Winter wonderland

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For the past week we’ve had quite a snow blizzard in Finland. Even here in the southern Finland we’ve had a chance to enjoy such snowy landscapes that you would normally see further north.

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The lakes and the Baltic sea is frozen. This view is from Lippajärvi lake in Espoo. It was -20C and the snow was sparkling and crunching under our shoes. It would have been better to have snow shoes on!

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Small river is still open even in -20C.

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Trees are covered with snow.. there were paths made by deer. Some had even come by our house during night to find food.

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You can see how low the sun is even during mid day. Luckily the darkest time of the winter is already over, the day is slowly getting longer and even in Utsjoki the sun has risen above the horizon for a couple of weeks already.

laskiaispulla

After a walk in winter wonderland and enjoying the crisp and frosty air, it was nice to take a cup of hot tea and enjoy Shrove bun, ‘laskiaispulla’. This is a special type of bun which can be found in the cafés and supermarkets around January-February. It’s filled with whipped cream and either by almond filling which resembles marzipan or then with strawberry or raspberry jam. Both flavors have their supporters.

Sun and fun on ice

Instead of our usual Sunday walk in the forest, we decided today to head for the seashore for a walk. Sunny March winter days are really nice, there’s already a promise of Spring in the air but you can still enjoy winter activities. It’s always surprising how fast the days start to get brighter after the long and dark winter.

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We started our walk from the Matinkylä beach in Espoo. There were a lot of people enjoying the sun: skiing, kite-surfing, ice skating, riding bikes.. There was very little snow on the ice so it was perfect condition for different winter activities on ice. As we are in Finland, there were of course also people swimming in the ice hole.

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When we started the walk there was quite crisp wind and it felt like winter. But when we continued walking further to the sea, the weather changed. We decided to walk around Varsasaari island.

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When we got to the other side of the island, we discovered open sea. We had to land on the island and walk by the shore as the ice was too unsafe to walk on. We decided to sit down on the rocks and listen to the melting ice. Have you ever heard how the ice sounds like, when the thick ice rafts  press against each other and the rocks? They make quite spooky sounds!

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The ice looked like a beautiful jigsaw puzzle. I cannot wait to be able to go stand up paddling when the sea is finally completely open!

Walking on the ice in the winter is great fun, just make sure to watch where you are going and take ice picks with you if possible. Next time I’ll make sure to pack some sandwiches and hot chocolate, having a picnic in the nature is a great way to relax.

railo