One thing that our latest trip to Helsinki taught us is that the Finns know how to turns small things into a community. The central library Helsinki (Oodi) for example, consists of three floors. The first, holds a nice restaurant/cafe with a lounge area. Up the escalator one floor, you go into a multi-use level with 3D printers, a recording studio, studying pods, crafts area, and a computer room; all are open to the public. The third level, ironically, is the only place in the entire library building that contains books. But it also includes a cafe and unique lounging area that gives a 180 degree view of the city.
We also discovered the public sauna (Allas) that has many extra characteristics that really humbles our own basic apartment sauna. There were three saunas, each with lockers, and showers: men’s, women’s, and mixed. Allas is on the very banks of the Baltic Sea, so before or after going into the sauna, one would do avanto (immersing yourself into ice-water). We can agree that next time we go into the Baltic, it will be in the summer.
On the first day we were here, our mom observed that the Finns are systematic with pretty much anything like libraries or saunas, using the best of their resources and keeping up with modern architecture. They keep their heritage, but like to include the modern too. Meg and I like this because it’s interesting