Everything about Finland for foreigners

1st of May (Vappu) is a very special day in Finland. Vappu is originally a workers day and it was especially important carneval for the labour unions and students but today Vappu is a national holiday that everybody celebrates somehow. This year 1st of May is Sunday and I expect that the Saturday evening will be a carneval day in every city in Finland and especially in Helsinki. On Sunday celebration will be more sophisticated and the most important place is the Kaivopuisto in southern Helsinki. If the weather is not horrible there will be many people having their picnic and enjoying the beautiful spring weather.

Helsingin Sanomat tells that w ith less than a week to go before Parliamentary elections, the conservative National Coalition Party remains Finland’s most popular. In what appears to be developing into a close race, the True Finns have fallen from second to fourth place, while the Social Democratic Party has inched past the Centre Party to the number-two spot. More information about the poll is here. http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Poll+National+Coalition+Party+the+largest+SDP+gains+True+Finns+fall+back/1135265335553

Parlamentary elections in Finland take place every fourth year. The next elections are this spring and campaigns are going on at the moment. This year elections have been very interesting because nationalist new party (Perussuomalaiset) has received significant media attention. Voting will take place April 17th 2011. The list of candidates in parlamentary elections can be found here: http://192.49.229.35/E2011/e/ehd_listat/kokomaa.htm

Previously we wrote about car rentals in Helsinki but here is one link to the blog where you can find all major car rent companies in Helsinki.

Here is one blog with restaurant reviews . It includes selection of restaurants in Helsinki.

City of Porvoo is an excellent choice for one day visit if you want to see an old smaller city and learn something about the history of Finland. Porvoo is located appr 70km east from Helsinki and by car it takes appr. 45 minutes to drive motorway. There is also a good frequent bus connection to Porvoo and by bus it takes appr. 50-60 minutes from Helsinki to Porvoo. The most popular place for visits in Porvoo is by far Old Town and the beautiful Cathedral. Cathedral of Porvoo is the third most popular church in Finland as measured in number of visitors. The Cathedral has been repaired after the fire in 2006. Porvoo is ideal for 1/2 or full day visits. You can learn more about the  City of Porvoo here .

Finland is a democracy and parliament elections are every fourth and presidental elections in every sixth year. In these elections only persons with Finnish nationality can vote. However in the city level municipal elections all persons (18 years old or more) who have permanent adress in the city or town and citizenship in some EU country, Norway or Iceland, can vote. Also citizens of other countries can vote if they have had permanent adress in the city or town for more than two years.