People in the Baltic Sea Region know how to make the most of what life - and the weather - has to offer to them. If you have ever experienced the freezing cold of a Finnish winter you might understand why Finns go to the sauna about once week. There are different kinds of saunas but they all have in common the heat (dry or wet) which leads to the relaxation of one’s muscles. The popularity of this ancient sweat bath is demonstrated best by hard facts: Finland has about 5.2 million inhabitants who share approximately 1.7 million saunas. This shows that sauna is - and has always been - an important part of Finnish culture and way of life which helps to simply sweat away all sorts of stress.

In the neighbouring country Sweden, people also enjoy sauna but when it comes to food they have their own preferences. A good example of what Swedes consider to be traditional food is the notorious surströmming. This fermented herring might not sound like the most appetising of all Swedish delicacies, but once it is tasted, the fish proves its qualities. The combination of salt and aromatic fish makes you dream of the open sea, while bread, potatoes and onion add an unexpected finesse. An event involving the consumption of surströmming also promises to be a very sociable get-together which is normally held outside due to the foul smell of the fish! Not only that, but opening the cans containing the surströmming frequently turns out to be a particularly tricky matter because gas often builds up inside the tins, making the cans swell into the shape of a ball.

While this Swedish cuisine sounds highly entertaining, the way many Germans spend their leisure time is a whole different ball game altogether. Most notably in the summer of 2006 the country was gripped by the sport which is considered to be the most popular in the world: football, or, in American English, soccer. Germany hosted the World Cup and the game caused joyful enthusiasm to spread throughout the whole country. This did not really come as a surprise to anybody. Although the first modern football rules were written down in England, soccer has been one of the most popular - if not the most popular - sport in Germany ever since the German Football Association was founded in 1900. Today about 6 million Germans (about 7% of the population) play for around 27,000 different football clubs at all levels.