Well, I'm so excited about the food here that I just have to comment. I know some of you will not be surprised! At lunch we had the most delicious perch with a mushroom sauce and this evening we had chicken with goat cheese and a warm curry sauce. Oh my gosh, the food (fish) is spectacular. I will remember it and of course, we were gifted a lovely cookbook so that's good. Looking forward to some Rotary entertaining when I return.
Today was another very full agenda, starting with a visit to Industry & Employment and some amazing facts about Finland and the EU subsidizing farmers and entrepreneurs of every size. Very enviable. Finland is quite like Canada in so many aspects but there are major differences in that all education, including university, is free; tomato farmers are seriously subsidized, up to 50%; and this region gets 12 million dollars from the EU to support research and innovation in industry (600 million for the whole of Finland). Crazy, eh?
After that morning session, we enjoyed the very lovely, previously mentioned, lunch.
And then we met Maria, who works for 2 shopping malls and the chamber of commerce and who was a terrific guide through many shops, handicraft places, Marimekko, kaulahava jewellery search, etc. Marty was happy to tag along and we went to the post office so he could get Moomin stamps. Laurel power-shopped, Christina shopped, and Marty & I sauntered along. I'm not the best shopper but that's okay, I enjoyed the running commentary on retail and marketing.
This evening we went to a museum for an exhibit on the "land uplift" that is occurring in Finland (while in the Netherlands it is going down). They are losing their sea at a quite fast rate, historially speaking, something like the area equivalent to 150 football fields a year, and expect that by 2300, the Bay of Bothnia will have filled in and Finland and Sweden will be one land mass. Marty asked how they would decide the borders....I think it will be very cooperative and the world will have a Finswedenland! ;)
So now we are each at home, resting up for the next day's adventure. Sweet dreams, Sov gott.
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