Taking the plunge ...

Tonight marked another milestone in my time here in Finland; I have now been here two years, seven months and two days. That in itself is not a notable fact. Tonight was my third time visiting Saunaseura, the sauna society on Lauttasaari. Again, not a momentous occasion event on its own.

No, tonight was the first time that I have taken a sauna and then dipped into the sea. Believe me, it was an experience I will remember for a while.

The ritual started with the customary shower and  then in to the first of the five smoke saunas for a warm. The atmosphere in a smoke sauna is rather more pleasant than the electrically heated ones and we spent a few minutes getting a good sweat up, before retiring outside to the deck to cool off, in the -8°C air, steaming gently and overlooking the bay. After a few minutes outside we returned to the hottest of the saunas. On entering, I lifted the lid of the stove and slowly ladled water onto the stones to generate the löyly (pronounced low-loo, or thereabouts), the word which means heat, steam, effectively the spirit of the sauna.

My companion then decided it was time for me to stand lifeguard while he took a dip. We walked along the path and then the jetty, both heated with electrical elements to keep the snow and ice clear. Antti descended the steps, took a dip to neck level and then exited the water. Idecided that now was time to show some sisu and do the same. The steps went into the water, with a handful of steps beneath the perfectly clear Baltic water. The first couple of steps were the hardest, once I reached the lowest step, holding onto the frozen handrail, I repeated his maneuvre. I emerged, somewhat surprised to find myself still breathing and climbed back up the wooden steps, noticing for the first time the icicles hanging from their undersides.

Parts of me were more noticeably more affected by the experience than others. Not, as I had expected, those parts roughly halfway between neck and ankle, but mainly my feet, with which I was beginning to lose sensory contact. We walked back up the path and into the third of the smoke saunas to thaw out, noticing as we did the board displaying the water temperature, -0°C. Yes, not a mistake, minus zero. So, not quite minus one, but colder than the freezing point of pure water, because, of course, the Baltic is saline so it takes Mother Nature just a little more effort to turn it solid in winter.

After a thorough heat and a chat with the other sauna mates about the benefits of ice dipping, we showered and retired to the snack bar for a soft drink and a bite to eat. A chat about holiday plans, weekends and the like followed (talk of work, religion and politics is banned in Saunaseura, along with the use of mobile phones), after which we showered again, dressed and left.

Sitting at home, I am feeling just a little pleased with myself for overcoming my anxiety and trying this. Now I can't wait for next Tuesday and another go! Oh, and that's not me in the picture, it is from the Saunaseura website, there are more showing the saunas and other sights (all decent) from the society.

All at sea ...

On Sunday, I finally got to walk on water. Well, strictly speaking it was the solid form, the frozen Baltic, rendered fairly solid by a few weeks of subzero temperatures.

Now, I was brought up never to try walking on frozen lakes, rivers etc. because any fool knows that is certain death. And in any other winter than this in the UK, it probably is. Perhaps at home this year, others will be trying this on bodies of freshwater. But sea water? I remember from school chemistry lessons that salt water freezes at even lower temperatures. So, how could something so wrong feel so right?

The image (you can click on it for a larger version) is actually a 360° degree series of 10 shots, joined using Canon's Photostitch software, which came with my camera. It's the first time I have used the software and it seems pretty straightforward. What I really wanted was to capture the feeling of space I experienced standing away from the island of Seurasaari, which we have visited in warmer weather to feed the squirrels. Just one photo would not have done that.

My native guide also explained some of the etiquette - don't walk on the ski tracks being the most important, though we did also keep plenty of distance between us and the hole in the ice used for the winter bathers.

The most eerie experience was standing on the frozen sea, on a cold but still afternoon and hearing the ships' horns hooting from a few kilometres away in the harbour - they sounded as if they were just around the corner.

Three, as it were, Woozles, and one, as it was, Wizzle...

I suspect my friends and family in the UK will be sick of pictures of snow at the moment, but this scene is one that I think will be rather more rare even there.

I walked out to get a haircut today, normally something done with little thought but when it is -18°C, it took a little more preparation, including the long underwear!

On the way back, I stopped on the bridge between Hakaniemi and Kruununhaka and snapped this picture. This is the sea, frozen and then with a few days snowfall on top. I rather enjoyed working out the tracks, a baby buggy I think and the accompanying adult, separately another couple of sets and then the gentleman you can see walking away.