits.
At the "rock festival", people live in tents, drink a lot of alcohol, and try to pick up one night (or one hour, or whatever) stands and to have unprotected, poor quality sex while drunk and dirty (there aren't any showers or anything anywhere, only mud flats or, in the best cases, wet grass fields). Also there will be lots of fights, passed out underaged teens, religious fanatics preaching against "satanic music", and so on. No one gets any sleep for three or more days and, of course, drinks to the point of vomiting every day. After this "refreshing vacation" they return to their summer jobs or studies.
And the rich people with summer cottages? Well, they drink to the point of passing out or vomiting every day, have poor-quality unprotected sex while drunk and being pestered by mosquitoes and gadflies (there still are them, on the countryside, where the summer cottages usually are). Summer cottages, by the way, have no modern comforts. Some might have electricity. Most have no running water - you get it from the well, infested with interesting bacteria. Also there's nothing to do at the summer cottage. You can read a ten-year old Reader's Digest like you did the last summer, or you can take a sauna bath. So, the only way to pass the time is to drink a lot of alcohol.
Which brings us to the most popular sport of Midsummer, that is drowning. Every year, there is a competition; how many people manage to die by drowning at Midsummer. There are many ways to go. One way is first to drink a lot of alcohol, take a very hot sauna bath, and run out into the icy lake. Then you get a cramp, a heart attack, or a stroke. If you don't, you must swim into the opposite shore, some two miles away. Of course you can do it! All that booze you've been drinking keeps you warm and gives you the strength.
If you have a rowboat at your cottage, you must first drink yourself senseless, then go fishing or rowing. And then you get an urge, open your pants, stand up, and fall into the water. Note that you MUST die with your pants open! It's the traditional Finnish way to go! Lately, only 30 or less people have drown themselves every Midsummer, and the figures are dropping year by year. Is our national sport dying? Perhaps we need foreigners to join us in this effort?
Christmas in Finland
At the darkest time of the year, when there is only an hour or two of daylight each day, in the Southernmost Finland, there is also the time of Christmas.
You don't have to look at a calendar. Just watch TV. Every commercial break is filled with new ads for children's toys. These are foreign commercials, badly dubbed in finnish. Since almost every reasonable toy or game has already been invented, any new toys have to be related to the latest fad (such as Pokémon), or be strange and obnoxious (such as a plush doll from which you can dig out plush entrails, through its mouth).
At early October, all shops are busy setting up Christmas decorations, Christmas trees, and playing Christmas music. You will hear muzak versions of all the popular Christmas songs, and all the finnish Christmas songs - there is an annual competition to find new finnish Christmas songs! This goes on for three months. After New Year, all shops set up sales, reducing all prices for 50% or so (Christmas sales are greater than at any other time).
The most important things of finnish Christmas are: presents (for the children), food and drink, decorations, music, sauna, and TV programs. Note that Christmas is celebrated at Christmas Eve, never on Christmas Day.
There is a program on TV at 11 o'clock (A.M.) called "Suomen Turku julistaa joulurauhan" (Åbo City of Finland Declares Christmas Peace). Everyone watches this program before they eat Christmas dinner. In this religious program, the Mayor of Åbo (a finnish city) declares, that any crimes committed on Christmas time will be punished extra harshly. Dinner is eaten early, so that the children will feel the waiting for their presents to be as long as possible.
The most important Christmas food is ham. Every finn must eat at least ten pounds of ham at Christmas! Ham is soaked in salt water for a couple of weeks, roasted in oven, and eaten with mustard, special herring-beetroot-apple salad ("rosolli"), and potatoes. Of course, drinking is compulsory. Each finn must drink themselves silly with liquor (and/or beer) at Christmas.
Naturally, Christmas sauna ("joulusauna") is a must. After the sauna, finns eat more (ham, but also nuts, gingerbread, chocolate, candy, and other "desserts") and drink more. Children get more and more anxious as they await presents, while parents get more and more drunk. There is nothing to do except to eat, drink, and wait.
Finally it is time for Father Christmas to arrive. You can actually hire a Father Christmas (dressed as Coca Cola commercials' Santa Claus, but called "Joulupukki", literally "Christmas Goat", but usually translated "Father Christmas"). In Finland, Father Christmas always asks "Are there any good children here?" ("Onko täällä kilttejä lapsia?"). This is a rhetorical question, as all children get presents (except those who have cancer or something, and will die soon in any case, so they don't need presents).
There are only two times a year a finnish child gets any presents. They are his/her birthday, and Christmas. And there are usually more Christmas presents than birthday presents, and Christmas presents are more expensive - prices are at their highest at Christmas.
Every finnish Chrismas Eve has to have a fight; the drunk husband slaps his wife and/or the children, when they are noisy, or the children develop a fight to pass time while waiting for Father Christmas. In rural Finland, the drunk husband traditionally beats up his wife, and drives everyone out, into the freezing cold and snow, with an axe or a shotgun.
After the presents are shared by Father Christmas, it's all over. On the rest of the Christmas holidays, finns have nothing to do, except to eat more ham, and to drink more alcohol. They could watch TV but at Christmas there's nothing good on TV, only reruns and religious programs. Most finns just drink alcohol and wait for the New Year.
New Year in Finland
For some reason, while Christmas sauna is a must, New Year sauna isn't. There isn't such thing as "New Year Sauna".
Anyway, let's start from beginning. After Christmas, all shops offer a 50% (or more) discount for everything. That's beacuse everyone has already spent nearly all their money for Christmas presents, food, and drink, and prices of everything were raised by 100% for Christmas season.
So people go shopping. Most people are on a holiday, so there are huge crowds in all malls and "automarketti" (a shop - "market" - outside of city, where you can only get by car, that's "auto").
There's one category of special products sold in temporary booths everywhere. That is, New Year fireworks. You are only allowed to use fireworks at New Year Eve, starting from 6 p.m., to next morning. And never at any other time!
Fireworks used to be much more noisy and stronger, and you were allowed to use them at any time. Due accidents, dogs scared to death by the noise, and so on, fireworks that make any kind of loud noise are not allowed any more.
Nevertheless, most families spend ten euros or more on fireworks. But that's nothing compared to booze. New Year is the second largest drinking fest of Finland (the largest is Midsummer). Lots of people go to "restaurant" to drink, many stay home drinking.
There's one curious pagan ritual practiced at New Year Eve. Families melt down some tin (almost always it's actually lead), and pour it into a bucket of water. Everyone does this personally. Then, the lumps of tin are examined for omens.
At night, everyone goes outdoors. Traditionally, the night is dark and freezing cold: temperatures of -20°F (-30°C) or lower are not unusual. The air is full of smoke from the fireworks. At midnight, most cities launch their own fireworks - expensive, professional ones, which might actually look impressive unlike the lame legal fireworks.
And that's about it. There's nothing fun to do - except to use the last of your lame legal fireworks, to drink more, or to watch porn from the TV. There's always (soft) porn on TV at New Year Eve.
Last edited on Fri May 22nd, 2009 12:14 pm by Matti (FIN)
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Matti (FIN)
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Posted: Sat May 23rd, 2009 11:43 am |
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Pseudo-Soviet Dictator wrote: No, I'm not an American Indian. I'm a first generation Russian-Jewish American.
We aren't famous for the saunas here, but there are plenty of Natural Hot Springs in the Mountain Forests in both Washington and Oregon. And yes, camping is very much popular here among people who enjoy the outdoors.
Every state in America has Indian reservations you can visit too.
My state, Washington, has several major Indian reservations, and many tribes own big casinos on their lands.
Pseudo-Soviet Dictator wrote:
Can you cook there in Natural Hot Springs in the Mountain Forests in Washington and Oregon? Here is one article which tells about hotsprings in China. How it is in Oregon?
Eggs and corn cooked in natural hotsprings water in the ... - PREV PIC, Eggs and corn cooked in natural hotsprings water in the Changbaishan Nature Preserve in Jilin, China, NEXT PIC ...
We don't have mountains in Finland but the ex alpineskiing WorldChampion goldmedalist Kalle Palander comes from Finland.
Ski Racing - Julia Mancuso picks up second world championship ... - [ Käännä tämä sivu ]
It is the second Finnish alpine World Championship medal, the other a gold in SL from Kalle Palander at Vail '99. ... It is her 10th podium of the season. ...
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Matti (FIN)
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Posted: Tue May 26th, 2009 12:39 pm |
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Pseudo-Soviet Dictator wrote: I spent a few days in Helsinki just this past summer before taking the train over the border to St. Petersburg for a few weeks.
Once you cross the border in either direction, the differences are immediately noticeable. On the Russian side, you have gravel roads extending for miles and run-down broken factories from the 1930's, whereas the Finish side of the border has a decent highway, is immaculately clean, and home to big appliance shops.
Re-entering Finland via the Vaalimaa border checkpoint was a scary ordeal (even in 2008) with the armed Russian soldiers checking our US passports about a dozen times before we entered the Finish side of the border. They saw that my name and country of origin were Ukrainian inside my US Passport, and thus were particularly cold and demeaning in asking questions (in Russian) to me....
The Finish border guards (who unlike the Russian soldiers were civilian guards) saw that I had an American passport, and automatically stamped it without barely even looking at my face. Stark contrast!
@ Matti, yes... I really enjoyed the dried salmon, smoked mackarel and freshly-cooked bread that we bought at Helsinki's main seaside square on the Harbour. 
You don't need Viisum anymore if you go to Russian. It changed just 2 weeks ago. How it is in USA? Do you need Visum if you go there?
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Pseudo-Soviet Dictator
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Posted: Tue May 26th, 2009 05:58 pm |
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Matti (FIN) wrote:
You don't need Viisum anymore if you go to Russian. It changed just 2 weeks ago
Interesting. Hard to believe, considering that Russia remains quite paranoid of all Westerners entering its territory. . How it is in USA? Do you need Visum if you go there? Not if you're a Western European citizen, which obviously includes Finland. Our government in the States even lifted visa requirements on the newly-admitted EU states in the East, like the Czech Republic, Poland and Lithuania... even they can now travel to the U.S. with no visa. 
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Matti (FIN)
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Posted: Thu Jun 4th, 2009 07:29 am |
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Where the hell did you go?
China: Beijing to Datong to
Mongolia: Ulaan Bataar to
Russia: Irkutsk to Lake Baikal to Tomsk (via Taiga) to Moscow (via Novosibirsk and Kazan) to St Petersburg to
Finland: Helsinki (with a sidetrip in Espoo)
View Our Trans Mongolian Route in a larger map
Åland and out
Åland Unto Itself
Porvoo comeback
Keep the Samovar Boiling
Border Koli
Russia's summer hangout
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Matti (FIN)
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Posted: Thu Jun 4th, 2009 07:42 am |
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Pseudo-Soviet Dictator wrote: Matti (FIN) wrote:
You don't need Viisum anymore if you go to Russian. It changed just 2 weeks ago
Interesting. Hard to believe, considering that Russia remains quite paranoid of all Westerners entering its territory. . How it is in USA? Do you need Visum if you go there? Not if you're a Western European citizen, which obviously includes Finland. Our government in the States even lifted visa requirements on the newly-admitted EU states in the East, like the Czech Republic, Poland and Lithuania... even they can now travel to the U.S. with no visa.
You can travel from Finland to St Petersburg and follow our trans Mongolian route. That's how you can travel from Finland all the way to Mongolia and China. Talking about Russian paranoidia I have to say that St Petersburg (old Leningrad) was one part of Finland before) Or one part of Sweden but swedish army had Finnish solders. And Finland was one part of Sweden. As well NorthGermany was one part of Sweden before. In swedish army was serving finnish captain Horn who was fighting 30 years against Germans. Later 1941 Finland had war against Russian at the same time as Germany. Finland had own war and many of our best officers were jewish. They were highest and best officers in finnish army...
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Matti (FIN)
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Posted: Sat Jun 6th, 2009 11:42 am |
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You don't have to take train. As well you can rent a car and a driver. Trip goes faster and you can allways "end up to very interesting places". Here you can find rental cars and cardrivers -> http://www.flyingfinns.com/
Have a trip.....
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Matti (FIN)
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Posted: Sun Jun 14th, 2009 12:50 pm |
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| Or you can run to Mongolia. Best way to find it out is to find a Finn who has done it before. We have a long history about this kind of people. Here is a list of some of them -> "Flying Finns";
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Matti (FIN)
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Posted: Sun Jun 14th, 2009 03:24 pm |
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| The nickname was first used of Hannes Kolehmainen, also known as "Smiling Hannes", as he took home three gold medals and broke two world records during the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm.[1] As Finnish runners started to dominate long-distance running, the nickname was passed on to all successful Finns in the sport, including multi-Olympic gold medalists Paavo Nurmi and Ville Ritola. Nurmi won three gold medals at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Belgium and five at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, where he was partnered with Ritola, who ran to four gold medals. Volmari Iso-Hollo, the winner of 3000m steeplechase at the 1932 and 1936 Summer Olympics, was one of the best-known Finnish runners in the 1930s and also nicknamed the Flying Finn. During his tour of the United States in 1940, Taisto Mäki - who held five world records - was regularly referred to as a Flying Finn.[2] The last Flying Finn in running was Lasse Virén, who won the 5000m and 10,000m events at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics.
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Matti (FIN)
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Posted: Sun Jun 14th, 2009 03:37 pm |
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Cottages Finland
Quality rated cottages in Finland. Make your booking here!
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Matti (FIN)
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Posted: Fri Jun 19th, 2009 08:32 am |
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The Finnish national anthem
Find out more about the Finnish national anthem, which was first sung in Swedish.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5ZfQMOHB5kLast edited on Fri Jun 19th, 2009 08:35 am by Matti (FIN)
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