Sauna

One of the finest parts of Finnish culture is the sauna. Sitting in a small wooden room drinking beer with friends, then every once in a while tossing some water on hot rocks to fill the room with steam, and sweating profusely all the while - this is the joy of sauna. Then, if you do it at a special place like Kilpisjarvi in mid-May, you can dip yourself in a frozen lake located hundreds of kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, walk back inside, and start the process all over again.

Here are some photos of the sauna and the hole in the ice where I submerged myself twice. Also, I've included a photo at what seems like dusk, but which was actually taken at 3:00 am. The sun sets at this time of year, but it never quite hides far enough on the other side of the earth to make things completely dark. In a few weeks, the sun won't set at all.