One of my favourite things about Finland is the nature. In summer nature bursts with colours: flowers and plants blooming, interesting berries and mushrooms. One cannot resist but to get outdoors. Compared to Ireland, I was surprised that the Finnish summer temperatures had warmer minimum temperatures and often higher maximum temperatures, but the humidity was similar to Ireland. Being further North than Ireland, Finland has longer daylight hours in summer.

The first park I visited was Pöllökallio – a small but beautiful forest area just outside of Helsinki. In English Pöllökallio means “Owl Rock” which I thought was a nice name for the park.

At the park I discovered what it’s like to pick my first Finnish blueberries. Later I discovered they can be found almost everywhere in the forests. With the high number of blueberries that can be found in Finland I can understand why the free drink options on Finnair were either water or blueberry juice. It was interesting that the colour of the blueberries were actually a dark blue, rather than the pale colour I know.

Other interesting things I found along my walk were chokeberries, raspberries and strawberries that grew in the forest. I enjoyed seeing the fields of Impatiens and Yarrow in the forest, and seeing a Roe deer walk out of the forest and actually use the pedestrian crossing!