Tuesday:  And into Finland

After the Max burger, googled that they are a Swedish chain and beat Burger King and McD in taste tests … but no presence in Finland 🙂   J will have to wait till Norway.

Weather pretty wet, so decided on a drive … stopping in Pitea to fill up with LPG as there is NONE in Finland.  Thought we would stop overnight just over the border, but the town looked less than salubrious, so we headed onto Kemi a few miles on into Finland.  The sea mists blew in and off our pitch… the heating was on!

Wednesday:  Moving South

Initial thoughts on Finland which is new to both of us …

• Lack of architectural planning – very utilitarian, square shapes, with lots of blocks of flats around 6 stories high.
• Poorer than Denmark and Sweden
• People wear black or black, and sometimes black.  And a lot of the men have crew cuts.
• English seems less widely spoken, or at least well.  I thought may be Russian was compulsory, but apparently Swedish is mandatory for the last 3 years of primary, due the large Swedish speaking contingent.

However, as we have come south, we have seen more attractive buildings … we stopped for a walk around Kokkola old town and found a Alko shop …. yes the state run booze shops really are called this!  We ‘invested’ in a bottle of gin … ‘Finsbury’s Best London’ and a bottle of Schweppes …. joy!

Drove to Jakobstad (Swedish name) / Pietarsaari (Finish) and parked up along side the Old Marina … Swedish speaking area as we are back to red painted wooden summer houses.  Opened the gin and toasted the safe delivery of Jade to Sarah and Gareth – wonderful news.