Finland: Turku

We made a stop in Turku, the old Swedish capital of Finland
The old church is a crazy mixture of ages and styles

Pretty inside though

We happened to be there in the middle of a Renaissance festival, kind of fun

Handsome knight in shining armor

We also went for a walk along the harbor, I liked this saggy building

Dasa loved the boats

We didn't feel like paying to get in the castle, but here is the back side

Most of the old buildings in Finland are wood

weeee

It was a fun little city

Finland: Kurjenrahka

After Helvetinjarvi, we headed south. This is a typical Finnish farmhouse above,

and vacation house below.
A beautiful wood church

Our next park stop was Kurjenrahka. Not as isolated as it was only a short distance from Turku, but our campsite was pretty

Hiking around

Such pretty moss

and lichens!

A wonderful boggy place

Again, we ate dinner super late, and watched the sun go down (sort of)

Did I tell you how amazing the evening light was?

WE ran down for to the lake for another midnight swim

with all those bogs around, it was super dark water and you could hardly see your elbows through the water.

ahhhh, the light

Finland: Helvetinjarvi

Our trip to Finland started out on a pretty exhausting note. Due to last minute preparations and such, we didn't drive to Prague until 9 at night. By the time we got there, organized our bags, and fell into bed, it was just about time to get up and take the bus to the airport (3:30 am, weee). After some pretty horrible (and expensive) issues with overweight bags, some even more last minute poster prep, and a couple hundred laps in the Helsinki airport looking for our rental car, luggage, each other... we finally started our adventure. After a 3 hour drive (what were we thinking?), we made it to Helvetinkarvi National Park. At sometime around 9 pm, we hiked in 2 km. None too steady on our feet, and with eyes crossing involuntarily, but man oh man was it lovely.

This gorge is what makes the park famous. In Finland where everything is relatively flat and monotonous, this thing is pretty spectacular.

The evening light in Finland is absolutely amazing. We took a moment to stare in awe.

This was our first campsite. As tired as we were, we had the hardest time going to bed. Its a little confusing when it looks like early evening at 11 at night! I laugh at myself because I had been worrying about getting camp set up before dark!

Midnight in Helvetinjarvi

One of the greatest things about the parks here was how well set up they were. Dry wood complete with hatchet and saw. Here is Jarka getting ready to make our fire.

The next morning we went swimming. The water is so dark, it makes you look like you are on fire.

They often have these little huts set up for cooking or winter refuge.

WE left the hard way, just for the fun of it. Back out the famous gorge.

It was a beautiful hike

Since so much of Finland is sopping wet, most of your hikes are on these planks.

Fun frog

Fun lichen

Pretty pictures

Our second campsite was on a larger lake

Dasa and Jarka

Pretty place

There are often even pots available to cook with! Here's our gourmet meal all ready to go.

More firewood prep

More amazing evening light

I wasn't having the best of luck capturing it, but this one sort of got it, just on the lake reflection

So, it was a lovely first exposure to Finland. The only downside?

Mosquitoes!

Wild and crazy adventures

Well, I have tons of lovely pictures to post of Finland, but that will have to wait till I can actually plug my computer in (the plug converter I was using was Dasa's, so I have a week sans power). But, I had to fill you in on our recent adventures. I came to Finland for a conference (fun stuff, though I'm a little sick of DOC), travelled before with Dasa and Jarka and was supposed to travel after with Eliska (a few other people canceled so it is just Eliska and I). Our first night, I got rather sick, and Eliska got really sick. So, I spent yesterday in the hospital waiting room, and today on the computer emailing her family to let them know what is going on. It isn't actually that bad, just horribly uncomfortable for her. But, 2 nights in the hospital and there goes our vacation. Eliska is even more disappointed than I, at least I had the 4 days before the conference. I got to see a pretty real slice of Finnish people in the waiting room though. I'm very ready to go home now.