Summer 2015 saw me make an effort to produce the most compact, yet best video of all our trips to Finland over the years. This is only the length of one song, less than 4 minutes long, but it features more clips than many of the other years' videos put together!
I like it.
I hope you do too!
We had an absolutely brilliant time recently in Finnish Lapland, when we spent a week skiing in the biggest resort in Finland, Levi. Great weather, fantastic skiing and a lovely house to stay in all meant we came home thoroughly refreshed and keen to return to the far north of Finland!
For more details, have a look at the blog I updated daily while we were in Levi.
With Sandy and Olivia growing up fast, we returned in 2014 to our favourite cottage in Finland, where we spent our 3rd year in a row relaxing. The weather was outstanding- apart from a couple of showers which were brought on by extreme heat and thunderstorms, we saw absolutely no rain whatsoever in our 16 day stay! The lake, Palvajarvi was exquisite to swim in and we spend many hours each day enjoying this fabulous place.
In 2013, we returned to the cottage we had discovered in 2012, close to Vaajakoski in central Finland. We arrived to find a much extended and improved cottage, and it was a pleasure to relax with Anna's parents, sister Olga and her son Arnold, as well as my brother Keith, who travelled with us for the first time, and had great fun swimming in the beautiful Lake Palvajarvi.
In 2012, we spent our longest time so far in Finland, a 24 day holiday that started in Helsinki for a couple of nights, then moved on to the eastern town of Parikkala where we spent a week with Anna's parents and sister Olga, along with her son Arnold. We then moved west to central Finland where we discovered a fantastic cottage (to become our all-time favourite) close to Vaajakoski and Jyvaskyla, followed by a week in a very small cottage close to Ruovesi, before finishing off with a night in the lovely city of Tampere.
We are just back from another fantastic trip to Finland. It was memorable for all the same reasons that it has been memorable in the past- wonderful warm lakes to swim in, absolute peace and quiet to relax in, good friends and family to spend time with- this country is AWESOME!
Have a look at the video, which shows the journey to Finland, and what we did while we were there.
A run down of our wonderful holiday in Finland, 2010.
We have had the most amazing holiday in Finland this year. You can read all about it
and see all the photos and videos here.
As there are loads of great photos from Varkaus, look here at our holiday blog to see them all.
We were up early, as Anna's parents, aunt and uncle and sister Olga were due to leave at 8.00am for their return trip to St Petersburg. The weather wasn't nearly as good as the day before, and it looked as though it might even rain.
By 8.15am, we had said our goodbyes, and we were left to finish tidying our own cottage and take a final look around Santalahti. It was the end of our second visit, and it had been just as enjoyable as our first visit in 2006. It's highly recommended if you are thinking of somewhere to stay in southern Finland.
A final picture inside our Santalahti cottage!
Just before leaving, our resident duck came back for a last feed!
At around 10.20am, we handed in our key to reception and climbed back into our wee Mazda for the four hour journey north to Varkaus. This was the second part of our holiday to Finland- meeting up and staying with the teacher of the school in Kuvansi which my class had corresponded with the previous school year. I had been looking forward to this day for a very long time! I wanted to see another part of the country and of course, I really wanted to meet Jyrki and his family, and see where they lived.
Sandy, next to an old Russian helicopter, on the road north towards Varkaus. What was it doing abandoned here?
It began to rain a few miles after we left Kotka, and continued all the way to Varkaus. Indeed, it was the worst day's weather we had seen in either of our two visits here. I texted Jyrki as we got closer, saying we'd arrive by around 3.30pm.
Finally, we arrived and met Jyrki, his wife Mari and the two boys, Antti-Jussi and Ville-Veikko. I think we were all a little nervous about meeting each other for the first time, though I had told Anna several times that I was absolutely sure that they'd turn out to be wonderful people. My confidence was correct! To say that Jyrki and Mari are wonderful people would be a huge understatement. They are exceptional, and we felt at home immediately.
Sandy and Olivia enjoyed helping to give out the presents we had brought, and all the children soon went out to the back garden to play with the Stomp Rocket we had brought from Scotland. It proved to be a big success! Antti-Jussi and Ville-Veikko were so good at playing with both Sandy and Olivia- especially as they gave up their bedrooms to allow us to stay!
After we looked round the house- which is superbly situated right next to Lake Saimaa, and is a beautiful building with lovely large rooms- we were asked if we'd like to try the sauna after dinner, followed by a swim in the lake! It seemed a little cool for this, as the rain had only just begun to lessen, but it turned out to be the perfect end to the day. We had a great sauna and swim session, and by bedtime, we felt we had made two very good new friends in Jyrki and Mari.
Jyrki told me some of the things we would be doing throughout the week, and we went to sleep looking forward hugely to the days ahead. (Due to the rain, there are not many pictures from today- but there are many, many more from the next few days.)
As this was the last day of our holiday in Kotka with Anna's folks, we decided to stay close to home, around Santalahti, along with taking a trip into town to visit the area around the Sappoka Water Park and the harbour.
I also decided to take some pictures of inside the cottage, just to remember it.
It was a beautiful day and here, you can see down through the trees, to the Finnish Bay.
The kitchen area of our cottage.
The living area.
The bedroom, with double bed, and single bed above.
The bathroom, with very strong shower, which was guaranteed to refresh!
Down at the beach. We had several sessions in the sauna, and Sandy loved thundering down from the cottage to plunge into the water. Once we cooled off, it was great to race back up to the cottage and jump into the sauna again!
Above and below, in the water.
Looking back at the cottage, on a hot summer's day!
Sandy, with his Russian grandparents.
In the afternoon, the temperature was around 27C and we headed down to the Sappoka Water Garden in the centre of Kotka. It's a really beautiful place- click on any of the photos to see them much larger- and I love visiting here. A real oasis in the town!
A group photo, taken by Uncle Boris.
With Auntie Olga.
By the waterfall.
At the top of the waterfall, Sandy with Dayadushka.
Can you see Baboushka down below, on the bridge?
Two totally contented children, by the water!
With the centre of Kotka in the background- what a beautiful place!
I really do love this wonderful setting.
Sandy, by the waterfall.
Looking through the trees, to the lake.
Above and below, down by the harbour, with lots of boats to admire!
Olivia loved Santalahti!
The sun sets on the last evening at Santalahti.
We visited the adventure park at Kouvola, Tykkimaki which is situated about 50km north of Kotka. Olga came with us and it was a lovely sunny day, with the temperature around 23C. It's a super place for children, and both Sandy and Olivia loved visiting for the second time, as we had also been there in 2006. Like then, we had a great lunch- very healthy- in one of the very good value restaurants. It's such a refreshing feeling to go to places like Tykkimaki and know it's going to be super clean, and that you can look forward to real quality food at lunch times. I'm afraid you can't always say the same at some of the UK's amusement parks that we have visited.
Olivia was particularly keen on the monorail pedal train that took you around part of Tykkimaki!
I'm sure Sandy drove the very same lorry in 2006!
The goats, sheep and Shetland ponies were a new addition.
Feeding the goats.
It took Olivia a while to get the hang of what she was supposed to do here! I had to help direct her right foot to the accelerator!
A bit ironic that we went all the way to Finland to have a ride on a Shetland pony!
However, Olivia and Sandy both had great fun riding the ponies.
The sheep were very popular with the young children.
It all was very tiring by 4pm, and Olivia had a nap in the Tykkimaki pull-around car.
Meanwhile, Olga and Sandy continued on another ride.
Yes, Tykkimaki is great!
And I enjoyed it too!
A very happy family!
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