Meeting up with old friends . . .

Pia made arrangements to meet up with Danielle, a friend mom met on her first trip to Finland.  (Forgot to take a photo - snap)  "In a nutshell", Danielle is from Toronto, married a guy from Finland, moved to Finland then Singapore and now has been back in Finland a few years.  They have a 2 1/2 year old son, whom they just adore.  Danielle is also a music teacher and brought us up to date on her work at the university regarding music in Nepal.

We visited an exhibit of a female photographer who had captured images of life in Helsinki during the early 1900's.  Her photos were contrasted with copies taken in the 21st century from the same location.  Interesting to see the changes, and things that still remain in place today.  Pia mentioned that Finland was one of the first countries to allow women to vote.

We returned for another yummy dinner, followed with cloud berry jam on bread cheese.  Harri and Pia picked up a variety of incredibly delicious chocolate candy for us to sample, all from Finland, with the exception of one Swedish bar.  I think I've eaten more chocolate this week than in two months!

 

We were invited to use the family sauna, which was lovely!  In their home, they have a small wood burning sauna, which they use every other night.  They gave us a choice of going to a public Smoke Sauna, where we "could" jump in the lake following sauna, or use the one in their home.  Now, it wasn't as cold in Helsinki as either DC or Rochester, but we of course opted for the home sauna (ha).  Seriously, they made us feel a part of their family and opened their hearts and home to us.