So... I have been in Finland for 2 days and I have had more Finnish experiences than I can keep track of.
Many delicious Finnish foods... cheese in my coffee... hmmmm... interesting. Downtown Helsinki. Finnish 4-yr-old birthday party. Finnish Sauna... Ah... here is what I will post about. I have heard various stories about saunas... I have experienced the American version of sauna... but here, today, I experienced a true Finnish sauna...
So... step inside.... Riitta's dear friends let us use their wood heated sauna... much better than the electric heated kind. :-)
Shower first to get wet as you enter the sauna it is dry heat until you start to sweat and then you add water to the stones and the steam comes.
inside the sauna... the temperature was hovering at 80 degrees celsius... :-) I guess for a lot of foreigners the joke is to add a lot of water to see how long they can stand it... I am happy to say... Riitta my dear Finnish friend, was done before I was.
Then a shower to get all the sweat off you and some cool air (or snow if it is available) to bring your body temps down. And then back to normal life.
Riitta loves the sauna. She said that the Fins use it for cleaning/cleansing. all your impurities come out through your skin. lovely thought I know... and she loves the conversations that happen. We had lovely conversation. Deep and insightful and light and funny... and of course, being women, we talked about men. hmmm is that too much information? :-)
I am a HUGE fan of the Finnish sauna. I have not felt that refreshed and relaxed all at the same time for ...well I don't remember when was the last time. :-)
The real question is........Did you REALLY finnish sauna :)
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Hey Melissa,
ReplyDeleteThat is just like the sauna I did in Lithuania! Only there was not a place to get wet first. I love the steam from the hot rocks! I guess if it was a true Finnish Sauna then all the conversation would have been in Finnish. In mine most of the conversation was in Lithuanian! :) I must admit we were not truly sauna-ing as the Norhtern Europeans would call it! I love the way my skin felt afterwards it was like I had the complete pampering treatment.
What a fun post as I was just thinking this week I wanted to get a pedicure, and was in need of a friend like you who could properly enjoy those sorts of things! :)
How fun! Jesse's family is Finnish and this reminds me of stories he's told me...and of one time when we did sauna at his cousin's house. We jumped in the snow afterwards...ahhhhh!
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