Photos

Yet another photo of a lake scene in Finland - but with 187,888 lakes in the whole country, I can't imagine not having this many! This was taken on a fabulous canoe trip one weekend where we canoed through several lakes (none of them actually named 'diamond lake', this is simply because of the appearance it had in the sunlight). The man in red, Bela originally from Hungary, was our guide and was really great!

There were 11 of us with three canoes. We took the canoes from in front of campus by the lake and paddled for about 2 1/2 hours to a small island called Kalasaari in the second largest lake in Finland. When we arrived we had to cut some logs to then be chopped for firewood and sauna. On the island there was a small sauna in a little green building heated by a wood fire with windows looking right out on the lake and a dock with a ladder conveniently located for a dip into the water for the bravest of souls (since I will tell you that there still was ice and snow in these here parts about a month ago)! A small veranda style building was nearby where there was a wonderful fire pit that we sat around as we ate a warm lunch and roasted bananas with chocolate.

The weather started off pretty poor - with scatters of rain and cold wind (as you can see the dark clouds hovering in this photo) - but by the afternoon the sun came out and warmed everything up tremendously (and also created this dazzling sparkling effect on the water which I just had to catch much to the chagrin of my fellow paddlers since this entailed stopping momentarily to equip myself with my camera without getting anything wet).

After basking in the sun by the water, around 5pm we packed up the canoes and began our journey home. This time it was much more difficult of course having come one way already, chopped wood, eaten and taken a wonderful sauna - though extremely invigorated at the same time with the brief swimming sessions in the middle. The whole experience was just wonderful - a sure memory that will last me a lifetime and this is one image I will keep with me forever!

If you're ever in Jyvaskyla, this is well worth every second and penny! Check out Bela's website here for his contact details... and happy paddling!

More photos of Finland here