Travel Diary

During breakfast, I picked up a Finnish newspaper; however, I couldn’t read a word. The comics were fun to view though. They even had Calvin and Hobbes! Sadly, I couldn’t remember the dialogue and felt completely lost as to the joke. I saw other articles about American TV and authors, though again, no idea what they said. After breakfast, we met up with our friends again and visited a fine museum with the history of the area.

I made sure to do a little sink washing. Dad and Andy visited a local laundromat. I probably should have too as things always take forever to dry. Each vacation, I learn a tad bit more about savvy packing. This time, I even brought some older garments to throw away after wearing once or twice. All things considered, summer travel is definitely much easier to pack for than in the winter. Staying warm always means so much more weight to lug around. (The bane of being thin.)

We got to see the green grassy parks and the weather was spot on that day. Then it was to downtown (the pedestrian only street where oddly enough, there were no cars) for some beers. The weather being accommodating, we sat outside and relaxed.

Later, we had a lunch near the water beside a small boat. The food was good and I even had some fish where they cooked the entire fish. They were small little guys, but eating the whole thing was odd. I could eat the tails but passed on the heads.

It was sauna day, so us guys went to the lake and walked along the water for a ways until we reached a cabin structure on the water. We bought tickets and went inside. There was a changing room and the reason they keep the sexes separated was because they don’t take a sauna with clothes on over there. Yup. Birthday suits only.  

The sauna was...hot. Yes, yes, I know, but it was VERY hot. An old timer kept dousing the rocks with water and soon my skin felt like it was literally on fire. I exited and cooled off in the changing room. A while later, dad asked if I had tried the lake swim yet.

The what?

The lake swim. They take a sauna and then swim in the lake.

Uh, no. That sounded a little crazy. The lake would be cold (August or otherwise). But they insisted I try the “full Finnish sauna experience,” and argh, I hated to miss out on something memorable on the count of being squeamish, so I went outside (into the cool air), walked across the wooden pier, and dove on into the lake.

It was cold!

Okay, maybe not to a Finnish person who does the same exact thing in the winter, but to me, it was pretty chilly. However, I swam around some and it wasn’t so bad. In fact, in short time, it felt great. One felt really alive then. Just wide awake and in awe of how majestic the whole experience was. Completely nude, padding around in a cold lake somewhere in Finland--it’s hard to explain. You just feel so alive and refreshed.

After some time in the water, I got out and went right back into the sauna...until I was near blistering hot again (back on fire, back is on fire!) and then it was back into the lake once again. Ah, nice and cool now. Nice and cool. The whole thing was rather fun. I likely shall never forget it.

Once done, we walked back but did take some hiking trails on the way. I of course had no cameras on me, but I got to enjoy the spectacle of nature nevertheless. At one point, the forest opened up to a soccer field where people were hard at work practicing their skills. Then we trudged back into the forest path and returned home.

After a short rest, we all met up for dinner at the pub. The food was fine and the beers were fun to try once again. Just so many options.

So many beers, so little time.

It would be easy to fall asleep that night.

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