Finland Day 9 (Part 1): Fiskars, Scissors, Roller Skiing and Deer
As I write this, my holiday to Finland is over and I’m already back home (although still not in the right timezone yet). And yes it truly was the trip of a lifetime … the people, the places, the family and the cemeteries … so many memories (and photos) that I’ll treasure. And for the most part the weather was very kind to us, despite it being the coldest Finnish Summer ever.
I did manage to get some reporting of my trip done while I was over there, but now have a backlog to catch up on. So bear with me while I get to these over the coming days.
Friday 7 July 2017 – After the excitement of researching at the archives and walking Helsinki, checking out all the awesome old buildings (ok, ok, not all of them), it was time to have some quiet time … but relax time had to wait, as today we were up and off early to check out the some of the south of Finland. First stop was a town called Fiskars.
map showing Fiskars in relation to Helsinki
Some of you may well have heard of the Fiskars brand which is well known for scissors, knives, scrapbooking tools, kitchen utensils and even gardening tools. It turns out that the Fiskars company started from this tiny town in Finland.
The following is from Wikipedia …
“Fiskars is a village in the town in western Uusimaa, Finland. The village of Fiskars developed around the ironworks founded by German-born Petter Thorwöste in 1649. The ironworks also produced copper. In 1822, John Jacob von Julin bought the ironworks and founded a fine production facility in 1830 and Finland’s first workshop in 1836. The history of the Fiskars company begins from the Fiskars Bruk, but the company no longer has active factories in the village.”
So the town is old, and is simply full of history. It would be very easy to spend a day here just wandering around, taking the tour. But alas we didn’t have the time … but maybe next time. But for details about the old buildings still in this town, click here.
Fiskars is simply, so picturesque
the lake was so still, the reflection was a mirror image
such a pretty bridge
the Stenhuset (stone house) or the Manor House is the main building of the Fiskars Ironworks. Built in 1816-1822, it originally provided both living quarters for the owner and an administrative center for the ironworks village. And if you look closely you’ll see two canons at the entrance … that’s one way to make a statement!
love these tall, old buidings!
the ducks even get their own sign
The small town itself has a population of around 1000 people, and it is so incredibly picturesque, so picture postcard, it’s simply stunning. It seems that 10am is the normal opening time for shops in Finland, and that was the case in this town too. As we arrived before then it gave us a chance to wander around and look before having something for morning tea. By chance we happened to visit the same time that there was an antique market fair on in town, we did a quick look, but sadly couldn’t spend all day there, as we had elsewhere to go. Also I really didn’t leave much room in my luggage to buy too much.
ooh markets!!
marinated garlic anyone?
ooh old books … that’s more my style
the old telephone booth
then we shopped at the “Fiskars Shop”
Fiskars gardening tools
even kitchware
and of course the world famous Fiskars scissors
After our visit to Fiskars, we (and by we, I mean my Finnish cousins and myself) continued our way down south to the boat harbour for our visit to Lilla Kuggskäret island. As everything was totally new to me, I kept my eyes open to see what I could see along the way. And I saw stunning bright yellow canola fields, and many other green crops, a roller skiier (yes, apparently it is a thing), some deer (which they call Bambi), and a local vegetable grower who had orange, (and I mean truly orange) tomatoes, which were the sweetest tomatoes I’ve ever had in my life. But still no moose though!
yes, he’s roller skiing
oh my gosh, 3 deer! Two “Bambi’s” and their mother (sorry for the bad photo, but it was taken from a moving car)
the orange tomatoes I tasted were so sweet … I wonder if we even have them in Australia?
Next up … our trip to the island Summerhouse, at Lilla Kuggskäret.
2 Responses to “Finland Day 9 (Part 1): Fiskars, Scissors, Roller Skiing and Deer”
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Great photos again, Alona. I had no idea that my gardening tools came from Finland. Thanks for sharing your holiday.
Hehe, I’d certainly heard of Fiskars as a brand, and have some some scrapbooking cutters … but it was news to me that there was a town called that, and that’s where they started from. I’m learning a whole lot of history on this trip.