A Heart and Soul Story: 100 years of Finland series - Travel Diary

Today is 1st May and it is one of my favourite holidays in Finland - Vappu! It's the day of Spring, Students and workers and everyone, like really everyone, comes out for this day to celebrate with friends and family. Usually a lot of outdoor activities happen and Finns say that Vappu is also the official start of the outdoor season for them. I have experienced several Vappu seasons and they were wonderful experiences with outdoor picnics, BBQs, Sauna at the lake, lots of food and drinks and just enjoying the (hopefully) warm weather. I want to use this day to start my Travel Diary series on Finland for their 100th year anniversary celebrating Independence. As you might know, Mr.B and I share a mutual love for this Nordic country and travel there almost every summer for a couple of weeks and for the start of this series I wanted to share some photos from last year's trip with you. Also, if you are interested, I will be posting more on different regions of Finland and also updating my Top 10 list on Things to do in Helsinki soon.

- The White Church -
Symbol of Helsinki

- Café Esplanad -
my favourite place for coffee and buns, but also the salads and sandwiches are great

- huge Korvapuusti -
cinnamon bun with sugar, one of the traditional sweets

Enjoying the sun at Pohjois-Esplanadi, one of the big outdoor areas of Helsinki city centre

Dotted art right up my sleeve at Pohjois-Esplanadi

- Helsinki Harbour -
landing spot for several ferries and soon housing a outdoor swimming and sauna area that we need to check out this summmer

Old town at the Harbour

View of Helsinki from Island Suomenlinna

- Fortress Island Suomenlinna -
UNESCO World Heritage that is a favourite with tourists and locals for their historical sights and wonderful swimming and picnic spots. It also houses a minimum-security penal labor colony and about 800 inhabitants that commute to work every day via ferries.