Day 30 Cross-country skiing on Runeberg's Day

Happy Runeberg's Day everyone! In case you did not read my entry for yesterday, today is Runeberg's Day. Runeberg was a Finnish poet, famous for writing the lyrics of the Finnish national anthem. He died a long time ago but the Fins still decided to name his birthday "Runeberg's Day".

I originally thought this day would be a great deal to the Finnish community, but there was not much "celebration" on the streets, in fact there were none, only a few Finnish blue and white flags were raised on the streets.

(Photo: Weather was not so good today. Cloudy and gloomy, but still, I had great fun!)

Instead of celebrating Runeberg's day with vodka and Runeberg's tart, also known as Runebergintorttu, we decided to do something healthier: cross-country skiing and Runebergintorttu. Of course, no one can deny a nice piece of sweet pastry!

It took about 1 hour to go from Central Railway Station to the skiing area by bus no. 66, and that place was really pretty, even in this gloomy weather, so imagine when the sky is blue!

(Photo: I first rented skii boots, skii sticks and skiis. It costs 17 Euros (student price) and I can rent for as long as 3 hours. The man renting me the skii was really slow, the whole process includes registering my name and paying, but he seemed to be confused with something and was busy chatting with others.)

(Photo: This skiing place is like a huge national park. It was really pretty and empty as well. We chose a course that is flat, but there are a lot of different courses to choose from. As I skii, all I hear was the wind blowing gently beside me, and all I see was a piece of snowy white land with snow-covered trees. Everything was just so peaceful and calm. I love this place a lot and skiing is so much fun! I am starting to enjoy this winter sport!)

(Photo: Me trying to skii, it was quite difficult at first, but once you get it, you glide through the snow.)

(Photo: Our attempt to make snow angels. Mine failed because I didn't wear any water-proof jacket and pants, and I was too cold to make any angels out of the snow. Barbora's was a success, and there she is, lying there like an authentic snow angel!)

(Photo: Now that's a decent photo of me skiing. See what I mean? This place is huge and empty!)

(Photo: We skiied for almost 3 hours and by the end of it, we were exhausted. It was a really really good workout. It is like being on the elliptical machine in the snow. I can still feel my muscles/ body aching! Of course, after skiing, we sat down and ate the infamous Runebergintorttu and drank a nice hot cup of tea.)

A perfect ending on Runeberg's Day!