Thank you August!

After a cold and cloudy June and July this August has been treating us pretty well and restored our faith in the Finnish summer. Let's hope for a warm September with a lot of sunny hours as well.

Have a good start into the week!

First flowers

The first flowers raise their heads out of the still cold soil. In the parks around Helsinki the first crocuses can be seen.

Spring is now coming and the next days promise sunny weather with temperatures above 10 degrees. Enjoy the Finnish spring and have a nice day!

Looks like spring

The flowers are blooming and spring is here.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Signs of spring

Take a close look and you can already see the first flower buds in the parks and forests. Just a few more days and the first blossoms are here.

Enjoy the sunny spring day!

tropical recreation

For those who can’t wait for the summer to arrive the City Winter Garden is exactly the right thing. This botanical indoor garden is located close to the Olympic stadium and offers its visitors tropical climate and over 200 exotic plants in three different rooms.
 

Build in 1893 is has been a recreation place for generations. You can just walk around, enjoy the beautiful flowers, palms and cacti or watch the fountain. Or why not have a picnic here in this nice atmosphere? With tables and chairs the winter garden invites its visitors to sit down and stay a bit longer.

You get to the City Winter Garden best with tram line 8 and get out at Kaupunginpuutarha. The entrance for the garden is free.

spring vs. winter

While people in the Southern and Central Europe are enjoying temperatures around 20 degrees here in Finland you still have to take your hat and gloves with you whenever you leave the house. And even though also here the spring slowly starts and you feel the sun getting stronger every day some days might still surprise with snow. Finns call that “taka talvi”, the last attempts of the winter to come back. With 0 to 8 degrees Helsinki is also still much colder then Stockholm which is just a few hundred kilometers further west. The reason for that is that the Gulf Stream doesn’t influence the climate in Finland as strongly as it does in Norway and Sweden.

But not just melting snow and ice show that the winter is over. Also the first blooming flowers welcome the spring to the Finnish capital.

Flower Carousel

Just a few days ago this interesting new maschine was put up at Forum Shopping Center. It’s called Kukka Karuselli and it allows you to buy flowers right from the automat. The prices for the bouquets vary between 7.50 and 20 Euros. I really handy way to get to some flowers fast if you are just on your way to a friend’s birthday or forgot to buy something for your anniversary. 

But honestly it’s not really a big advantage compared to a normal flower shop. It can’t even compete with its opening times since the shopping center closes completely at the same time as the shops in it.

Anyway it’s definitely a funny idea and probably also worth trying it out once.