Cinnamon Roll Day

4 October 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon appétit Reading Time:  5 minutes

© flickr.com - Eric Petruno/cc-by-sa-2.0

© flickr.com – Eric Petruno/cc-by-sa-2.0

Cinnamon Roll Day or Cinnamon Bun Day (Swedish: kanelbullens dag, Finnish: korvapuustipäivä) falls on 4 October each year. It is an annual theme day created for marketing purposes in Sweden and Finland that was instituted in 1999 by Kaeth Gardestedt. At the time, she was a project manager for Home Baking Council (Hembakningsrådet) which was historically a trade group supported by yeast, flour, sugar, and margarine manufacturers and is now supported by the Dansukker brand of sugar.   read more…

Pello in Finland

26 January 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  4 minutes

Arctic circle in Juoksenki © panoramio.com - dr.eros/cc-by-3.0

Arctic circle in Juoksenki © panoramio.com – dr.eros/cc-by-3.0

Pello (formerly Turtola) is a municipality of Finland. It is located approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of the Arctic Circle in the western part of the province of Lapland, and is part of the Lapland region. The municipality is on the national border with Sweden, by the Tornionjoki river. The municipality has a population of 3,260 (30 September 2023) and covers an area of 1,864.66 square kilometres (719.95 sq mi) of which 126.12 km² (48.70 sq mi) is water. The population density is 1.88 inhabitants per square kilometre (4.9/sq mi).   read more…

Aleksanterinkatu in Helsinki

21 December 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Shopping Reading Time:  4 minutes

Kiseleff House © Mahlum

Kiseleff House © Mahlum

Aleksanterinkatu (“Alexander Street”) is a street in Kluuvi, the commercial centre of Helsinki, Finland. In the city plan by Carl Ludvig Engel, it was the Decumanus Maximus, the main east–west street in the city, crossing the Cardo, Unioninkatu (Union Street) at the corner of the Senate Square.   read more…

Kuopio Market Hall

18 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, Bon appétit, Shopping Reading Time:  4 minutes

© kallerna/cc-by-sa-4.0

© kallerna/cc-by-sa-4.0

Kuopio Market Hall is an Art Nouveau-style market hall on Kuopio Market Square in the Multimäki district in Kuopio, Finland. The market hall has a sales point for 30 companies. It is open all year round six days a week.   read more…

The European Union: European Sky Shield Initiative

12 September 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  6 minutes

Flag_of_Europe European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI) is a project to build a ground-based integrated European air defense system which includes anti-ballistic missile capability. As of July 2023, nineteen European states participate in the initiative. ESSI is part of the Common Security and Defense Policy and as such is designed to complement and relieve the burden on NATO.   read more…

Theme Week Lapland – Kemijärvi

27 August 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  < 1 minute

Lake Kemijärvi © Paasikivi/cc-by-sa-3.0

Lake Kemijärvi © Paasikivi/cc-by-sa-3.0

Kemijärvi is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Lapland. The municipality has a population of 7,100 and covers an area of 3,930.91 square kilometres (1,517.73 sq mi) of which 425.84 km<² (164.42 sq mi) is water. The population density is 2.03 inhabitants per square kilometre (5.3/sq mi). Surrounding municipalities are Pelkosenniemi in the north, Salla in the east, Posio in the south and Rovaniemi in the west. The town is unilingually Finnish. Villages located in the area of the municipality of Kemijärvi are Halosenranta, Hyypiö, Isokylä, Joutsijärvi, Juujärvi, Kallaanvaara, Kostamo, Leväranta, Luusua, Oinas, Perävaara, Ruopsa, Räisälä, Sipovaara, Soppela, Tapionniemi, Tohmo, Ulkuniemi, Varrio and Vuostimo.   read more…

Theme Week Lapland – Sodankylä

26 August 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  2 minutes

Orajärvi village © Maasaak/cc-by-sa-4.0

Orajärvi village © Maasaak/cc-by-sa-4.0

Sodankylä is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the region of Lapland, and lies at the northern end of Highway 5 (E63) and along Highway 4 (E75). The Kitinen River flows near the center of Sodankylä. Its neighbouring municipalities are Inari, Kemijärvi, Kittilä, Pelkosenniemi, Rovaniemi, and Savukoski. The municipality has two official languages: Finnish and Northern Sámi.   read more…

Theme Week Lapland – Inari, capital of Sámi culture

25 August 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Sami flag at a reindeer farm © Manfred Werner/cc-by-sa-3.0

Sami flag at a reindeer farm © Manfred Werner/cc-by-sa-3.0

Inari is Finland‘s largest municipality by area (but one of the most sparsely populated), with four official languages, more than any other in the country. Its major sources of income are tourism, service industry and cold climate testing. With the Siida museum in the village of Inari, it is a center of Sámi culture, widely known as the “capital of Sámi culture”. The airport in Ivalo and the country’s key north-south European Route E75 (Finland’s National Road 4) bring summer and winter vacationers seeking resorts with access to a well-preserved, uncrowded natural environment.   read more…

Theme Week Lapland – Tornio

24 August 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  13 minutes

View from Suensaari water tower © Estormiz

View from Suensaari water tower © Estormiz

Tornio is a city and municipality in Lapland, Finland. The city forms a cross-border twin city together with Haparanda on the Swedish side. The municipality covers an area of 1,348.83 square kilometres (520.79 sq mi), of which 161.59 km² (62.39 sq mi) is water. The population density is 17.97 inhabitants per square kilometre (46.5/sq mi), with a total population of 21,000. It borders the Swedish municipality of Haparanda (in Finnish: Haaparanta). Tornio and Haparanda have a history as twin cities, and are currently set to merge under the names TornioHaparanda and HaparandaTornio. A new city centre is under construction on the international border and several municipal services are shared. The towns also share a common golf course, situated astride the border. The new IKEA store in Haparanda has signposting in Finnish as well as in Swedish, and all prices are signposted in two currencies. In spite of being a border city Tornio is unilingually Finnish with a negligible number of native Swedish speakers, although this does not count vast numbers of bilinguals who speak Swedish as a second language, with an official target of universal working bilingualism for both border municipalities.   read more…

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