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| The lake at dusk |
This weekend we took a trip to Petra's summer cottage in Kotkajarvi, a small town near Hämeenlinna. Me, Florian, Satu and Sean met Petra, Minna and Borin via train and I joined the Flo and Petra shopping crew to stock up on food and beer before taking the final leg to the cottage.
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| Flo and Petra at the sauna house |
The road became smaller as we left Kotkajarvi behind us. We passed several lakes and wondered if they could be ours. We knew we were getting close when Petra turned down little more than a single track road lined with trees and bushes. I almost thought I'd see Little Red Riding Hood on her way to Grandma's house, but instead we found the edge of the lake where the summer cottage awaited.
My first impressions were jaw dropping. A little path led down to the steps where the lake-side sauna house sat and where the jetty strutted out onto the crystal clear lake. There were poisonous mushrooms and hundreds of trees. The summer cottage was actually a set of summer cottages, both of which were lined with cosy rugs. It took a while to take the shopping in as we kept stopping to take in the beauty.
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| View from the decking |
The evening was amazing fun. Florian cooked burgers with the help of various assistants which went down very well. He cooked cheesecake and spoiled everyone with offers of beer and his special whiskey. It was a house-party much like others I have been to, until JP and Kalle ventured out to set up the sauna!
Being a prude Brit, I was nervous at first, but where there was a space in the first batch of guys, I couldn't resist the opportunity to try something very Finnish. I changed in the house on the lake, just next door to the sauna room, before venturing across. I realised how hot it was as soon as I got inside. Instantly I could feel the sweat starting to drip off of me. JP kept applying water to the coals which, with a burst of steam, sent the heat to soaring temperatures. I remember it being 80 degrees at one point. I soon forget we were all naked and started to relax, until the guys ventured out and dove into the freezing cold lake! Not being the biggest fan of water I simply watched on in horror before joining them back inside.
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| Tribal dancing |
After the soothing sauna, I joined the others round the fire I had started earlier. Petra and Sean were a little worried when I started chopping kindling with the hatchet, but luckily, I remembered what I was doing from Wild Spirit, and soon had a roaring fire going. This was a primal sort of experience and over the next few hours as the rest of the guys and finally the girls took sauna we sang songs and danced like cave-men until we couldn't possibly dance anymore. Flo took a stumble into the fire and was unsurprisingly the first man down, followed closely by Sean, whom we all know shouldn't mix wine with other random spirits.
The evening died down around 4am where we sat in the second cottage talking until it really was time to go to bed.
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| Last night in cottage one |
It was an awesome weekend and didn't end there. When everyone but me, Flo and Petra left on the Saturday, we had a relaxing day unwinding lake-side, followed by an evening of shooting stars and movies. The final day was spent cleaning up and taking a train back to Tampere. It was nice to get out of the city and gave me a little perspective, realising how familiar I'd become with Tampere, and how much I missed being out in the wild. Good thing the week would go quick and end with another sightseeing trip.
