Now here is something strange we found out from talking to Finns. Many of them actually enjoy Winter and prefer it to Summer! Yes Winter is their time. Our hostess at the Bed and Breakfast said with a fond and dreamy expression, "Ahhh – We have the ice hockey, we have the skating, and we have the skiing. There is much more fun things to do in Winter!" and “Sauna is better in the Winter!” and "There are no mosquito's and sandflies in winter...

We've never experienced summer rain quite like in Finland. When it comes down it does so in such a torrent that when driving, even the Finns who are used to this, pull over and wait for it to subside. Our first day out in our hire car started off quite warm and we drove to the first town on our planned route of Rauma. We found the UNESCO listed site, but also found the information to be very scant and a map given to us by the tourist office quite impossible ...

The sun shone brilliantly as the ferry we had taken from Tallinn in Estonia sailed right close to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Suomenlinna and into the very beautiful Helsinki Harbour. Helsinki, with only a population of 568,000, is a "low rise" city unspoilt by giant modern skyscrapers, but blessed with stately heritage buildings of enduring elegant style.On the ferry we met a fellow Aussie, Irene, from Melbourne, who had just popped over to Tallinn for a d...