Our first trip to Seurasaari

Seurasaari is an open-air museum located about 15 minutes away from where we live. It has 18th- and 19th-century traditional houses, manors and outbuildings from around Finland. Guides dressed in traditional costume demonstrate folk dancing, and crafts such as spinning, embroidery and troll-making. The buildings are deserted from October to May but the site is open year-round. On Easter Saturday, a festive bonfire is held there, following a Finnish tradition that the flames and 'bitter smoke' would drive away evil spirits disguised as witches. It was disorienting to see all the birds in the still partially frozen bay. These are the sort of birds you expect to see on a sunny day on a sandy beach. What I've labeled as a birdhouse was some sort of storage facility relocated from Lapland. That's me standing in front of the future bonfire so you can get an idea of how tall it was. We walked around on some fo the circuit trails. There were two facilities open: the ubiquitous kahvila and an ice cream stand.