Our first time FINLAND! (Helsinki blew our minds) 🇫🇮 

Lots of Japanese people have always visited Finland. We have lots of similarities, from ski-jumping to bathing to respecting rules and quietness

Since you are a hockey guy, Tampere is a good place to visit. It´s considered to be the home of finnish hockey. The largest arena in the country, 2 high level teams, ice hockey museum/hall of fame. The town itself is an oldtime industrial town with a nice lakeside location and nice restaurants(try the black sausage) and pubs. Tampere also has some intresting museums like the Spy Museum and the Gaming museum, of course there are more traditional ones too. The CanadaxJapan=Finland is kinda on the money :)

That airport grocery store is really handy when you arrive and just go grab whatever you need on your way home, whenever you happen to arrive.

Since nobody else commented so far: Finland in WW2: Round 1, the Winter War: Soviet Union invaded on November 30, 1939, thought it would be easy and got bitten really hard. Eventually they reorganized and made some progress. The conflict lasted for 105 days and ended with Finland losing around 10% of the land but the soviets had to pay a high price: 130.000-170.000 KIA and 190.000 wounded. The Soviets also lost 521 planes and roughly the same amount of tanks. The battle of Suomussalmi is a military history classic, where 10.000 Finns on skis destroyed two full Soviet divisions. Another remarkable thing: the deadliest sniper in the history, Simo Häyhä, managed to get 505 confirmed kills in just under 100 days. Round 2, the Continuation War, June 1941- September 1944, Finland fought alongside the Axis powers to regain lost territory. The attack continued all the way to the river Svir. It was a long war where the numbers counted in the end. Even then the Soviets lost at least 200.000 KIA, 60.000 POW and 400.000 wounded. Their material loss was also high: some 2.500 planes and almost as many tanks. In the aftermath, Finland lost roughly 12% of the territory (compared to pre war borders) but remained a sovereign country. Finland also had to drive out the German troops (the Lapland War 1944-1945) as part of the peace deal with the Soviets. Out of all the European participants in WW2, to my knowledge there were only 3 capitals that never were conquered/occupied: London, Moscow and Helsinki.

You should definitely go to Tampere. Number one and two teams in regular season, best arena and finnish hockey hall of fame

Hey guys, you should visit a city called Porvoo which is only 25 miles from Helsinki. Its old town is very beautiful and unique.❤

@3:08 The airport is not only in the outskirts, but actually in a different city (Vantaa), which is part of the Helsinki metropolitan area, but still very much a different city. I doubt anyone actually goes to the airport to do grocery shopping if they're not passing through the airport. The store is there for passenger convenience.

You should visit Tampere! Its called the Hockey capital of Finland, there is two big hockey teams and an amazing arena 🔥 And the city is beautiful 🤝

Canada x Japan + metal = Finland You understand us really well! Brilliant... just absolutely brilliant. I'm a Finn and you explained it better than we do.

12:52 I agree with you, and I'm a Finn. One thing socially that is way different about Finns and Japanese people is that we don't beat around the bush we are very straight to the point and it's not considered rude if for example we tell a mistake someone did.

Tampere has the nicest hockey arena. Amazing athmosphere in Tappara vs Ilves local games. Train from Helsinki is about 2 hours and arena is next to trainstation. Also best burgwrs in Hämptown restaurant next to train station.

Awesome! Been to Finland last year, surely my favorite country in the world! The cold weather, beautiful landscapes, nice people, even the food that many people says it's terrible, in fact it's not! Sure it is an expensive country, but it's worth it. Try to visit Tampere, less than 2h by train from Helsinki. Surely you can go waaay north till Lapland, but it will be a lot colder! Foods: you must try mämmi now that is Easter time. If you go to Tampere, definitely try the buffalo wings at Siipiweikot Greetings from Brazil!

Tampere is the #1 place to visit. A beautiful inland city with good public transport, plus a fancy new hockey arena (located right next to the train station too) with not one but two top-league teams -- and they both made it to the playoffs.

Here's a fun tip; check out the latitude Helsinki is on and then see how far up north it would be in Canada. There are lots of other factors affecting the weather of course, but when you realise how south Toronto actually is (again, compared to Europe) you might be surprised.

Tampere is the most beautiful cities in Finland, summertime is the best time to come!

The most obvious city to Visit is Tallinn (in Estonia) The boat takes you there in 2 hours and you can easily spend the day in the old town of Tallinn (one of the best preserved medieval towns in whole Europe). In Finland maybe Porvoo (older than Helsinki) or the Nuuksio National Park in Espoo (but the problem there might be the early spring and very slippery -only ice- walking paths. Turku is the oldest town in Finland and it has a special vibe with huge old cathedral and medieval stone castle. Both of these are beside the river that flows through the city...

The statue on Senate Square is the Russian emperor Alexander II. There’s a bit of a story attached to it. Finland used to be a part of the kingdom of Sweden since the Middle Ages. This changed in 1809 when Russia conquered Finland. The czar at the time, Alexander I, anticipated he’d have to fight Napoleon soon, so he didn’t really have troops to spare to occupy Finland; he needed to pacify it quickly. He made Finland into an autonomous Grand Duchy. The short version is that the he took out the constitution of Sweden that was used in Finland, crossed out “king of Sweden”, wrote in “emperor of Russia” and called it a day. This made Finland special in the Russian empire: there was no serfdom, and the emperor was not an absolute autocrat. The Finns really liked this arrangement, and 1809 is considered the start of Finnish statehood. The first few decades went by relatively uneventfully. There was a major revolt against Russia in Poland, but Finns stayed loyal to the emperor. The emperor, Alexander II, really appreciated that. As gesture of goodwill, he called the Finnish Diet, which allowed it pass new laws, the first time since Swedish times. Finland got its own currency, post office, army, and the Finnish language became a language of administration alongside Swedish. His support for autonomy is why Alexander II is remembered as the best czar in Finland, and why he got his statue on Senate Square after his death. But the story doesn’t end there. Emperor Nicholas II decided to centralize the Russian empire. He revoked many of the privileges of Finland and strengthened the grip of Russian authorities in Finland. Finns used both passive and active methods to resist Russification, but for our story about the statue, we need only to cover the passive-aggressive form of resistance: Finns started laying flowers on the statue of Alexander II. The message was clear: “This czar that respected our autonomy was a good czar.“ The Russian authorities couldn’t really forbid the Finns from honoring the current emperor’s grandfather, so they did nothing. After independence and during World War II there was talk about removing the statue, but the “Alexander II was important for Finnish statehood” side won out, and the statue stayed.

6:15 That's a big no no, smoking at a balcony in an apartment complex is against the law in Finland, you can get evicted if you repeatedly get complaints from your neighbours to your landlord. Also 57€ per night for such a big AirBnB is a steal.

Try visiting Tampere or Turku! Specially Tampere, they have the coolest and newest ice hockey arena in Europe right now

You should definitely go to Tampere, the nicest city in Finland even if I am not from there. You can easily get there by train from Helsinki and as the city is situated between two lakes with a stream running through the city centre you also get a taste of the thousand lakes Finland is known for. Tampere is also home for the famous black sausage.

Welcome to Finland. Let me know if you need a local guide 😀 I recommend you to visit reataurants in the city center at lunch time (11-15). Then you can find nice local food with low price. And that swimming place is totally worth visiting!

Yeah, that Wayne Gretzky, who was paired with Jari Kurri and played with Finnish Titan stick, and also with Esa Tikkanen in the 1985 Stanley Cup finals. As told by Gretzky; first time he played with Tikkanen, he gave Tikkanen some advice where to be on ice. Tikkanen answered something. Gretzky asked Kurri what Tikkanen had said. Kurri said he has no idea. Toronto City Hall was designed by a Finnish architect Viljo Revell. In Helsinki Lasipalatsi ("Glass Palace") and Palace Hotel are his design. There's a military museum in Suomenlinna Sea Fortress. You filmed the ferry, which goes there. Recommended day trip cities to visit from Helsinki: Tampere, Turku, Porvoo and Tallinn in Estonia. Finland and Japan do have similarities. Daiki Yoshikawa is a Japanese RU-vidr living in Finland: "5 Similarities Between Finnish and Japanese". Also: "Japan's Gift to Finland: The Helsinki Cherry Blossom Park". Notable Ivana started speaking Finnish right away after arrival.

Tappara tampere is nice hockey team in finland. And nokia arena is the biggest hockey arena in Finland. Tappara have also 5 north american players. 1 from canada and 4 from usa.

Tampere is nice city! They have 2 best hockey teams and new arena!

Cant wait to see this whole series of videos in Finland. Love from Serbia

Good daytrip from Helsinki is to go to Turku by train to see the Turku castle. Maybe even visit a former prison Kakola which is just walk distance from the castle. Nowhadays the prison has a prison museum, a hotel, an adult only spa, great restaurants and people also live there. During summer you can have drinks and food at the many former commercial boats docked at the shores of Aura river going through the city center turned into restaurants, bars and even one nightclub. Turku is the oldest city and the former capital of Finland.

I grew up in Yellowknife and the ice didn’t go off the lake until June!

Finnish foods to try, in addition to salmon soup...Poronkäristys (sautéed reindeer), Leipajuusto (bread cheese) and Baltic pickled herring. For dessert, try the blueberry pie and some of the fried dough treats (lots of variations on funnel cake and donut-like sugary sweets).

Salmon soup is must try.

Hey guys, come to Turku! Turku is the old capital of Finland. Approximately 100 mins train ride from Helsinki. We have very nice nature here to explore. We also have great hockey team and cool hockey arena here! There is a place called Villa Jarvela where you can go to sauna first and jump into the cold lake for an ice bath and then jump into the Jacuzzi to enjoy the wonderful view of the lake and the forests!

There are so many interesting places in Finland. Finland is not only Helsinki. Tampere you have to visit if you want to experience Finnish pub life. Turku is the oldest town in Finland. Oulu is HighTec. Espoo is beatiful and so is Vantaa. Etc etc Mountains in far north, Santa, reindeers......

I suggest you go to Tampere if you want a playoff hockey game, the top 2 teams from this regular season are both from there and they share the most modern and biggest arena (in use) in Finland. I'm sure if the 2 teams of that city match up in the playoffs the games between them should be crazy (but that will be in the finals because they were 1. and 2. in the regular season, if they both even get there). The city is also quite cool as well and on top of being the "city of ice hockey" in Finland is known for their buffalo chicken wings. A short trip with a train from Helsinki too. And this is coming from someone who is not from Tampere.

Toronto is as south as Nice in southern France, Helsinki is as north as Anchorage in Alaska. Thus, is it so strange that there is a difference in temperature...

Welcome to Finland. I recommend visiting at least Tampere and Turku that are easily reachable by train and Porvoo which is easily reachable by a bus. I have been to Toronto and I agree that it's a little warmer and has significantly longer summers. I think Quebec has quite similar climate like southern Finland.

Hi guys! You definitely should come to tampere and see tappara's game! Nokia arena is by far the best hockey arena in finland! Nokia arena is a very easy place to visit you literally go under the arena when you arrive by train 😂 Hope you have great time in finland, enjoy the playoffs!🎉😊

I prefer you both to go to Porvoo, it is the second oldest city in finland

The train is VERY fast and easy. They go every 10 minutes. you should really take the train back

Come and check out Turku, 2 hours from Helsinki by train. Home city icehockey teams TPS and TuTo. Turku is the oldest city in Finland.

Go Steveana🥳🥳Is Steve's back getting better？🥺Good to see him standing and walking like there's no pain！！Have fun in Finland, look forward to it😃😃sending love from China❤❤❤

@13:31, Steve: "Canada times Japan equals Finland, that's my first impression." Person in background: "Kyllä!" (Yes!) :D

welcome to finland! you defo should've taken the train from the airport! was a nice experience to descend to the train station for the first time! but it's understandable that after a long trip you just want to drag your ass quickly home/hotel/etc. there's been a proper grocery store at the airport for quite some time. after the recent big renovations it got bigger and from my experience it serves greatly the returning travellers that can grab something quickly before heading home to rest. and of course the prices are the same as in town.

I grew up in Thunder Bay Ontario alot of my friends are of Fin descent since Thunder Bay has the biggest Fin Diaspora in Canada, Fin 🥞 pancakes Saunas and Snow, Ice Fishing and Hockey I loved it all.

Looking forward to seeing Finland through your lens!! Keep safe, healthy and happy.

First time viewer here from Finland (YT algorithm wanted me to view your video :)) - really fun to watch! Reccomendations for things to see in Finland: The four different types of geography in Finland: the archipelagos, the coastal areas, the lakeside Finland and the polar/arctic areas. That's a very rough partition of Finland. Archipelagos are really only found in one place (bigger one, smaller ones are scattered around all the coast of Finland and around Helsinki too, Vaasa on the west coast gets an honorable mention for having a nice archipelago too) around the city of Turku (southwestern coast). Lakeside starts looking at Finland from the south at about the city of Lahti and streches northwest and east from there. If you're going to watch HIFK play you can go to Lahti and do that next week wednesday 20.3. Next the coastal areas: well, you are staying in Helsinki and that is a coastal city. There are plenty of those in Finland: for example Porvoo close to Helsinki is small and picturesque with other examples being Turku, Pori, Rauma, Vaasa, Pietarsaari, Raahe and Oulu. Then there is of course Lapland - the polar/arctic region of Finland. Lots to see there with a beautiful nature and quite hilly areas (tunturis and vaaras - won't say mountains because they are very much hills compared to real mountains) with things like the classic northern lights, reindeer, husky rides, santa and downhill skiing (or snowboarding) being the most popular pasttimes. When it comes to food: Salmon soup is ofc a classic and I guess you've already tried that. Meatballs with potatoes (whole or mashed) and lingonberry jam is also a very Finnish dish (and we have our own variety compared to the more famous swedish meatballs). If you go to Lapland do try out sauteed reindeer (eating Rudolph, yikes) - it is a really tasty dish. I'd venture to say pea soup is quite Finnish too (as are many different soups). Then there is the Karelian foods: the Karelian pies and the Karelian stew - the pies you can buy at any grocery store (they are called karjalanpiirakka) and the stew can at times be on the menu for lunch at restaurants (there are quite a few restaurants that serve mainly lunch food for people working in that specific area - thats a good place to look for Karelian stew). If you're feeling really adventurous you could try musta makkara (black sausage made from blood - blood pudding in the form of a sausage), leipäjuusto (squeaky cheese) or mämmi (black stuff made from rye, usually we have it with lots of cream and sugar on top - looks like... well I won't type out what it looks like) that you can also find in the grocery stores as it is a treat many Finns have for Easter and that holiday is coming up. Looking forward to your next video and hope you'll enjoy your stay in Finland :) PS. really good analogy abour Canada*Japan=Finland - did you know that Japanese "generally" like things from Finland quite a lot (especially Moomin and Marimekko) and we do have quite a few tourists coming from Japan to Finland every year :)

Very nice video. Canada and Japan = Finland is very well thought when it comes to culture. Are you coming to Tampere? We have nice new arena here and our teams are the top dogs this year, Ilves and Tappara. I really recommend Ilves(Lynx or bobcat in English)-game,poff opening is next thursday, you propably never enjoy ACDC Thunderstruck this much when you hear it and they have the best fans in Finland. Great city all around.

Hifk who placed 6th in the regular season will play against the 3rd place team Lahti Pelicans (my team :D) in the playoffs, and Lahti is only an hour away from Helsinki, a bit smaller city but known as the sports capital in Finland, I can definitely recommend it and also come to the game for a great atmosphere.

Toronto is at same latitude as southern French so, that's quite a difference. Gulf stream warms up northern Europe a bit and pushes cold to southern Canada and USA. Anchorage Alaska is at latitude 61 N and at 60 N, so we are quite up north here in Finland

You are spot on the Canada X Japan = Finland thing. Japanese people love visiting Finland and Finnish people love Japan, because both countries are safe and very chill.

By the way, Turku is amazing. It is our first capital city and filled with historical buildings. It is also fun..lots of restaurants along the Aurajoki river.

Food recommendation: Lunch buffet places, very traditional food and/or very typical everyday food. You will not find those in any guides, which I think is a shame and kind of a good thing; I think they are great and usually pretty cheap as they are not touristy. It's real Finland right there in those places.

Hi Friends! Steve, hope your back is better! Happy anniversary! I wish you both all the love and happiness 💗

Check out the old hockey connection between HIFK and Carl Brewer.😀

First and foremost, it's great to see you have recovered from your back pain, Steve. Oh wow, l'm tagging along with you guys again to learn and see more of Finland. I studied very little about this country in my Geography lesson. Looking forward to seeing your Finland series. Stay safe, keep healthy and take care, Stevana.

The cruise to Stockholm, from Turku (newer ships faster) Evening ship from Turku and you are in Stockholm in the morning, evening in the nightclub or from Helsinki and you also can do a day visit in Tallinn estonia 2h on the ferry to talllin, nice daytrip.

I can tell you have travelled a lot, since your first impression of us within one hour is spot on. Can't wait to see more.

Canada times Japan equals Finland... That's a great way to put it, I feel like! I got to come check out Canada one of these years. But for now, I think enjoying the rest of your videos should be in my primary life goals!

Never saw a keyboard/piano so close to a kitchen. That's amazing lol.

The train to the city might actually be a bit faster if there is any traffic

You got bargain airbnb apartment, generally with that quality and size not so cheap, but I guess it also depends on rental duration.

Canada * Japan = Finland. Excellent way to put it :D I love your enthusiasm and open approach on everything. Hope you enjoy your time in Fin!

Greetings from Porvoo/Borgå in Finland

Glad Steve is all better! Have a great time in Finland, Ivana and Steve! 🥰

There is also a second team in Helsinki (Jokerit) who plays in second highest division so you should visit that as well. The town to go to is Tampere and there are two great hockey teams, Ilves and Tappara. Also Porvoo is cool.

Definitely go for the salmon soup with rye bread, but don't have it at the market. Plenty of restaurants offer it and it is great in the winter.

Costa Costa lot!

For food you could try Konstan Möljä (traditional Finnish food) or Kauppahalli (all sorts of restaurants in a big hall)

For video content, they have a surf simulator (Surf house Helsinki) and beach volley courts underground in Pasila shopping center Mall of Tripla they keep the temperature high +27c so its like a piece of summer preserved.

The fact that there is a PIANO in a $65 diary accommodation is craaaazyyyy

Awesome Work Guys, Welcome to Finland😀👍👍Greetings from Helsinki, Finland🇫🇮🇨🇦

Love the multiplication of countries=Steve Math

The "smoking room" is in fact a balcony! Very common in city apartments, where people don't have terraces or their own yards, but can enjoy the weather and sun right from their own apartment

Nice accomodation!! Wow..cozy

I am from Finland 🇫🇮 💕 and I love it.

Awesome video! Well done guys!!

11:09 That pool you're pointing at is connected to the Baltic sea and is not heated.

As a Finnish person to watch your reactions of Finland made me super happy and proud of our country 😍 thank you for the lovely video! I was just smiling throughout the whole thing

3:30 Taxi is 35 and metro is 4,60 and it takes the same time

I've watched a couple of your videos from Finland already and just now I watched this first episode. As a Finn (living in Oulu) I like the way you think about things and how you relate to our culture. Canada x Japan = Finland makes sense. I've always been interested in Canada so I might actually feel at home over there.

I can assure you that nobody comes to the airport from Helsinki's center city for grocery shopping, because you have many many stores, about the size of that Alepa in the airport in the city center and in almost every different part of Helsinki has it's own store, a couple of them or even a few of them😄 Helsinki-Vantaa Airport is pretty much on the outskirts of Vantaa. That was just the general balcony in the apartment, not a designated smoking area:D Less and less people amoke every year in Finland. You should take the ferry from the market square and go to Suomenlinna! It's where I grew up and it's a fortress that's made of 5 decent sized islands and it was built in the 1748 by the Swedes that ruled Finland back then. It's also an Unesco historical heritage site, so you should definetly check it out. Many many tourists visit it yearly, especially in the summer.

35 euros for getting to Helsinki city!? You should have taken the train, that's 4,10euro/person.

Flag being half mast means that someone has died. Was it someone in Canadian embassy? 😕

You traveled from my home city (Tbilisi) to the city I was born in.

7:59 When the flag is at half mast means someone that lived in that building has died. Propably a canadian person since it’s canadian flag.

Hope you like it. If you're still there, bet out of the city centre. Lots to see outside the normal stupid-route. Lots of info online, for example myhelsinki is an official place to start. Also just a little thing. The statue at Senaatti square by the cathedral is Alexander the ll:nd

you should go to Tampere. It's kinda known for hockey and it's the second biggest city in Finland outside of the capital region

I love it that you visited Helsinki. Hopefully on day you visit Finland as well.

Japan + Canada is pretty true as a Finn lol

The bread cheese you mention is a baked cottage cheese which sqeaks when you bite into it, ususally eaten with jam. The alcohol in Finland is expensive due to the tax. And coffee is something integral to the culture, we consume about 12 kg or 26 punds of coffee gounds per person per year of the last reconing of 2022. And the coffee we consume is of the highest quality of beans available, roasted to a quite a light roast and done as drip coffee. How it is cheap by your reconing I can't answer, but one factor might be that it is a draw-in product for the merchant chain.

Soon I intend to visit Finland🇫🇮 hug from norway🇳🇴

Bro, Canada x Japan = Finland. That's quite accurate :D

Hey ! as a hockey guy you have to see the jokers' playoff match! the next game in Helsinki will be played on Sunday! the league level is lower, but the atmosphere is better than the match you went to, I promise

You should visit the city of Turku, its the first city in Finland and is pretty cool.

Love the accommdation. Fare price for good quality considering the living cost there. Have a nice trip!

You hit the nail in the coffin with the Canadian and Japan reference, because I have heard that alot !

Welcome to Finland! 😊 Our taxis are also usually Mercedes Benz. Hopefully you like our country ❤

非常喜欢你们倆❤，感谢你们一直更新的视频！Ivana一身红棉袄走天下😂，Nice!😊

Welcome to Finland Helsinki!

As a tram enthusiast, I love how many of the clips have a tram in it.

You should definetly visit in jyväskylä!

Sure does look like home❤!