We rose early to another fabulous spread of breakfast. Robynn and I stayed together with our host, Heidi, a gracious hostess and a good cook! Our first night, we arrived to Forssa and her house a few km out of town in Matku to have a great chicken lasagna, ham and cheese quiche, salad, and brownies. In the mornings, we have tea, coffee, milk, OJ, yogurt with muesli, grain bread, cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, and turkey - we love Europe! We live with a 160-pound Pyrenees dog named Ninni (see picture!).
This morning, we met the rest of the group at 9:00am and headed to Humppila Glass Factory - where we saw an artist blowing glass, and shopped at some specliaty boutique outlets including Finland's most well known female boutique, Marimekko. Thankfully, we got some items at a decent price and tax free! Following the shops, we had an American hamburger at a local resto.
We had the same driver, Saku, for several days in Forssa - he's a 19 year old student who doesn't speak any English, but has been great to accompany us anywhere and seemed to be a great sport - apparently even volunteering to chauffeur us around.
This afternoon, we went to one of Finland's national parks on a lake - wow it was gorgeous. We walked around the lake and were pleased to see that our host, Jaako and our driver, Saku, were waiting for us through the forests with champagne!!! We had a lovely toast on the bank of a river with a breathtaking view. Some of us dipped our legs, and it was freezing!! We ventured to the visitor's center in the national park where a guide gave us a tour and explanation of life in that bog.
Following, we headed to the local airport to take a tour of the surrounding area by air!!! When we arrived at the TINY country airport, we found about 40 Finnish police officers using the long and non-trafficked runways as a track to test/improve their motorcycle skills. They were doing road tests on their bikes - practicing chases at high speeds in populated areas. Jaako is a pilot of a small Cessna and took up some of the group members for a flyover of Forssa and surrounding areas. A Finnish pilot approached us in English - Heidi says it was odd for a Finn to open conversation like that, so we think he might have thought Robynn was quite cute - which isn't a bad thing as he was himself!!! We learned that he is a commercial pilot for FinnComm Air (regional airline) - it was his day off and he was there with another pilot flying gliders. Aimee and I were lucky to each have a glider ride with him (Pertti) over the area - we didn't go as far out as the others in the Cessna, but we got some fabulous pictures of the many lakes, and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity!!! The scariest part was the very serious overview of how to exit the plane in a parachute if we lost control. Going up in the tow plane was very interesting!! I got lots of laughs, and some pictures, of Pertti ever-so-delicately and politely trying to strap Aimee into her parachute harnesses as she wore a dress! Our glider flights were longer than anticipated because we had such a great time! Pertti had warned us that we'd each likely vomit since it was our first glider flight, so we were pleased that we didn't!
We rushed from the airport almost one hour late to a great dinner that Jaako and Heidi had arranged at Marshal Mannerheim's Hunting Cabin. If we understood teh story correctly, he was a Russian Marshal who was integral in Finland gaining independence during the Winter War - he was sympathetic to them and urged them to fight. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Gustaf_Emil_Mannerheim
This was a very unique dinner with good food - and it was quite entertaining because we reenacted as if we were dinner guests of his so we ate his menu and the owner-host told us of his story with many DON'Ts while a guest at Mannerheim's cabin - including a) no elbows on the table b) not leaving the table before cognac and coffee at the very end c) not speaking of work at the table, etc. The menu was:
Gronvall's cocktail - a specialty drink with strict instructions on how to raise glass
Karelian pastries with a mixture that was butter and scrambled eggs (better than it sounds!)
Filet of lamb, potatoes, and cauliflower and broccoli
***the owner made the best homemade mint jelly any of us had tasted (no creepy food coloring to make it bright green as at US stores!!)
Red wine
Dessert - pancakes with cloudberry jam and whipped cream
Port
Cognac and coffee (the cabin had some really great metal cognac "stands" to heat our cognac to appropriate temperature to drink.
We left the hunting cabin with very full stomachs and were again given a great surprise! Our hosts had arranged for a private showing at a new boutique featuring high-end European designers. This boutique is in an old house that has been refurbished and is in the middle of the forest in the middle of nowhere! The owner allowed us to shop and try on specialty items for a bit - apparently the store has only been open for one month! We all helped Jill pick out a great item for her son's wedding festivities this fall!
One of the best things about Finland is the daylight - it doesn't get as dark as we're experience back home, but it's daylight until very late with it not getting dark until after 11pm. Unfortunately, this means that we have a tendancy to stay up longer than we'd hope!
This morning, we met the rest of the group at 9:00am and headed to Humppila Glass Factory - where we saw an artist blowing glass, and shopped at some specliaty boutique outlets including Finland's most well known female boutique, Marimekko. Thankfully, we got some items at a decent price and tax free! Following the shops, we had an American hamburger at a local resto.
We had the same driver, Saku, for several days in Forssa - he's a 19 year old student who doesn't speak any English, but has been great to accompany us anywhere and seemed to be a great sport - apparently even volunteering to chauffeur us around.
This afternoon, we went to one of Finland's national parks on a lake - wow it was gorgeous. We walked around the lake and were pleased to see that our host, Jaako and our driver, Saku, were waiting for us through the forests with champagne!!! We had a lovely toast on the bank of a river with a breathtaking view. Some of us dipped our legs, and it was freezing!! We ventured to the visitor's center in the national park where a guide gave us a tour and explanation of life in that bog.
Following, we headed to the local airport to take a tour of the surrounding area by air!!! When we arrived at the TINY country airport, we found about 40 Finnish police officers using the long and non-trafficked runways as a track to test/improve their motorcycle skills. They were doing road tests on their bikes - practicing chases at high speeds in populated areas. Jaako is a pilot of a small Cessna and took up some of the group members for a flyover of Forssa and surrounding areas. A Finnish pilot approached us in English - Heidi says it was odd for a Finn to open conversation like that, so we think he might have thought Robynn was quite cute - which isn't a bad thing as he was himself!!! We learned that he is a commercial pilot for FinnComm Air (regional airline) - it was his day off and he was there with another pilot flying gliders. Aimee and I were lucky to each have a glider ride with him (Pertti) over the area - we didn't go as far out as the others in the Cessna, but we got some fabulous pictures of the many lakes, and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity!!! The scariest part was the very serious overview of how to exit the plane in a parachute if we lost control. Going up in the tow plane was very interesting!! I got lots of laughs, and some pictures, of Pertti ever-so-delicately and politely trying to strap Aimee into her parachute harnesses as she wore a dress! Our glider flights were longer than anticipated because we had such a great time! Pertti had warned us that we'd each likely vomit since it was our first glider flight, so we were pleased that we didn't!
We rushed from the airport almost one hour late to a great dinner that Jaako and Heidi had arranged at Marshal Mannerheim's Hunting Cabin. If we understood teh story correctly, he was a Russian Marshal who was integral in Finland gaining independence during the Winter War - he was sympathetic to them and urged them to fight. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Gustaf_Emil_Mannerheim
This was a very unique dinner with good food - and it was quite entertaining because we reenacted as if we were dinner guests of his so we ate his menu and the owner-host told us of his story with many DON'Ts while a guest at Mannerheim's cabin - including a) no elbows on the table b) not leaving the table before cognac and coffee at the very end c) not speaking of work at the table, etc. The menu was:
Gronvall's cocktail - a specialty drink with strict instructions on how to raise glass
Karelian pastries with a mixture that was butter and scrambled eggs (better than it sounds!)
Filet of lamb, potatoes, and cauliflower and broccoli
***the owner made the best homemade mint jelly any of us had tasted (no creepy food coloring to make it bright green as at US stores!!)
Red wine
Dessert - pancakes with cloudberry jam and whipped cream
Port
Cognac and coffee (the cabin had some really great metal cognac "stands" to heat our cognac to appropriate temperature to drink.
We left the hunting cabin with very full stomachs and were again given a great surprise! Our hosts had arranged for a private showing at a new boutique featuring high-end European designers. This boutique is in an old house that has been refurbished and is in the middle of the forest in the middle of nowhere! The owner allowed us to shop and try on specialty items for a bit - apparently the store has only been open for one month! We all helped Jill pick out a great item for her son's wedding festivities this fall!
One of the best things about Finland is the daylight - it doesn't get as dark as we're experience back home, but it's daylight until very late with it not getting dark until after 11pm. Unfortunately, this means that we have a tendancy to stay up longer than we'd hope!
RSS Feed