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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