Fantastic Finland- Sunday 20th July- Kotka to Varkaus

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.)