Recently, I purchased the Finnish Lapland Crossbill Guide and can highly recommend it as an introduction to Finnish Lapland. The size of the book is also quite good as you can easily pack it into your backpack.
The beginning the book (about 60 pages) gives you information about the different regions of Finnish Lapland, Climate, Geology, Boreal Forest, Lakes and Rivers, Fells, Mires, Bogs and Fens and History.
The second part of the book (about 40 pages) focuses on Flora and Fauna of Finnish Lapland.
The third part of the book (about 70 pages) introduces you to 22 routes for hikers. Each route description tells you how to get there, Difficulty & Duration, Flora and Fauna, a map and a detailed description of the trail. This is accompanied by pictures of the area, flora and fauna.
The book also gives you plenty of resources where you can find more information about hiking or bird watching in Finland. In general, the book is easy to read and so far the best book out there if you are interested in Hiking which I know.
Here is the link to the website of the book: Crossbill Guides Foundation where you can also find book samples as PDF files.
Suomenlinna is a Sea fortress built in in the mid-18th century. The fortress can be reached by catching a ferry at the Market Square (Kauppatori) in Helsinki and it takes about 10 minutes to get there. On this day we had -16 C.
Departure Area in Helsinki to Suomenlinna
Leaving Helsinki City
Arrival at Suomenlinna
Suomenlinna Visitor Center
Suomenlinna Church
Suomenlinna is a UNESCO World Heritage
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Beside the Christmas Market in Esplanadi there is another Christmas Market in front of the Kamppi Shopping Center in Helsinki. Santa Claus was there as well:
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The Järvenpää Christmas Market is really small compared to the Christmas Market in Helsinki. However, they do play Christmas Music in Järvenpää
Here some impressions from the Christmas Market in Helsinki 2010 (and short videos at the end):