Farewell Finland: The Scandinavian interlude has ended

As we get prepared to cross the pond and move back to California in a few days I reflect back on the wonderful experience of living 4 years overseas in Finland. It has been a very rewarding time abroad for the family and I in too many ways to list here. The kids learned the language and the culture while experiencing Finnish traditions. I personally will miss the clean air, peaceful forests, mostly traffic-free roads and kind, trustworthy folks. While there is no utopia in this world, Finland was a great place to spend these past years if you don’t mind occasionally freezing your butt off during the long, dark winters. :) However, I won’t deny I do miss my Californian spontaneity, awesome mountains and eternal sunshine. (Though I need to take some rain back with me to help the Californian drought)  I am really looking forward to seeing my family and friends back home. 

I thought to end this blog I would make a list of things I liked and disliked about living in Finland. Please don't take these too seriously.  :)  Also, thank you very much for reading my blog through these past several years.

Liked:

1. Peaceful nature and forests and picking berries
2. Clean, crisp air
3. Stunning archipelago
4. Clean and quiet bus system
5. Security for my children
6. Easy access to health care
7. Trustworthy people
8. Summer, though it's very short
9. Sauna
10. Cross country skiing
11. Access to the rest of Europe
12. Helsinki
13. Beautiful Finnish Lake land (Eastern Finland)
14. Music clubs in Helsinki for Concerts
15. Long Holidays

Disliked:

1. Expensive Gasoline and Beer
2. Cold, dark winters
3. Too many rules about everything
4. Lack of spontaneity
5. Boring Finnish lager beer
6. Very unpredictable weather
7. increasingly difficult economic situation
8. Extreme pickiness of Finns when buying used items
9. Lack of customer service in many situations
10. Minimal store hours on Weekends
11. Xenophobia
12. Lack of good ethnic restaurants, though it improved much lately
13. 50 varieties of the same boring Finnish sausage
14. Lack of smiling faces
15. Takes a long time to get to know your neighbors 

Escape to the Canary Islands

Unfortunately, I haven't had as much time to keep blogging on a regular basis.  I think this is the longest I have gone between posts since I first created my blog in 2011.  Hopefully, I can post with more regularity, but no promises. :) My family went on a trip to the Canary Islands for the Christmas and New Year Holidays and it was our first time getting away from Finland for a warm weather winter trip since we moved here almost four years ago.

I had heard about the Canary Islands from various people and they had always been high on my curiosity list.  They are a chain of 7 Islands which are owned by Spain and just 100km from the coast of Northern Africa.  The Canary Islands get approximately 12 million tourists per year. They are specially popular amongst Scandinavians and other Northern Europeans who want to get away from their cold winter climates.  We had many choices among the 5-6 main Islands that you can travel too. It seems the most popular destinations are The Gran Canaria and Tenerife Islands.  We decided to get off the beaten path a bit and picked both Lanzarote and Fuertaventura.  Most people tend to book these trips directly through a travel agent and usually have their travel plans already laid out for them.  In our case we decided to be a bit more adventuresome, so we agreed to book everything on our own.  We thought we would save some money and have some added flexibility doing it this way.  This might be the case, but all the extra hassles of travel (shuttles, buses, ferries, airplanes) hardly made it worth our time for the little savings.

Camels of Lanzarote

We ended up flying directly into Madrid, Spain and then spending one night there before flying to Lanzarote.  We didn't really have time to enjoy Madrid, so the first night consisted of just a nice dinner near the hotel.  We would get 2 more nights in Madrid en route back to Helsinki.  Even though our flight was directly into Lanzarote, we needed to journey down to Fuertaventura via the Ferry for our first 3 nights.  So, after a shuttle, ferry ride, bus and taxi we finally arrived to our hotel.  Fuertaventura is one of the larger islands and is most famous for it's long white sand beaches, sand dunes and goats.  We made sure to visit one of the more popular beaches on the island.  During that excursion we noticed that many people were hanging (literally) at the beach Au-natural.  :)  I guess it was a clothing optional beach much to the children's shocked look on their faces.   We also really enjoyed visiting the Sand Dunes which are supposedly very similar to those in the Sahara Desert of Africa which is just 100km away.

Volcanic park in Lanzarote

Our final stop was the volcanic island of Lanzarote.  It is famous for it's varied volcanic architecture and has been compared to a mini version of Hawaii's big Island.  It also features an annual Iron Man triathlon.  We saw many cyclists riding all over the Island and perhaps they were training for the coming Iron Man event. We had a bit more time to tour around this Island and the highlights of the visit were seeing the main volcanic craters and participating in a camel ride.  The kids really enjoyed both of those activities.  This Island has it's own beauty but is definitely not as sandy beach oriented as Fuertaventura.

Having been to the Hawaiian Islands several times in my life, I wasn't sure the Canary Islands could live up to my high expectations.  We did enjoy our trip and the varied landscapes though I would have to give the edge to Hawaii if you are looking for more lush, waterfall filled landscapes.  I still think the Islands are worth visiting and would definitely go back and see the more popular Islands of Tenerife or Gran Canarias. These islands are welcoming during the dark, cold days of winter in Finland.  Speaking of old man winter, Finland enjoyed one of the warmest Februaries in a long time and Spring came early as the beginning of March saw the end of the snow pack. 

Fuertaventura

Weekend escape to Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen, which is the capital of Denmark is another city that I hadn't visited in over 20 years since I was a post college graduate backpacker.  Copenhagen is a wonderful Scandinavian city in the tiny country of Denmark. This beautiful city features a little for everyone and is fairly compact and pedestrian friendly.  Copenhagen is smaller than Stockholm, but definitely larger than Helsinki.  In comparison to Helsinki there was much more action downtown, including many famous restaurants, shops and street musicians.  In fact, Copenhagen is known for having the finest dining in all Scandinavia, including the most Michelin starred restaurants.

During our brief stay we walked around the city, focusing on the touristic center.  We strolled down to the harbor to see the famous Little Mermaid statue based on the story from Hans Christian Anderson.  This statue has gained status as the most recognizable monument in all of Copenhagen and Denmark.  The area was full of tourists snapping pics at breakneck speed.  The Mermaid will always get her share of attention.  Later, we walked over towards what is perhaps the most famous church in Copenhagen, "Church of our Saviour".  This church is unique in that you can climb up to the top of the tower which features a unique outside staircase with only brass rails stopping you from plunging down almost 300 feet to the ground.  I decided to climb up on my own and enjoyed the scenic views of the city from the outside staircase.  I am glad it wasn't windy that day while I walked the final 150 of 400 total steps to reach the top.

Church of our Saviour

Perhaps the most interesting but controversial site we visited during our stay was the area called Freetown Christiana.  This little (84 acres) self proclaimed autonomous area was started by hippies in the early 1970s.  There are many artists, shops, food vendors and housing units here.  Around 800 people actually live here, but their claim to fame is that they live by their own rules.  This means that marijuana is sold and smoked here out in the open. Marijuana is not legal in Denmark, but it seems that it is highly tolerated in Christiana.  When we walked through, we noticed that probably 75% of the people here were either purchasing or smoking it.  It felt a bit like walking through Amsterdam's seedy red light district or Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, California.  I won't get into the politics of this place, but it was definitely an interesting site.





Overall my impressions of Copenhagen were very good.  This liberal and free spirited city is Scandinavian in appearance but feels a bit more closely related to the Netherlands in tolerance and culture.  I feel and after talking to a local that even semi-liberal Stockholm, Oslo and Helsinki are not as progressive as Copenhagen.  It was pleasant to explore this city again after 21 years since my backpacking days.  I have now visited all 5 Scandinavian capitals in the last decade.  They all have their charms and interesting sites.  I would definitely put Copenhagen towards the top of the list as it seems there is much to offer for everyone here. So, it is another city that I highly recommend to any traveler looking for Scandinavian exposure. Allow yourself  at least 2-3 days to see the city non-rushed.

Christiana's artwork