The sauna, a Finnish institution

The equivalent of the tea ceremony in Japan, the sauna is today a lifestyle element; all Finns have one of these little wooden houses in the country near a lake. Their interior is composed of several rooms: an entrance, a sitting room for drinking tea in winter, a changing room and the sauna strictly speaking. This is fitted with tiered wooden benches and a stove on which large round stones are heated white hot. The temperature rises to 75°C. Silver birch leaves soaked in water give a pleasant fragrance to the place. From the outset you are told to beat yourself gently with branches of birch to activate the blood circulation. Water is thrown onto the stones to humidify the atmosphere... It's sweltering.

In the meanwhile, your host will be busy digging a hole in the frozen lake. Like a red hot lobster you come out of the sauna after 45 minutes and dive into the water which is all of 3°C! The operation can be repeated several times in succession if you don't suffer from a heart condition! Relaxed, purified and famished, you'll then down several pancakes with blackcurrant jam while contemplating the setting sun... What a treat!