The Real Finland

Midsummer is a time when the real Finland shines, I experienced midsummer last year on my, the 3 day weekend when the town of Pietarsaari (and most others in Finland) shuts down and everybody leaves to go to their summer houses. Last year it made for a lonely weekend because of that, but this year I was invited to join some friends at their summer house and it made for a much more enjoyable weekend.

So after finishing up at work on Friday relatively on time, I got home and packed some clothes quickly and we were off. Unlike most of the people at work who seem to have summer houses on the water just ten minutes drive from their regular house. We had five hours of driving ahead. After four and a half hours we turned off the main roads and drove for another half hour on narrowing ahh, roads (more like tracks by the time we reached the house).



The house was situated on one of Finland’s many lakes. There were no fences so I’m not sure how much of the property belonged to the one house, but there was enough land to support seven sizable structures. There was the house, outhouse, garage/shed, sauna, outside kitchen, a free standing single bedroom closer to the lake and boathouse and of course the boathouse itself. On top of this there was a Separate BBQ area, a bonfire area, and a small jetty/pontoon arrangement which was easily erected conveniently metres from the door to the sauna.




The house, as many houses in Finland was painted red on the outside but was mostly varnished pine on the inside, including the furniture, all very natural and modest. Interestingly most of the decorations inside were either local photos or souvenirs from Papua New Guinea. Although there was electricity it was only used for the lights (which didn’t need to be on very much) and a couple of luxury appliances, namely the coffee machine. The cooking was either done in the outdoor kitchen, the BBQ, the big old stove in the kitchen or the fireplace in the living room (all wood fired). There was a trapdoor in the kitchen which allowed entry to a cool room below the house which was easily working just as well as any fridge.




The weekend was filled manly with eating and drinking, relaxing in the sauna perhaps with a dip in the cool lake water. We played some cards, lazy Frisbee and threw sticks for Mano (the dog). Small breaks in the schedule were made do check out the sunset/sunrise if we were so lucky for it to be clear enough (as it rained some of the time) and we did briefly take out the boat to check the it didn’t leak (too much!).

It made for a very nice weekend, even when you include the 10 hours driving, and perhaps I understand the Finns a little better for it.