Finland

So I briefly mentioned that I spent this Christmas in Finland. My mum turned 60 on Christmas Day and Matt reckoned we could go over and surprise her. It took a lot of planning, starting from around late August, but was very much worth it as mum was so happy to see us (after the initial shock... :p) and told me us going over was the best present she's ever had. So yes, Christmas 2015 was pretty special, even if not very conventional. It was also a little odd to be in Finland at Christmas and there to be no snow at all in Helsinki or Lappeenranta.

...nothing like this postcard, then! Haha. This is from a swap with Lilla in Finland last year. She was kind enough to send me a postcard with the Year of the Sheep stamp sheet issued in Åland.

I have no idea of the name or location of this lighthouse, all I know is that it's located somewhere in Finland. There isn't even any room for writing on the postcard (apart from address) as the stamp sheets takes up all the space. :D

Åland

A lovely snowy view of Åland I received from a swap last year.

I have no idea where exactly in Åland this place is, there is no information on the card. It does look like it's a seashore, though - those houses/sheds look so much like the ones in the Astrid Lindgren's 'Vi på Saltkråkan' tv series that I used to love when I was a kid (well, I still really like it and wouldn't mind having it on dvd). If you want to read more about the series, check Wikipedia. There might be some clips on youtube as well, I haven't checked though and they would most likely be in Swedish... Speaking of snow, we haven't actually had ANY over here so far this winter! I don't mind in the least as everything always turns into chaos when it snows here. :P Still, it does look pretty.

Mariehamn, Åland

I have a few postcards sent from Åland now but up until now I didn't have any of Mariehamn, so when Suvi offered to send me a postcard from there, I just couldn't resist. Thank you so much, Suvi, it's always great to receive postcards from you!

Mariehamn (Finnish: Maarianhamina) is the capital of Åland, an autonomous territory under Finnish sovereignty. Mariehamn is the seat of the Government and Parliament of Åland, and 40% of the population of Åland live in the city. Like all of Åland, Mariehamn is unilingually Swedish-speaking and around 88% of the inhabitants speak it as their native language.

The town was named after Maria Alexandrovna, the Empress consort of Alexander II of Russia. Mariehamn was founded in 1861, around the village of Övernäs, in what was at the time part of the municipality of Jomala. The city has since expanded and incorporated more of Jomala territory. The city is located on a peninsula, and has two important harbours, one located on the western shore and one on the eastern shore. The Western Harbour is an important international harbour with daily traffic to Sweden and mainland Finland. A powerful incentive for Baltic ferries to stop at Mariehamn is that, with respect to indirect taxation, Åland is not part of the EU customs zone and so duty-free goods can be sold aboard. Mariehamn Airport is located in the neighbouring municipality of Jomala, some 3 kilometres north-west of Mariehamn city centre.

Åland and Mariehamn have a reputable heritage in shipping. The Flying P-Liner Pommern museum ship is anchored in the Western Harbour. The Eastern Harbour features one of the largest marinas in Scandinavia. The famous Dutch steamer Jan Nieveen (now called F.P. von Knorring, after Åland teacher and vicar Frans Peter von Knorring) can also be found here.

 The city is an important centre for Åland media; both of the local newspapers (Ålandstidningen and Nya Åland), several radio stations and the local TV channels (TV Åland and Åland24) operate out of the city.

Mariehamn features several buildings drawn by Finnish architect Lars Sonck, who moved to Åland as a child. Buildings drawn by him include the church of Mariehamn (1927), the main building of the Åland Maritime College (1927) and the town hall (1939). Hilda Hongell has also designed several buildings, although only a few are still standing.

Eckerö, Åland

Another postcard with a lighthouse on it... This one is from MrsTaavi, who visited Finland and a few neighbouring countries last week. I wasn't sure which country she'd send a card from so I was really excited when she picked Åland :)

Eckerö is a municipality of Åland, with a population of 978 (31 January 2012) and covers an area of 752.63 square kilometres of which 644.94 km2 is water. The municipality is unilingually Swedish and 90% of the population are Swedish speakers. It is the westernmost municipality of Åland and Finland. The company Eckerö Linjen operates a ferry connection between Berghamn in Storby, Eckerö and Grisslehamn on Väddö, Norrtälje in Sweden.

The municipality has previously also been known as Ekkerö in Finnish documents, but is today referred to as "Eckerö" also in Finnish.

Eckerö's most famous building is the Post and Customs house. It is the largest and most impressive building that has been erected to aid the postal services between Stockholm and St. Petersburg. The building was built during the Russian times in 1828 and architect C.L Engel made the construction plans.

map of Finland

Let's move back to Finland.. I received this very cool map card from the lovely Liisa in Finland. It's always a joy to receive mail from her and this card is no exception.



This is not your typical map of Finland - as you can see, none of the major towns are marked on it, apart from Helsinki and Tampere. Instead there are a bunch of small towns. This card is actually an ad for the 'Kipa' book shop chain. They have shops in these smaller towns as a bigger, more conventional book shop wouldn't really work in these places. I would probably be pretty frustrated if I was stuck living in one of these places as I love to visit book shops and these small ones are, well, a bit *too* small for me. But at least they're something.

The card is illustrated by Marjaliisa Pitkäranta. I remember her illustrations from my childhood, she's pretty well-known in Finland.



Liisa got this card mailed from Åland, yay! I love seeing stamps from there as so many of them are so pretty. This one is extra special - it's from the Europa series from last year. I've been wanting this stamp ever since I saw it, I'm sooo excited to finally have it! Thank you, Liisa!

tea pause

I must have already mentioned that I love tea, so it's probably quite obvious that I collect tea-related postcards. This card had been in my favourites for a while, and I recently received it as a complete surprise from a very nice postcrosser, Liisa, in Finland. Thank you so much, this is a real treat (also because of the stamps, but more about those later)!



I've been drinking even more tea lately as I've been working on that big translation assignment, and I don't seem to be able to translate without tea. :P I tend to have stronger black teas in the morning and earlier on in the day, and when it gets later I often switch to green or white tea. It's probably more a mental thing but I do need black tea in the mornings, I just don't consider myself as having properly waken up without it. ...and even when I don't have many breaks during translating, at least I have to take short breaks to make myself more tea. :)



...and here is why this card is even more special - it was mailed from Åland! I honestly have no idea how Liisa does this or how she got me a special Christmas cancellation so many days AFTER Christmas, but I'm very impressed. And she used the Inge Löök Christmas stamp!! The stamp next to it is from a set of 3 stamps issued in 2004, depicting animals. This one here is the Stoat. The stamp underneath is from a set of 2 stamps issued in 2002, representing Batrachians and Reptiles. This one shows the Smooth snake.

Lapland, Finland

Autumn is here so I thought I'd post some autumn-related postcards here. They will all be older cards that I've received; I like posting an occasional older card anyway as I have a lot of great ones in my collection.


FI-760497

This card arrived in March this year. A very nice official from Finland - I love receiving official postcrossing cards from Finland and wouldn't mind it happening more often. I've become quite interested in Lapland recently so any cards related to that are a particularly nice treat.

There's nothing about the exact location of the place shown on this card, it's just a random stream somewhere in Lapland on a frosty morning. It reminds me of the photos my parents have shown me from their trips in Lapland. I used to say I wouldn't want to go to Lapland myself but now I think I wouldn't mind anymore if I ever got the chance.. which is pretty unlikely now unfortunately.



This card is particularly nice thanks to the stamp and cancellations. The card was actually mailed in Finland, but it's sent from an event in Turku organised by the local stamp club, and Åland's Post was there too, hence the special stamp and cancellations. I think this stamp was probably printed specifically for this event ("Spring in Turku") as it shows the Turku Castle. In any case it's SUCH a treat!

Lighthouses in Åland

This very cool lighthouse card arrived a while ago from a swap. Mmmm, I like seeing lighthouses around the world!



The lighthouse on the left is called Lågskär and was built in 1920. It is located in southern Åland, around 20 kilometres south of Mariehamn. In 1696, the first Cairn (a sea mark) was built on the island of Lågskär, but it was destroyed by Russia in 1714 during the Greater Wrath (a period of time in the Finnish history referring to the Russian invasion and subsequent military occupation of Finland from 1714 until the treaty of Nystad 1721). There have been several different lighthouses on the island, the current one was built in 1920. It was automated in 1961.

The middle lighthouse is called Märket. Märket is also a small uninhabited skerry in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland (in the area of the autonomous Åland Islands), which has been divided between two sovereignties since the Treaty of Fredrikshamn of 1809 defined the border between Sweden and Russian Empire as going through the middle of the island. The westernmost land point of Finland is on Märket. The lighthouse is on the Finnish side of the current border, which has been unmanned and automated since 1979. When it was built by the Russians and Finns in 1885 there were no clear maps of the island. After the completion of the lighthouse, it was discovered that it had been built on the Swedish part of the island. As a result, the border was adjusted in 1985 so that the lighthouse is now located on Finnish territory. However, the overall land area given to each country could not change, and neither could the coastline, so as not to interfere with each country's fishing rights.

The lighthouse on the right is called Sälskär and was built in 1865. It's located in northern Åland. The lighthouse was automated in 1949 and has been unmanned since.

Inge Löök grannies

I love Inge Löök's grannies, they are so anarchistic and really seem to enjoy life. They are just so much fun! :)



This is such a cool card - sent by the lovely Lilla in Finland, it's from the "Cards with thematic stamps" RR which I really like and hope to join some more groups after coming back home from Finland in a few weeks. Both the card and the stamp are women-related here. The stamp is even more amazing than the card... look:



It's from Åland!! The stamp is from a set of 3 stamps issued in 2009 showing Åland Authors, this one here is Anni Blomqvist. She is known, amongst other things, for the Stormskärs-Maja series ("Myrskyluodon Maija" in Finnish; "Maija from the Storm Skerries"). I'm not sure if I've ever read any of the books in this series, but I'm pretty sure I've watched some of the tv show from the 70s with the same title, and I really love the theme song for this series. It was composed by Lasse Mårtenson, a Finnish singer, composer and actor, and it's SO beautiful. I was really pleased to find it in Youtube, and have included it below. Do check it out!

Midsummer in Åland

It was Midsummer last weekend. It's not celebrated in England but it's quite a major event in Finland and some other countries including Sweden. I've never been too fond of it so I haven't bothered celebrating it here in England, I just read about it in blog entries and postcards, and look at the pictures. :D



Åland islands are technically a part of Finland, but have a lot more in common with Sweden than Finland. Midsummer seems to be no exception here - most Finns light a bonfire while Swedes (and Swedish speaking Finns?) have maypoles ((majstång or midsommarstång). It's an activity that attracts families and many others. People dance around the pole, listen to traditional music and some even wear traditional folk costumes. In addition, many wear crowns made of wild springs and wildflowers on their heads.



The stamp was issued earlier this year and shows a painting by Victor Westerholm, the founder of an artist colony in Önningeby, Åland and who therefore became quite a significant artist in Åland.

Verandas from Åland, Finland

This card is also from the Finnish Summer RR, sent to me by Eija who was visiting her daughter on the Åland islands.



Not much to say about this postcard except that I really love it! These verandas look so cute and colourful, and there are some lovely little details in the pictures such as the hearts in the top left picture.



I REALLY like the stamps! The one on the top left is, I believe, an automated sticker label, but SO much nicer than most of those labels I've seen from other countries. The stamp next to it is from a set of 4 stamps issued in 2000, representing elks. The stamp underneath is from a set of 2 stamps issued in 2002, representing Batrachians and Reptiles. This one shows the Smooth snake.

A snailfarm on the Åland islands

From Scotland we move on to the Åland islands (an archipelago in the Baltic Sea and an autonomous, demilitarized, monolingually Swedish-speaking region and historical province of Finland). This is quite an old card, sent to me by my Finnish penpal Piia, with whom I've been writing since I was about 13 (although we don't write to each other that frequently anymore. Life happens...). I can't really remember for sure, but I *think* this might have been from a school trip she made to Åland, in 1999.



As you can see, she visited a snailfarm. :D I couldn't find much info about the place, but it would seem like Alandia Escargots Ab is a snailfarm close to the castle of Kastelholm, in Sund, on the Åland islands. On the website it is explained that they offer safaris to to groups, and you can also have "a tastebit
of 1 snail in butter, bread and a glass of cider". Interesting... I don't think this is the first thing that would come to mind when you hear about these islands!

I kind of wish Piia hadn't written on the picture side of the card, but then again, it does make it more "her". As she's helpfully written on the card, you can see the castle of Kastelholm in the background. ..and the snail is now dead. :P



They have their own stamps on the Åland islands, I've always thought they are very pretty so I had to include it here. This one was issued in 1997, I couldn't find much info about it but it would seem to be from a set of 4 stamps representing Spring Flowers. This one here is the Common Hepatica.

The card was mailed from one of those big cruise ships that travel between Finland and Sweden, hence the special cancellation.