Summer Holidays 2 - On the way to Mikkeli

We slowly started our journey towards Mikkeli by taking some small country roads and getting lost between Humppila and Tampere... too much confidence on navigation skills without map. In Tampere we spent few days just checking out the village.

As usual we walked a lot, this time in Pyynikki and Pispala areas. I must admit that these places are not too bad. Hills with nice houses have sort of same feeling that many areas in Sydney. 

The cultural part of our stay consisted of a visit to Amuri which is a traditional working class area of Tampere. Particularly the museum of workers' housing was found to be fascinating. The following two pictures illustrates the past and the present of this animated community.

  

On the entertainment side the slides became the new corner stone of playground activities.

From Tampere we drove along lake Päijänne, stayed overnight in Joutsa before enjoying the hospitality of Otso's aunt Marja and her husband Matti in their summer house in Mäntyharju. In this very same place Otso has been swimming a lot many years ago. Therefore this was a perfect spot for Iines to have her first swim in a real lake which was an enjoyable yet tiring experience as you can see from the picture below.

Later in the evening Mikko joined us. He was on his way to Helsinki from Ilosaarirock in Joensuu. The time flew as we had sauna, chatted and enjoyed a fantastic dinner. The next morning everyone continued their journeys, we headed to Tiili's summer place in Mikkeli.

Summer Holidays 1 - Humppila

The first stage of our holiday road trip in Finland took us to Humppila where Paula's family has their country house. We've stayed here since Tuesday when we left Helsinki and the plan is to leave tomorrow for a weekend in Tampere.

The following two photos illustrates the most important activities taking place here.

The house is located in the middle of barley fields so we have an opportunity to enjoy rather typical views of Häme region. The house is expanding as the family is too. The left wing of the house is brand new. That's the small spot of privacy for Aira and Paavo.

Malla, Paula's aunt, and her tireless little helper Severi have made sure that potatos and salads on the lunch table most certainly are as fresh as they possibly can be.

So far the weather has treated us well so it's nice to have some afternoon coffee in the garden. The famous pool is located on the background which has been popular among some of us.

The man in charge.

Cousins with quite different appetites, Sammeli starts 15 minutes later and finishes 15 minutes earlier.

To make a long story short... we're having a blast as you can see from the picture below. It's Iines' first summer and our first summer in Finland for a long while. More updates to come, stay tuned.

Denver

On a way back from Canada I quickly visited our office in Denver. We honestly did some work too but luckily the client we visited was located on the Rocky Mountains. So while driving back we checked out some pretty nice spots.

Still some snow on the top.





Micro brewery in Idaho Springs


Slightly bigger brewery in the outskirts of Denver next to a big mesa


Well I'm finally at home and about to start my summer vacation so can't complain too much.