Jenny and Kae have spearheaded a daily posting plan for May (I didn’t do NaBloPoMo this year; it felt too overwhelming!) and, since I’m already posting almost daily, I figured why not officially join in?
After a week, we’re finally all well enough to do something as a family. On our agenda today is a visit to the local amusement park, Linnanmäki. We’re heading there shortly, so I’ll keep this post short and sweet.
How about a little Helsinki Potpourri?
It’s been fun to notice cultural quirks, especially in Helsinki. Here’s one that’s glaringly obvious: they keep their floors incredibly clean.
At John’s office, everyone takes off their shoes as soon as they go inside. No one wears outside shoes indoors (it was part of our rental agreement for our month-long apartment stay). When I got my hair cut, I was expected to take off my shoes at the entry (they had slippers available to wear).
And most buildings have shoe cleaning brushes outside the door. And people use them!
Another fun fact: Helsinki is GMT+3. So when it’s 11 pm in Helsinki, it’s:
- 6:00 am the next day in Australia (Hi Sophie and Melissa!)
- 10:00 pm in Vienna, Austria
- 9:00 pm in Cardiff, UK (Hi Rachel!)
- 5:30 pm in St. John’s, Newfoundland (Dare to be different!)
- 5 pm (back home) in Nova Scotia, Canada (Hi Joy!)
- 3 pm in Wisconsin (Hi Sarah, Kae, Engie, and all the other WI bloggers)
- 1 pm in California/British Columbia (Hi San/Julie/Jana + Nicole)
RAPID FIRE POTPOURRI
- Finland was recently ranked (once again; 9 consecutive years) the “happiest country in the world.”
- There are over 3 million saunas in the country (there are fewer than 6 million people living in the country, so that’s a <2:1 ratio of people:saunas).
- Update: I eventually made it to Löyly Helsinki for my first Finnish sauna experience—complete with several freezing dips in the Baltic Sea.
- They claim to have the best tap water in the world—while that doesn’t necessarily feel verifiable, it is amazing.
Over and out. Happy Saturday.
Your turn.
- Do you wear “outside” shoes inside your house?
- Preferred footwear inside: “indoor” shoes, bare feet, sock feet? I’m a mix of bare and sock…
- Do you like saunas?
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That’s a lot of saunas.
I don’t mind shoes inside, but somehow my kids take theirs off automatically- I don’t think I trained them? My husband rarely takes his off coming inside, so he’s the worst offender for tracking in dirt. Taking shoes off wasn’t a thing when I was a kid- not sure when the culture shifted .
I typically wear slippers or bare feet inside. A lot of shoes hurt my feet after a while, so I like to free them when possible.
Saunas are such a key part of the culture here!
We mostly take our shoes off in the entry way, but I don’t stress about it. Even WITH taking our shoes off, I feel like my floors are constantly dirty. (My dad is the worst offender; he’ll come and walk right into my house with his shoes on, but it doesn’t really bother me).
I like wearing Crocs in the house. I find they’re comfy and provide a reasonable amount of support.
I am going to need an in-depth excavation of this “happiest country” claim, Elisabeth. I mean, I am ALL for clean floors and no outside shoes inside, but that can’t be the only reason people love their lives in Finland. Please, uncover the secrets and share them here.
Have you experienced a sauna yet? IS THERE A SAUNA IN YOUR RENTAL?! When and why and how often do people use these saunas? I cannot STAND being sweaty, so I don’t get it, but clearly it’s A Big Thing.
Ha, yes, I don’t think the shoe thing is the key to global happiness.
I think the keys are: a) a deep level of trust (crime rates are LOW here) b) a deep love of nature (they spend a tremendous amount of time outside and there are parks everywhere + their Everyman’s Rights policy means even private property is available to the general public for things like camping and exploring-can you imagine such a thing in the US???) c) a very family-first culture (great work/life balance) and d) saunas. In general, the Nordic/Scandinavian countries are very high in the rankings. They also have a very robust social support structure (high wages, high taxes, public amenities like good health care, inexpensive childcare, affordable higher education).
We do have a sauna in our rental building but unfortunately don’t have access to it 🙁 But I’m going to go to a (clothed!!!) sauna while I’m here.
YASSSSSS for MayBloPoMo!!! The fire is spreading and I am here for it (as a reader that is…I feel like I will never ever get caught up with blogging).
That’s super interesting that shoes are not worn inside for workplaces and salons. I approve! Truth be told, once we got Doggo there was so much going back and forth between inside and outside that I’ve gotten a bit sloppy with taking my shoes off inside, but I still *mostly* take them off inside.
MayBloPoMo! It’s official 🙂
Yay!! Welcome to our party!! 🥳 so glad everyone is feeling better. We are NOT a take the shoes off family… probably should be much better about it but we just aren’t… 🤷♀️
This is my kind of party 🙂
I have literally been to Helsinki for just one day, but we went to a sauna that’s right on the seafront. It’s a mixed one where you wear swimsuits. When you come out the sauna you do your dip straight into the Baltic sea. It was amazing. The highlight of my (short) trip. I think it was called Loyly
Loyly is THE famous sauna and I have plans to go there in the next week or so. I’m very excited, and you comment is making me even more enthusiastic.
That is so interesting about the shoes coming off, even at work or when getting a hair cut! I’m not a stickler about shoes, as long as they’re clean. If there’s no mud or cow poop, I’m happy! But I do have shoes that I only wear in the house because they’re soft and more like slippers. I vacuum almost daily (just the main traffic areas) with my super cool rechargeable vacuum.
Also, that is A LOT of saunas! Wow!
I can imagine no mud and poop being a very good universal rule 😉
Do you like the vacuum?? Has it worked well for you?
So now it is 8:20 p.m. in Calif. and 6:20 in the morning in Helsinki. Fun to know. But is it really Sunday there, or is there some International Dateline mystery math causing it to be Monday? (Why didn’t that ever get taught in school? Seems important to know!)
What is MayBloPoMo??
Is a sauna the same as a hot tub? Or is it one of those superhot rooms?
I take my shoes off but my husband doesn’t. I figure it cuts down the dirt by 50%, and it is easy for me since all I wear are Crocs. I wear slippers in the winter. Didn’t have them on the other night, misjudged a corner in the dark and bruised the heck out of my little toe. Dang. Slippers would have provided some buffer between my foot and the wall.
Ha. Nope. It’s really Sunday here 🙂
MayBloPoMo is a newly christened daily blogging challenge. Jenny and Kae set it up and I’ve decided to join in.
A sauna is one of those “superhot” rooms.
Ouch. Hope your toe is okay?
Hmmm. I’d prefer no outside shoes, but it doesn’t end up working out because we go back/forth from house to backyard a lot.
I love saunas and would love one. Definitely not a hot tub person.
I think I’d love both a sauna AND a hot tub (Kae is trying to wear me down on this one). I’m perpetually cold.
We are a no-outside shoe household. However, I’m not sure Rex got the memo. Ah well. I’ve always been shoes-off, I think it’s a little gross to walk around the house with outside shoes (again, this goes against having a dog but whatever!). I used to go bare/ sock feet but now that I have a touch of plantar fasciitis, I change into my super sexy indoor sandals.
Hot tubs are not for me, my blood pressure is very low and it plummets when I am in a hot tub, I almost always black out!
Oh, Rex.
Blacking out does not sound fun. I can get lightheaded in them, but think I would love having one in our backyard for the winter. I’m always so cold and a soak in the hot tub would cure that for sure!
MayBloPoMo!!! Hooray!
I’m VERY interested in this claim of “happiest country” because I would imagine the weather there is.. not great in the winter. They must have a lot of other great things to make up for that, and I want to hear all about it! Clean floors and delicious tap water are a good start.
The weather is the pits much of the year, but they roll with it. To be fair, many of the happiest countries have crappy winters. I think they lean into the grit and determination of getting through it AND lean into cozy things: hygge, candles, saunas, coffee, sweet treats, time spent with loved ones.
I cannot stop raving about the tap water. We get water from a spring at home, but I wish we had this tap water. It is AMAZING.
We are team no indoor shoes in our house. I think this is a regional thing. No one in the upper Midwest lets people wear shoes inside, generally speaking. In the cooler months, I like to wear slippers but in the warmer months, I just wear socks. I do not like being barefoot at all!
I love going barefoot, but my feet get cold so easily, I really should make more of an effort to wear socks!
Darn right I am!! 😉 You can thank me when you get one and love it. 🙂 🙂
I don’t like wearing shoes inside, so I always take them off the minute I come in. Not everyone does this in my circle, though! So then I feel weird when I’m the only one who isn’t wearing shoes, lol. I’m team barefoot, too!
I love going barefoot; in my husband’s family growing up it was NOT allowed to go barefoot. His mom would hand visiting friends socks if they came over barefoot! But he LOVES going barefoot, so we are a barefoot family a lot of the time.
We’re mostly shoes off – we have boxes at the front door, one box per person. And we have thongs/flip flops (sorry, Aussie card showing) at the front and back doors for when we temporarily run outside for something. But in saying that, if we wear our shoes around inside we don’t sweat it either.
Also, as a Eurovision fan, last year Sweden did a song about saunas, and now whenever I read/hear the word, I start singing it aloud. It’s hilarious and fantastic for a watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK3HOMhAeQY
Full disclosure – I don’t know most of what they’re saying, but the chorus is so catchy…and those dance moves! *giggles
I always do a double-take when I hear “thongs” since, in Canada at least, those mean skimpy underwear 🙂
That sound is HILARIOUS (the wood and checkered shirts makes me think of Canada). Now I feel short-changed; no one burst out into dance and song when we visited Loyly!