Helsinki, Finland

Helsinki Finland

The population of Saint Petersburg is about 5.5 million which is the population of ALL of Finland.  Helsinki is small – about 600,000 and it is the midsummer holiday right now so many of the locals were gone and most of the shops were closed.  It made for a less crowded touring day than the last couple of days have been.  There are 200,000 lakes in Finland and 2 million saunas(when there are only 5.5 million people!!)  They take their saunas seriously – one of the cars on the ferris wheel is a sauna!!!  70% of Finland is forested and they were the first country to allow women voters.

Many people were illiterate so they put animals on the signs.

She talked about their education system and health care.  She started with the baby boxes which are well known world wide.  To encourage mothers to get medical care for the entire pregnancy they get a box which can be used as the baby’s bed and all the clothes, diapers etc they need for the first few months of life.  Children under 18 get free medical services.  Adults pay 30 Euros per doctor visit and it is $30 Euros a day for a hospital no matter why you are there – mole removed, heart surgery, cancer….

Temppeliaukio Rock Church  or Church in the Rock

It is built directly into the rock and is often used for concerts because of the great acoustics.

Hakaniemi Market Square

Their new library is amazing although it only has one floor of books and the rest is workshop areas with 3D printers, tools, sewing machines etc.  so people can work on personal projects.  There is a recording studios and gaming room etc.  They wanted to give a place for the community to get together especially during the long dark winters.  new library