First of all I am so thankful for getting a tip for Thermacell mosquito repellent. I´ve never seen any gear so efficient and it really made our trip much more comfortable than it would be! (not a paid advertising, however if someone from the company reads this, I won´t get upset for some sponsorship)
We really had a great and relaxing time we were expecting to get from this honeymoon after all the rush we´ve had before. Beer, sauna, remote cottages by lakes and weather was really awesome most of the time.
Driving in Finland was a really pleasant experience. Everyone seemed relaxed and was following the traffic rules except maybe for a few individuals near the western coast that were quiet neurotic, but that still didn´t spoil the impression. I´ve not heard anyone honking, even when other car was blocking their way or hasn´t noticed green light for 1,5 seconds. Wish it was like that in V4 countries too...
You guys are obsessed with static radars which gave me anxiety. The amount of these speed-checking cameras in some regions are enourmous and I am still affraid of car-rental company not giving me my whole deposit back for getting some speeding ticket.
Driving the second-class roads in Finland, I am not surprised you have so many great rally racers. At least I know what "Nimismiehen kiharat" stands for (love this one).
I dedicate my first picture to the guy who got upset for me calling our Finnish destinations "wild" and "off-grid".
Outokumpu is the funniest name for a town I have heard in a long time. When my wife told me it means "Weird hill" I tought she was fooling with me. Days passed I am still entertained. On the other hand Kuorinka is the cutest name for a place I have heard in my whole life. "Kôra" stands for a tree bark in Slovak, so Kuorinka sounds to us like its a nice little piece of tree bark that you have some emotional affection to.
I dedicate my second picture to the guys that were mocking Forssa.. There are people living in there and they are going places! I took this picture near Värikallio. After what commets I got regarding Forssa I was expecting it to be the kind of a small town with a church and three sleepy wooden houses, however it was a very vivid town with a beautiful Finlayson brick factory.
With surnames like Niemi, Mäkinen or Laine, Finns are the native Americans of Europe. Really cool.
I have been to Sweden, Norway and Denmark before and I have to say Finns are the most sympathetic folk from the north in general.
We have visited some places that you guys recommended. Each one of them was worth it. I personally love Värikallo rock paintings. These kind of prehistoric things amaze me. We already had this one on our list before we got the recommendation on Reddit but I still had to mention it. And then I would say Hiljainen Kansa and Kammi-kylä made the strongest impressions.
Also thanks to you guys we had the opportunity to meet Anna and Bence who gave us a little tour in their small brewery in Oulu. They are a cool couple that love beer crafting so when you see Naïlo beer somewhere, go for it, you will not regret it.
I fell in love with terva scent. We bought it for sauna and got ourselves two bottles of shampoo. My family and friends in Slovakia can not believe it is used this way. Tar is considered to be an unpleasant smell, so they think I am making fun of them. I guess they just need to experience it.
This is something I got amazed by already few years ago when I visited Finland for the first time, but I will share it here anyway. It´s the elderly people playing slot machines in malls. It´s just something you don´t expect and I have never seen it in any other country. It´s all, funny, weird and cool at the same time.
The last remark I would like to make is that Swedish minority seem to be real local patriots. One of the first things they would say was something like "we speak Swedish in this part of Finland" or something like that. Is this impression I got right?
Bonus: My wife claims that men from Tampere have short legs. Please take no insults, it just got me laughing so I told myself I have to share this with you. She´s spent a relatively long time in Tampere during her studies and this is obiously some observation she´s made. We haven´t been to Tampere during this trip so I will have to do some research next time we are in Finland.