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July 03, 2006

Cruising around Helsinki

If you like to live near or on the water Helsinki certainly is the place for you. There is water and islands all around. Much of the area is owned by the town of Helsinki and open to the public. There are marvelous places to spend your weekends or holidays.

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Surely you cannot live in Helsinki without owning a boat...

Whereas people in other countries might have a boat house on their property Finns own a sauna. And they use it all year round - no kidding. I suppose in winter they have to whack a hole into the ice first for the after sauna bath. From my experience a sauna is good fun once you've got used to it.

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A house at the sea, a private sauna and a boat close by - what more can you want?

The landscape around here was formed about 2000 years ago. The land is still rising about 3mm per year. That doesn't seem much but it amounts to 3m in 1000 years!

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There's nothing like cruising through these waters on a day like this.

The shore line is mostly dominated by natural bedrock. There are a few sandy beaches to be found, however. A new part of the town has been built close to this one. The design of the area won a prize for being especially children and family friendly. Hard to see from far away, though.

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One of the few sandy beaches around Helsinki

On returning into the harbour we me this little beauty of a sailing ship going out with a group of people in historic costumes on board.

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A Ketch sailing out towards the open sea

I could have spend a lot more hours on this cruise. Summer is special in Finland.

Posted by Mausi at July 3, 2006 08:51 PM

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