August 14: Treasure Island

Today we had been invited to visit the island summer cottage of Minna (Pia's other sister) and Pekka. Its name translates into 'Treasure Island' in English, which excited my daughters especially. (On the long train journey to Italy, they had read 'Swallows and Amazons', mostly because their was nothing else to read, but they eventually got hooked on the sailing adventures of those old-fashioned children. Their sailing lessons with Pia cemented this.)

It was about 45 minutes by car. This island is one in the Kuopio district - we probably flew over it as we came in originally. We parked the car on a rough road and carried all our gear to the lakeside. Soon Pekka motored up in his tinnie. I thought seven passengers plus luggage was a bit much for one trip, but we made it okay (although a bit deep in the water!) And what a place! An excited retriever dog barked a lot as we disembarked, just to make it all a bit more perilous, but then it raced off to sniff all over the island as it seems to do all day.

Pekka owns the whole island - about two acres I guess. The sauna was down by the pier, for ease of jumping in the water. What made the place really beautiful was that the house was up on a hill - unusual for Finland. It is quite new, too, so climbing all the stairs up to the deck was pleasant and safe! A huge deck framed the cottage on two sides- another unusual feature for a summer cottage. It was painted dark red, in the usual manner, and a little outside loo (composting, non-stinky) was off on a path around the back. The sun shone down, we relaxed on deck chairs and gazed through the tree tops around us across the lake.

The grown ups then enjoyed a glass of sparkling wine. (Eleanor didn't, although in this photo she looks a bit woozy!) Then the men went down to the sauna for the first shift, as Pekka was appointed chef and would cook while the girls had their go. We had a pleasant chat, and waited... after 2½ hours we sent Jack (who had had enough some time before) down saying that we were fed up with waiting and were going to crack the next bottle of champers. Kari apparently told Jack, "They wouldn't dare," (knowing that Pia was a bit scared of the cork), when a loud 'pop' shot the cork over the roof! We had finished this second glass before they emerged, though.

"It doesn't get much better than this," said Wayne, and we could not disagree.

We women-folk only had ¾ hour in the sauna and lake, which Annie especially resented as 'not fair'. Since it was now about 10 o'clock at night I was prepared to forfeit my rights and eat. (It's funny how you stay up so late when it is light. Out children are usually all fast asleep by 9:30 at the latest.)

It was a delicious barbecue, quite well oiled with wine. The men had had quite a lot of beer at the sauna, too...

Needless to say we all slept rather late when we finally went to bed, and breakfast was rather quiet. It was a terrific day, though!