When the sun is setting, between dusk and darkness, there is a moment when the light turns blue. And the world stops for a heartbeat.
The main reason we moved to Finland four years ago – instead of choosing another ‘random’ country, as we had so many times before – was to let the girls grow up close to family. (One side of it, anyway)
It is paying off.
The next few weeks we’ll be at the summer cottage with ukki, mummi, Noora, Lassi and Masi.
The girls could not be happier.
The Football World Cup ended yesterday, with Spain beating Argentina – and with a clear difference in the quality of play if not in the score.
We followed the tournament more closely than we expected, considering it was held in North America. The time difference made many of the matches impractical to watch. Yet, we managed one almost daily.
After eight weeks invested in the Cup, we wanted to watch the final too. It kicked off at 10pm. When it went to extra time just after midnight, we started to get nervous. It ended at 1am.
The alarm went off at 4am.
The 5 am bus was the last one that took bicycles and still got us to Helsinki in time to pick up the girls from camp
The sunrise was beautiful, though.
The clouds were heavy today, but there was (almost) no rain. The occassional drizzle – so light that the wind dried us faster than the rain got us wet – doesn’t count.
A win in my books.
The route from Loviisa to Kotka was mostly on paved roads, rather than the forest tracks and gravel roads we usually look for. In fact, we occassionally end up in paths more suited to game tracks in our determination to avoid bigger roads. Only once have we been forced to backtrack for more than a kilometer or so.
We’ve been lost at least twice.
Still, there were several interesting stops: the Loviisa fortress ruins, Strömfors Iron Works, the Savukoski Museum Bridge and the Tsar’s Fishing Lodge. What supprised us the most was finding a quite large and lovingly nurtured English Garden in the middle of absolutely nowhere (Erja’s Garden).
Finally, a note to self: Sunday evening is not the right time to find great restaurants in Kotka.
Start of the summer holiday.
The girls, carrying their enormous rucksacks, hopped on a bus and headed to Väiski, a scout camp in Parainen forests with 1,800 kids. Stuart and I seized the opportunity, jumped on our bikes and headed for Porvoo. The plan is to cycle to Kotka over the weekend (about 130km in total).
We have cycled from Espoo to Porvoo before, and the route is not particularily interesting. So this time, we decided to take the J.L Runeberg, a museum ship that sails from Helsinki to Porvoo. Great weather, pleasant sailing, cool ship… but too many people.
Porvoo itself, is a picturesque little town with a cobbled old town, good restaurants, quaint shops and a few decent museums, including the old home of Finland’s national poet, Runeberg.
And luckily Porvoo is worth spending a little time in. Our hotel, approx 25 km away, was in the middle of nowhere, with not even a restaurant nearby. Therefore, timing dinner at the last restaurant on the way required a bit of a planning.
The last few kilometers, with the sun setting on our backs, were beautiful.
By the time we opened the last beers on the hotel garden, it felt like holiday.
I admire children’s dermination to have fun once they decide they are going to have fun.
I took Kiara and Alanna to a nearby sports-focused amusement park today. The temperature climbed above 30°C and the park had practically no shade. Even so, we stayed for more than 7h and tested every climbing, jumping, pedalling, lifting, shooting, running and balancing activity available. Considering the park has more than 30 different jumping castles alone, that was no small feat.
Most of the other kids gave up, and by late afternoon only a handful of the hardiest ones were still around.
At the endof the day, we popped into a nearby supermarket, bought swimming costumes to all three of us and went for a swim. Lake water has rarely felt so good!
We are still not beach people. But Matinkylä Beach is exactly the right distance for a family bike ride on a hot day.
The kids spent about 15 min in the sea. Even though they love swimming, the salty water seems to take away half of the fun. But they did spend the next 2h climbing, running and playing.
The best thing about cycling to the beach is that 90% of the sand falls off on the way home.
Finns are always surprised when the weather is good at Midsummer. Although, I could be a spoilsport and note that every single one of the five Midsummers since we moved bach has been beautiful.
Then again, I still remember the years of +9°C and rain, so I mostly let people enjoy their weather debates.
Anyway, it is hard to capture the essence of Midsummer in single picture. I cheated and made a collage. Good food, good drinks, the midnight sun, summer…
There are many truths about how warm a lake needs to be before it is warm enough for a swim.
Stuart, being South African, thinks 28-30°C sounds about right. Or 25°C with a sauna. For a Finn, that is pure folly.
I am happy with 20°C and 18°C respectfully. But then again, I do not particularly like cold water (for a Finn).
Alanna prefers warmer water too, but anything above 10°C is fine as long as it only comes up to her knees and there is a sandy patch to play in. Swimming requires 18°C or a good reason. And whether something counts as a good enough reason depends entirely on her mood. This spring, she went gor a swim when the sea was barely 13°C.
Kiara doesn’t care. As long as there is no ice on it, it looks good. Above 15 °C, she will happily swim around until she turns blue (and mummi tells her to come out).
In case you were wondering, the lake was close to 20°C.
I went to my first proper music festival in years – and it was pouring down for most of the day.
But once you get soaked, you do not really get wetter.
The gigs were fantastic, it stayed warm and the company – most importantly my sister, brother-in-law and parents – never let the rain get in the way of a good time.
Great day!
I did feel a little sorry for some of the bands on stage two, which was not exactly waterproof. Unbelievably, most of the equipment kept functioning even through the worst downpour.
When it is not homework, it is fun.
As a summer activity, we are collecting flowers with the girls to press them. With my mum, they are also catching bugs to inpect and draw.
Anything to keep them engaged in reading and writing.
Blue Moment 