Finish the year with fun facts about Finland

Flag of Finland.

Why learn Finnish? If you want to go to Finland to see Santa Claus, or the northern lights,  Finland is known to the Finns as Suomi.

Finland's Tourist Atractions

Finland offers tourists saunas, salmon and Santa Cluas and the Sibleius museum as well as Moomins, sleight rides, the Northern Lights.

Finnish Language

Add the opportunity to learn Finnish, to conquer the challenge of the Finnish language. You already know one word. Sauna.  

Santa Claus

Finland is the land of Santa Claus who can be visited all year in the north of the country in a theme park offering ll sorts of delights for chidlren and adults. Winter is the time of year for sledges and sleight rides and ccross country skiing and riding across iced up lakes on Snowmobiles, and warming up afterwards in the sauna. In sumer, by contrast, the days stay light until midnight.

I was invited to Finland by the tourist board way back in the Eighties by the tourist board who were promoting trips to see Santa Claus. I aasked him what he would say to people who dont believe in Santa Claus.

He replied, I don't believe in Concorde.

We had flown into the capital Helsinki, which is in the south. Nowadays you will find a Moomins shop in the airprot. It is landsidde, so you can visit it during your trip to Finaland.

Reindeer Meat

I was offered a restaurant meal and my hosts asked if I would prefer steak or reindeer meal. (Which is known as venison in the UK, and at that time was very pricey.)  As a tourist and a travel writer i wanted to try the local specility. Bu not wishing to cause embarrassment by ordering the dearest thing on the menu, I asked for steak. A day or two later I had reindeer meat when we were not given a choice and I asked to see the menu prices. I was amazed to see that the exotic reindeer meat was much chepaer than steak. Finland has lots of reindeer, and few cows.  Cold coluntry means reindeer. (The males have the antlers I presume, to fight enemies to protect the females or beat off rivals.) 

Nowadays I understand the price of venison has come down and it is more available outside Finaland, but it is still a novelty. What does it taste like. I have eaten all sorts of exotic meats, including crocodile. I have to confess that they all become a blur. To me they ae all tough and tasteless and not worth extra money, just once as a novelty. Nothing is as succulent and tasty as chicken meat.

Finnish - English

ja - and

kiitos - thank you

mina - I (memory aid, letter m like me)

M - male toilets

N - female toilets

no - well

sina - you

English - Finnish

well - no

Please share links to your favourite blog posts.