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Grundvik main house
  Today, Finland is a cosmopolitan Scandinavian country—a modern, gregarious society living in beautiful natural surroundings. The outgoing Finns are among the friendliest people on earth; they relish the opportunity to practice their English, which is almost universally spoken, with visitors to their beloved country. Finland offers a blend of the familiar West and the exotic East, a mix of cultures that makes it unique among Scandinavian countries. Its course of history has given Finland an inner strength of personality, culture, and languages. The vibrant cultural life in Finland is marked by intellectual curiosity and breadth of vision, courage, and a desire to create something new. Like its Scandinavian neighbors, Finland is a natural beauty – its air is clean and cool and its countryside is a northern jewel. One-third of the country lies in the Arctic Circle. There are countless islands, marshes, bogs, and myriad crystal-clear lakes – in fact, over 185,000 lakes which comprise approximately 10% of the country. There are also numerous forests in Finland. Two-thirds of the country belongs to the Boreal forest, which includes Kuusamo. Hunting, bird-watching, and fishing are popular activities in Finland, though highly regulated. Finland’s forests are home to roaming bears, wolves, mooses, hares, elks, foxes, lynxes, hedgehogs, lemmings, and even reindeers in the northern forests of Finland. Many, but not all, of these preys may be hunted. Bird-watching is equally popular in Finland. The country is home to more than 300 species of birds including the golden eagle, osprey, willow warbler, redwing, whooper swan, chaffinch and black grouse. Finland is also a great place to fish. With the numerous lakes, there are close to seventy species of freshwater fish, including the perch, salmon, and northern pike. While the Finns enjoy other outdoor activities (besides hunting, bird-watching, and fishing) such as swimming, kayaking and barbecuing, they bathe in saunas almost religiously. A visit to Finland without a try at this social, spiritual, and fitness activity would make for an incomplete Finnish experience. The interesting part about Finland is the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights. This phenomenon with its bright glow of lights can be seen on winter nights in the northern parts of Finland. And in the summer, you can see the “midnight sun” phenomenon, wherein even past midnight the sun remains visible. The Korvatunturi mountains in the north are popular among tourists. With its herds of reindeers, it is claimed to be the home of Santa Claus. Other popular destinations in Finland include Helsinki, Turku, Savonlinna, Oulu, Vaasa, Espoo, Rovaniemi, Tampere, Mikkeli, Kokkola, and Punkaharju. To truly understand Finland and its people, a visitor has to understand sisit, a Finnish concept that is at the heart of how Finns view themselves. Providing a pat definition for sisu is difficult—indeed, even Finns wrestle over its essence—but the term basically means having the determination and perseverance to see a difficult job through. Sisu fuels Finns'pride in their country's history and path to independence. Finland's history is said to date back to the birth of Christ, but recent studies indicate that early settlers came to its shores after the Ice Age 9,000 years ago. In the 12th century, neighboring Sweden annexed the country and ruled it for almost 600 years. Following a long, uninterrupted rule by Sweden, Finland was incorporated into the Russian Empire as a grand duchy in 1809. After declaring itself independent from Russia in 1917, Finland officially became a free parliamentary repubhc in 1919. The 5.2 million residents of Finland today take great pride in being a Western democracy. Sisu also explains Finns' enormous creativity in the arts. Jean Sibelius s exquisite musical compositions, the Golden Age works of artists like Albert Edelfelt and Finland's national painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela, plus brilliant designs by Eliel Saarinen (who started a revolution in architecture in the late-19th century) and his successor Alvar Aalto, still reverberate today. Their accomplishments represent just a few of the many outstanding contributions to the world made by Finns that reflect a strong sense of cultural identity. Sisu is also behind Finland's impressive technological accomplishments— Finns have more mobile phones and Internet access than any other country on Earth. The cyber connection reflects the Finnish desire to reach out to others. | |
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