Nature and culture

I've made two very different, yet very enjoyable trips within the last few days. This might seem like a travel advertisement for "different sides of Finland" but I think my crappy pictures will prove otherwise.

First, I went to a forest with a dear friend of mine. Well, I actually do this quite often as I live right next to a forest and go for walks at least once a week on my own or with a friend. But this was a different forest, one that I've never been to before, and it was only the third time this year that I went looking for berries or mushrooms. This forest was quite near to place called Lihasula which reminds me of melting meat. I've been intrigued by that name every time I've seen it on a bus and finally I know where they go.

Anyways, it was great! The sun was shining, the weather was warm and there were barely no mosquitoes (at first). Walking in a forest is probably the best form of free therapy. And walking in a forest with a friend is even better! Not to mention finding free food. We actually went there to look for mushrooms but there were not that many and those few we found were really dry. The chanterelles don't seem to enjoy the warm and dry weather as much as I do. However, there would have been endless amounts of blueberries but I only had the patience to pick 1,5 liters. I'm very grateful that my parents took me to the forest with them and taught me to recognize different edible mushrooms from a young age. It's a shame that there's so much food growing in the forests but not that many people seem to be interested in finding and picking it.

The second trip was to the city of Pori. It's located on the West coast of Finland and according to Wikipedia, it's the 11th biggest city in Finland with 85,000 people. It's easy to like Finland in the summer when everything is green and blooming. I also find cities with rivers very appealing but not that much when the rivers are frozen. There are some beautiful old buildings in Pori, too, and I guess they stay that way in the winter as well. I was trying to imagine myself living there, and it might be nice for a while. A change of environment would be welcome even though I'd rather move into a bigger city, not to a smaller one. I was very intrigued by the current exhibitions in the Pori Art Museum and I think I will need to go there this year on a less sunny day. And as regrettable as it is, I've never been to Pori Jazz. I will need to do that soon, hopefully next summer.

In a nutshell: 1) go to a forest and 2) visit Pori.