The Embassy and the Sauna

Several weeks ago, the winter 2010 class of Glenn Fellows spent an afternoon at the Embassy of Finland, a certified "green" building on Embassy Row, directly across Massachusetts Avenue from the residence of the Vice President of the United States on the grounds of the Naval Observatory. Our hosts had arranged a conversation with two staff members about diplomatic careers in the Finnish foreign service, followed by a tour of the building. I asked to see the sauna in the basement. I suspect the Fellows wondered why. I explained as best I could.

There is a much better answer in today’s Post—an article by Jason Horowitz called “A Hot Spot for Diplomacy.” Horowitz pretty much nails it, including a reference to löyly, the word for steam generated in a sauna, about which the Finns can get quite misty-eyed. The only thing Horowitz missed was the way that the Finns like to cook sausage in the sauna. They call it makkara.