What's up everybody, it's Marko and Alex the Vagabrothers reporting live from Porvoo Finland,
We are 50 kilometers east of Helsinki, this is one of five medieval towns in Finland,
and it's the second oldest town in all of Finland, plus...it's pretty damn cute.
Thanks for that Marko fact.
Yes, let's go check it out.
Vamanos
[Travel sounds]
This week has been the first week in our European Winter adventures, and one where we didn't
know quite what to expect.
We came to Finland to speak at the Nordic Blogger's Exchange and we were invited to
Porvoo as part of the welcome week.
We'd been to Finland before, but never in the winter.
But our local hosts assured that Porvoo was even prettier in the snow, so we boarded a
bus in Helsinki, drove an hour east with our new blogger friends where we discovered a
charming little town full of top notch restaurants, creative collectives and just the right touch
of fun.
One of the first things we learned about Porvoo was it's role in Finnish history.
It's a beautiful little town, just had a walk around and learned some of the history.
Famous in Finnish history because this is where the Diet of Porvoo happened.
What do you mean, like Salmon and porridge, or what?
Not really...
Finland's got this crazy history - it was part of Sweden for 650 years, then it became
part of Russia, and when it became part of Russia, they all met here to discuss [autonomy
within Russia].
So it's kind of cool.
This is like where they signed the Declaration of Independence.
The Declaration of Finn-dependence?
[Laughter]
I thought I was the one with that had the shitty puns!
Now Alex, you're taking my place.
I'm learning from you!
It's good, it's good.
We still had a lot to learn - starting with pronunciation.
Porvoo?
Por-mi?
Pour vous?
Prove also played a role in shaping Finland's national identity through it's most famous
residents - the poet, Runeberg.
So we are in Runenburg, the national poet's home...
pretty nice place.
Even by today's standards.
She's the expert, I'll let her explain.
We were a part of Sweden for very long, but I'm afraid that Finns didn't feel very Swedish,
and suddenly we were a part of Russia - but nobody felt very Russian here either.
So Runenburg came right in time with this very romantic book and in this book he was
the first man ever to mention Finns with their own identity.
And that's why he became very popular, already during his lifetime.
So popular, in fact, that he even has a delicious little cake named after him.
So after eating dessert first, we decided to see what other tasty treats Porvoo had
to offer, so we went to the restaurant called Zum Beispel.
So now we've got to escape the cold and have a nice little lunch, so we're going to taste
some local food.
Ok, we are having lunch at Zum Beispel in Porvoo and everybody has got some really good-looking
food.
So, enough talking - it's eating time!
The last time we were in Finland was summer, when the sun never sets all night long.
But in winter, things are a bit different
Dude, so what time is it?
It's 4 o'clock in the afternoon in the middle of winter which means one thing!
It's dark!
It's time to go night skiing.
Yeah, so we're going to go do this, we have not skied in...forever.
...like 15 years.
We're snowboarders.
Yeah, but we're going to have some fun, throw some skis on and hopefully not eat sh*t!
Because we are not wearing ski gear - we have jeans on...and parkas.
We'll be alright!
Just getting up on the chairlift was impossible!
I'm all about board-sports
I can't believe I didn't fall.
I feel like a five year old kid again.
So much fun but really really difficult.
I can't believe I still know how to do it.
I know, that was really fun.
My five-year-old-self would be really proud of me right now.
I still remember how to ski.
Mark's five year old self would totally shred on your 27 year old self.
28!
Wow...
The next morning we woke up to find Finland blanketed in beautiful white snow, but a little
bit colder than back home in California.
Alright, guys.
Well, Mark and I have been chomping around Porvoo since...
the beginning of the day.
It's nearly noon now, which means we are taking advantage of the couple of hours of sunlight.
Which also means this is the warmest it's going to get all day and I am frozen!
It's -14 degrees celsius, but supposedly in other parts of the country is -35, so we've
got it easy here.
The cameras still work, our bodies still work, and we're excited to go explore more of Porvoo.
Fo shooooo!
Let's go.
So to warm up we walked through Porvoo's old town to the Art Factory, a former industrial
complex that has been salvaged and converted into the city's creative hub.
So we just got to the Art Factory in Porvoo, and like 100 years ago it was a sort of industrial
factory and then three years ago they decided that instead of tearing it down they would
renovate it and let artists move it... and it's pretty cool.
So we're getting artistic today.
Super creative.
The technique we used was called acryllic transfer - you basically take a photo, paint
on it, and slap it onto a canvass, which we did with mixed results...
We finished doing our arts and crafts day, and now we're sitting down in Sinne, which
is a restaurant here in the Art Factory, for a three course meal.
Be quick, it won't be there long.
This is fish soup of Finland, a classic dish with Salmon.
Pretty photogenic place here, which is why Marko's taking a photo.
We just had a nice lunch...
... A beautiful lunch.
And now we're off to do some "winter activities"... we don't really know what that means.
All I know is that to you have to move to stay warm here because we are freezing our
little Californian butts off.
Get in there, it's time to go!
This is our reindeer sleigh.
Reindeer sleigh???
So we just arrived in some cool little farm outside of Porvoo, played with the horses...
not like that, you freaky people!
Well, maybe so... maybe a little bit...
But right now we're going to go into the forest, and in the forest there are surprises waiting
for us that have been dubbed "winter activities"... so let's find out.
Alright, so we just got to this wilderness area just like 10 kilometers outside of Porvoo,
and it's looking pretty cool.
There's like a big stone building here, a smoking teepee building over there, and then
of the sauna.
This is pretty epic...200 meters down.
Big man cry out like little woman
What was that?
Place where big man cries out like little woman.
Well this is not definitely the first time I've been zip-lining, but it's by far the
coldest zip-line I've ever been on.
But it looks like a fun one...and you get some speed up, don't you?
Yeah, 50-60 km/hr
Now you can take a lower step over there.
[Alex screaming]
How'd everyone feel - how'd you feel?
The first second when you lean forward, you fall... and that was so scary, it was terrible
but it was fun.
Next, it was time to walk through the forest on snowshoes.
It was a great way to finish the day, and as night fell we enjoyed another excellent
meal.
Game of Thones, Winterfell much?
This time around a warm fire with good company before closing out the night under the stars
in a Finnish sauna.
Thank you guys for watching, especially all you guys watching from Finland.
We really love this country, and our time in Porvoo just makes us want to explore more.
As always, if you enjoyed the video make sure to give it a thumbs up, share it with your
friends, and subscribe to our channel for new travel videos every Tuesday.
Don't forget, this is just the first of a series of videos about our travels through
Europe this winter, so make sure you follow along, next stop Helsinki
And if you want daily updates, make sure to follow us on Snapchat and the new app Storie
for little daily blogs.
See you guys on the road!
Moi moi!