It is finally the summer holidays, why write about saunas and about Finland? Well, this year I had this strange idea of spending parts of my summer holidays in Finland. Every Norwegian I meet is like “You are spending your SUMMER holidays in Finland? But why?”. Why spend your summer somewhere North of where you already live? I just thought I would check out this country that is neither Scandinavian nor Russian. Yet European.

First of all, this is a horrible summer in Finland. It has been 8 degrees for the past days or maybe weeks. It is raining, it feels like the autumn is ending to give place to the winter. But, wait a minute. It’s the 30th of June!! That alone is enough to depress anyone.

And to add to this misery, I realise by walking around Helsinki that the number of alcoholics is very high here. People are drinking alone in the streets at any time of the day or night. Finnish economy is in depression is what I hear. People also seem to be a bit depressed, and my friend tells me Finland has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. No wonder.