Jänkhägrilli?

A traditional sight in Finland - nakkikioski! (Let's see how this new hot dog stand fits in.. as you can see, there are already two pizza places in the picture.)

Signs of Spring 2011

The pictures of flowers were taken yesterday and today from around the same place. It seems sun sure can make the hay grow in one day. :)

(The first picture is from last week.)

Tivoli Seiterä @ Mäntsälä

It's always nice to have some "action" visiting Mäntsälä too. :)

Hockey night in Jyväskylä

It was nice to visit Jyväskylä to see the local hockey team JYP facing off with Blues from Espoo. The better one won and went to the finals. :)

Jyväskylä's centre has a nice and simple "grid plan". The central promenade, Kauppakatu, was really something that Mäntsälä could learn from too.

Hermanonkimaa & Numminen

We were today driving close to the epicentre of yesterday's earthquake (60.569°N, 25.296°E). But instead of looking for sights like visibly fractured buildings (as if there even were any), we were after something else - airplanes parked on ice! Too bad the KILA Winter day event was already held yesterday, but at least a few planes were still parked.

Another nice finding was the "village shop" (kyläkauppa) at Numminen. An authentic site, and quite a rarity nowadays! I bought some excellent rye bread which was from Mäntsälä's local bakery Lähimmäinen.

(Ps. Referring to the road image in my previous post, it was intended for illustration only - the fractured lines on the asphalt are very likely caused by frost.)

A small earthquake nearby!

There was a magnitude 2.6 earthquake at Mäntsälä yesterday, some 10 kilometers away from where I live. I recall it lasted maybe some five seconds altogheter, and felt a bit like "a train passing nearby". Nothing was broken, though our neighbour said some books had dropped from their shelves.

It's very common to have these small earthquakes (about one thousand magnitude 2-3 earthquakes occur worldwide every day), but it was the first time I've ever experienced one. Finland is seismically very calm area, and yesterday's earthquake was in fact among the stongest ones having occured here in ten years. It was reported in the national news too.

But hey, not to forget, this little tremor was nothing compared to the enormously powerful magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck Japan a week ago, summoning a massive tsunami and leading to various tragic events that still affect the lives of thousands. Please, let's all reach out - you can help by donating to the Red Cross or some other charity organisation doing important work for those in need!

Vihti Ski Center

This update is from two weeks past. Our benchmarking of sledding hills in Southern Finland time time lead us to Vihti Ski Center, located some 60 kilometers from Mäntsälä.

I'd say this place is best suited (of the three) for kids who are just learning downhill skiing, but the sledding slope was just average. They advertised on the web they have a "magic mat" ski lift, but I think Werneri Park had a much better arrangement with the snow tube tracks.

The order of preference (so far):

1. Talma
2. Messilä
3. Vihti Ski Center

PS. A friend tipped me later that nearby in Otalampi is the Salmi hill (at around 60.376917, 24.501688) which is a "pretty wild" for sledding.. Hmmm, I guess we'll need to check it out at some point.. :)