It's three naked men all hammering an anvil. It was built in 1932 by Felix Nylund and is meant to represent human labor and interpersonal cooperation. We also passed by the Magnum museum where you can apparently create your own personalized Magnum ice cream bar. We'll see if we have time for that on Thursday.
We met our tour guide Jeff at 9 AM and the six others who would be on the tour. We were headed for a nature hike at the Liesjarvi National Forest. It was about a ninety minute drive and we had one stop about thirty minutes in in case anyone needed a coffee or snack since lunch wouldn't be until 1 PM.
It was quite a long drive into the forest before we got to the trail we'd be taking. And when we arrived we realized it wasn't raining here in the forest. We had cool weather but no rain!! Perfect for a hike!! Our main focus was on nature and finding mushrooms and berries. Especially the illusive chanterelle mushroom. Would we find any? Along the way Jeff pointed out other interesting facts of the forest such as how woodpeckers jam pine cones into tree bark in order to get the seeds. Or that when you pick a mushroom, you're not killing the mushrooms. The living part of the mushroom is still in the soil. Similar to when you might pick an apple or berry.
At about 12:15 we reached the Kota where we would have lunch. A Kota is a hut that can be used for shelter, sleeping and has a fire pit inside. It's really a rustic cabin.
There are thousands of these and Laavus all around Finland and they're free to use. Laavus are more like a three sided lean-to facing a fireplace. Outside the Kota was another fire pit where Jeff had started a fire and was toasting some rye bread. And soon lunch was served!! He had made the most delicious salmon soup.
We had a version of this on Tuesday. This one was much better. So much mow salmon and smaller amounts of potato. Such a simple soup but so delicious!! And great with the rye bread. We also had blueberry juice, one of the traditional drinks of Finland. I was afraid this would taste like KoolAid, but it was very tasty. Not overly sweet and full of blueberry flavor. Dessert was a lingonberry pound cake.
A little bit more about mushrooms and berries in Finland. They grow wild all around the forests. Cloud Berries. Blueberries. Green Blueberries. Bilberries. All kinds of mushrooms (some poisonous). And people come and pick them. They aren't cultivated on farms since it's been found to be too expensive that way. Not enough land or the right boggy conditions. So they're in the wild and people might spend a whole weekend just collecting them. Fascinating.
We began the second half of our hike and found more mushrooms but no decent chanterelles - yet.
Only a few small ones that Jeff put in a basket. But in our last kilometer, Jeff spotted a good sized chanterelle!! We had found the illusive mushroom!!
We made our way back to the van for the ninety minute drive back to Helsinki. Once we returned, we decided to find some dinner. The weather has cleared and it was a beautiful sunny afternoon!! There are so many restaurants to choose from. We went with some good old authentic Finnish Mexican food and decided to eat outside. Iguana had very good chicken fajita and chicken wings. Our main issue with eating them was fending off the aggressive seagulls. When you come to Helsinki, be prepared. They seem to work in packs where one or two distract you before another one flanks you're chicken wings!!
After dinner we sat in the esplanade area of the main square and did some people watching for almost an hour. Then we headed back to the hotel and had cocktails on the outside patio area. Definitely wanted to enjoy the amazing weather!!
Tomorrow the Tall Ships Festival will begin. Opening ceremonies are at 11:55 where they'll ring the bells of the Helsinki Cathedral and the 60+ ships in port will ring their bells back in response. Should be amazing to witness!! Plus they have live bands and other events. Should be a very fun day. And maybe we'll make our own Magnum ice cream bar.
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