Side trips to Paris and Estonia

We have taken two side trips since arriving in Finland.  One weekend we visited Tallinn Estonia, a short but really amazing trip across the Gulf of Finland by ferry.  The other trip we took was during the week long mid winter break to Paris, which we just returned from yesterday.

TALLINN!
Tallinn is a picturesque medieval town at the northern edge of Estonia.  The city dates back to the mid 11th century, although humans had settled the area thousands of years earlier.  Over the last 700 years, the city has been conquered by alternating waves of armies from Denmark, Sweden, Germany, and Russia, and as a result has developed as a defensive fortress with walls, battlements, and towers.  Tallinn's old town is one of the best preserved medieval cities in Europe, and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  We only planned for 2 days in Tallinn, and we wished we'd had at least one more day (of not two more) to explore this fascinating city.

Blurry eyed morning ferry to Tallinn

View from the wall surrounding the city

Amazing meal:  I had wild boar!

PARIS!
Schools in Finland take a one week mid-winter break, so we took advantage of this to take a trip to Paris, about a 2 hour flight from Helsinki.  We were there for 6 days (just got back yesterday) and put a good 5-8 miles on our feet each day trying to take in all the sights of what many consider to be the crown jewel of Europe.  Here are some photos of our trip (I must have taken a thousand!)

Palace of Versailles

Crepes at the base of the Eiffel Tower

View from the top!

We ate a ridiculous amount of pastries!

Steve toured the Catacombs (where 6 million residents are buried)

Montmartre

Arc de Triomphe

Notre-Dame Cathedral

Near the River Seine

The Louvre Museum in the background

We rode this our first night in the city.

Learning through Making

Craft education is an important part of the development of a Finnish child.  Kids in Finland learn to sew, build with wood, work with metals, and program robots to perform tasks.  Starting at grade 3, all students take these classes and they are considered a valued and essential part of child development.  Rather than being "optional" or "add on" electives, all students are expected to learn "self-sufficiency".  The emphasis of this part of the educational system is on the younger grades, 3-8; students in older grades don't take these classes generally.  It is another indication of the independent nature of the Finnish people, that they can make things, fix things, and take care of themselves and their possessions.  As I watched the kids working in these programs, I was struck by how much freedom they had to work with the tools and equipment.  The students get instruction on using these tools and they are trusted to follow the rules, and invariably they did so.  When I asked one teacher if he was ever afraid that a kid might get hurt, he said "they may get hurt once but they won't make the same mistake again, and that's one way of learning".

Some examples of sewing projects students make (4th/5th grade)

4th grade student using a sewing machine

This 5th grade student is using a blowtorch to heat a copper plate, so she can hammer it into a ladle for sauna.

Student using a drill press to make a sauna ladle handle

This student is using a scraping tool to shape a wood handle on a turning machine

Kids help themselves to these tools when they feel they need them.

One woodshop we visited.

my first Saun-ahhhhhhhh...

My Fulbright buddy Petteri guided me through my first experience with a local Finnish sauna.  I didn't want some hoity-toity fancy spa, but rather preferred to go sauna "like the locals do".  My time last night did not disappoint.  The sauna house was located a few trams stops from my apartment, cost 12 euros, and although Petteri warned me that the place could be "a bit rough around the edges" I thought it was a perfect introduction and worth every cent.  You start by washing off, then you go into a large sealed room (this one was concrete, others are wood) containing a massive wood heated oven with a hole at the top.  When the mood strikes, someone ladles water through the hole and it falls on the hot rocks below which then give off steam.  Instantly, the temperature surges and you feel a blast of heat; the higher up you sit, the hotter it is.  I asked Petteri about how hot he thought last night's sauna was, and he estimated about 80 deg C (about 180 deg F) so that's pretty hot!  After 5 to 10 minutes you step out, have a cool drink, maybe move outside for a bit of crisp frozen breeze, and then go back in and repeat the process until you feel fully done/clean/relaxed.  Side note:  Finland has a world championships sauna competition where the starting temp is 110 C (230 F) and the competitors see who can stay in the longest (the last person to leave unaided is the winner)!  In 2010 a Russian finalist died after 6 minutes in this heat.  Needless to say, I don't plan on signing up for this any time soon.

Sauna is an integral part of the way of life in Finland, and the practice dates back many thousands of years.  For many Finns, sauna is revered, even a holy place.  Some Finns prefer to be very quiet and meditational, others find it a great place to discuss sports, politics, and even conduct business.  It is estimated that there are roughly 2 million saunas in Finland for a population of 5.3 million people!

I am quite sure that I will be going to sauna a few more times before I head home in April!

Public sauna

In a sauna, water is poured with the ladle onto the hot rocks to give off steam

Some Finns use birch leaves to soften the skin and give off a fragrance

The truly bold will jump in frozen water between sauna sessions to cool off (haven't tried this yet but plan to!).

Day trip to Porvoo

This weekend we took a day trip (by bus) out to Porvoo, a historic town about 30 miles east of Helsinki.  The town is the cite of one of 6 remaining medieval villages in Finland, but only a few structures date back to the 14th century; most of the old town was rebuilt in the late 1800's and now of course it is surrounded by modern suburban sprawl.  We enjoyed strolling through the historic part of town, shopping and taking pictures and stopping in cafe's to warm up with coffee and pastry when we got too cold.  A light snowfall all day made the visit feel festive.