Sommerferie in Finnland

In the beginning of July I had two-week holiday in Finland with my boyfriend Mitch and Numa, his 15-year-old son. This was the first real freetime in Finland for both of them, so I wanted to show something characteristically Finnish to the boys.

After couple of days in Helsinki we headed to Eastern Finland, to Juva and Savonlinna in Savo region. There we visited my dear friend Joel, who's got a real pretty farm over there. Landscapes are unbelievably rural with strolling cows on the meadows and high blue sky and glistening lakes.

Some of Joel's girls

Joel also has got two saunas by the lake and it was really eccentric experience for the boys to try out the steams of traditional "savu-sauna" -smokesauna. Smokesauna is totally different experience compared to normal one, since the heat is very gentle and moist due to the long heating process during which the smoke actually heats up the sauna room.

The traditional savu-sauna.

By the lake.

I was very happy about our visit to Savonlinna since I had the chance to meet one of my best friends, Anna, who had just arrived from Hong Kong after having spent there nearly a year. We also popped into Olavinlinna, castle in Savonlinna, where I used to work for the Opera Festival for several summers. There we met my old workmates who are still doing the festival.

From Savo we drove back to Southern Finland to visit my friends in Hämeenlinna, Riihimäki and Tampere. All in all the holiday was about the Finnish mentality and frame of mind, landscapes and open water, and various different kinds of sauna and general relaxing...

Setting sun over Vanajavesi, in Hattula county.

Swiss and Finnish.