FINLAND – SUOMI, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden on the west, Norway on the north and Russia on the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland. The capital city is Helsinki.
Around 5.4 million people reside in Finland, with the majority concentrated in the southern part of the country. It is the eighth largest country in Europe in terms of area and the most sparsely populated country in the European Union. The native language of nearly all of the population is Finnish, which is part of the Finno-Ugric language family and is most closely related to Estonian. The language is one of only four official EU languages not of Indo-European origin. The second official language of Finland–Swedish–is the native language of 5.5% of the population. Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in Helsinki and local governments in 342 municipalities. A total of about one million residents live in the Greater Helsinki area (which includes Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen and Vantaa), and a third of the country’s GDP is produced there. Other major cities include Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä, Kuopio and Lahti.
* Map of Finland
* Virtual Finland – Your window on Finland
* VisitFinland – The Official Travel and Tourism Guide
* Country Profile of Finland
* Useful Finnish Phrases
* Finnguide – Info in English
HELSINKI – The Capital
* Map of Helsinki
* Helsinki Travel Guide
* Helsinki City Tourist & Convention Bureau (The Official Tourism Website)
Flights to Helsinki (Google search)
Finnair, Blue 1
PICTURES FROM HELSINKI AND ELSEWHERE FINLAND
Pictures cover mainly the capital Helsinki and its suburbs. New ones shall be added every now and then.
New Year celebrations at Helsinki Senate Square 31.12.2009 (photos A. Ylä-Kauttu)
A Visit to the Fortress of Suomenlinna 18.12.2009 (photos A. Ylä-Kauttu)
Helsinki 15.12.2009
St. Thomas Christmas Market 7.12.2009
Helsinki City Winter Garden 5.12.2009
St. Martin’s Fair at the Cable Factory 22.11.2009
Töölönlahti Park 27.8.2009
Kallio 27.8.2009
Kontula Festivals and Helsinki City Marathon 15.8.2009
Market Square etc.
Linnanmäki Amusement Park in Helsinki 1.7.2009
The Fortress of Suomenlinna 25.6.2009
13.6.2009
The Veteran Car Club of Finland 50th Anniversary Cruising
Midnight Rugby 2009 in Myllypuro Urheilupuisto 12-13 June, Helsinki Finland
Helsinki Day 12.6.2009
Helsinki Olympic Stadium Finland vs Russia 10.6.2009
Kaisaniemi Park Helsinki 10.6.2009
Senate Square Helsinki 4.6.2009
World Village Festival at Helsinki on 23-24.5.2009 (photos R.K)
Helsinki 16.5.2009 – Opening of the Cycling Season
Helsinki City Winter Garden 12.04.2009
Pancake Day 22.2.2009 at Furuvik
Helsinki 15.02.2009
School is out celebrations-pupils from different schools of Helsinki
Winter in Helsinki
Christmas Eve
Christmas Preparations on 13.12.2008
St. Martin’s Day Fair at the Cable Factory on 23.11.2008
KALLAVESI IN KUOPIO
Kuopion kaupunki (Wikipedia in Finnish)
The same in English by Google translate
the City of Kuopio homepages (in English)
Regards
Antero Ylä-Kauttu antero.yk@gmail.com
