*Finland!*

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For anyone who has not been to Finland, is surely missing out. It doesn't matter how stressed you are, Finland's serene country-side scenery is sure to bring out the peace in everyone.

I just recently visited my family in Finland, spent about three two months there. Winter time in Finland is absolutely breath-taking, but COLD! To top it off, we got tons of snow again this Winter, so we really got a white Christmas! For a couple weeks, we actually didn't have any snow, only ice, so the thousands of lakes in Finland were thick ice, making it easy and really fun to ice skate and ice fish!

I stayed in a small town in the country-side called Varkaus. It's a small town and not a lot to do in it but it is the most comforting and strikingly fanstastic places I have ever had the pleasure of staying in. For anyone who loves to travel and appreciates the beauty of mother nature's art work, I highly reccommend traveling to land of The Finns!

Being a regular traveler, I know how hard it is to find those cheap tickets to your destination. I want to spread the word about WWW.TRAVELPAPA.COM. They specialize in international rates, and they always have the cheapest available. I usually never advertise for travel companies, but because of their AWESOME customer service, they were able to help me out with all my troubles that were surrounded in finding myself an afforable ticket to visit my family for the holidays. Their agents work almost around the clock and always went a little out of their way to satisfy my needs. So yeah, if you're a traveler and don't want to be ripped off price-wise, Travelpapa is the way to go.

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Photos

Ice skating!
Harder than it looks!

Ice fishing!
Colder than it looks! That wind can be harsh when you're sitting on a big ice cube.

The Ice Hole...
Finnish people can be known for some bizarre traditions...starting with The Ice Hole. After sweating sensless in the sauna, we cut and hole in the ice (just big enough for someone to fit in there), and take a quick dunk in the dark and FREEZING lake water! It's actually really good for you, as long as you don't stay in there too long!

Scenery...
Who wouldn't want to look at this everyday? And the silence that comes with being out in the boonies is like music to my ears.

More Scenery...
Grandma's driveway. :)

& More Scenery...
Finland's beauty is extremely hard to capture when you're not there to see it in person, but these photos are as close as it gets.