A week at the summer cottage

After our trip to Tallinn on the 15th of August it was time to pack for our yearly cottage holiday. This year my parents had booked a week in a cottage in Valkeala, so it was a new place for us. Francesca's flight back to Rome was early in the morning two days after we arrived to the cottage and we couldn't get ourselves and all our staff into one car to get to the cottage, so I went there with the girls first and after having taken Francesca to the airport, I went to get my parents.
Considering what kind of weather it had been in Finland all summer, we were incredibly lucky. It was sunny all the time and the water in the lake slowly got acceptably warm to swim in. We had a swim every day from the sauna anyway.
The cottage was called "Tehtaanpuisto", which means mill park, because in the area there had once been a mill and the houses around it used to be the factory worker's homes. The garden was really big with big trees and a big lawn. There was a walk down to the lake where there was a sauna with a stove that was really easy to warm up once you learned how to do it. Also the cottage was big and spacious.
Of course we compared it to the cottage where we had been going for four years now and there were some things we missed from there. I missed the lovely sunsets and the view over the sea from the cottage, the girls missed the jetty to jump from and we missed the terrace where you could sit and have breakfast or eat in the evening, although it was a bit narrow. We also missed the woods just outside the cottage where you could pick blueberries.
The pros were the grocery store at a walking distance with a bar and a small post office, where my parents had ordered our newspaper to be sent, the sauna that was easy to warm up and very near the lake, so it was easy to have a quick swim from the sauna, even when the water and the outside air weren't so warm, enough space inside the cottage and the dartboard outside. There was a place to go horse riding just 2 km from the cottage and there you could also stop to pick blueberries.
They could have provided something to play with in the garden and maybe a garden swing that most gardens in the countryside in Finland have and a table and chairs to sit and have your morning coffee a bit closer to the cottage. Now you had to walk to the grill place, which was a bit too far away. There was a lot of space in the garden, but not so much to do there actually. We did find some raspberries and red currants to pick there and in the end of our holiday I picked some and made a pie of them at home.
Anyway our holiday was really nice and relaxing and we were so happy to have had a week of lovely weather.
We had a sauna and a swim every day, went out rowing a few times, played lots of cards, had barbeque evenings, sat out in the garden and made a drawing of the cottage, read magazines and books, threw darts, picked blueberries and made a blueberry pie and once we also went horse riding. I had a morning swim a few times after having gone out for a walk/run. The first nights were very cold - when I took Francesca to the airport at 5 o'clock in the morning it only was 6 degrees. But then the nights got warmer, so the last night when we had our barbeque in the garden we were able to sit there until it got dark. Only the mosquitoes disturbed us, so my father went in to the cottage as soon as he had eaten his sausage.

Here's a collage for each day at the cottage.

Day 1

 

Day 2

Day 3

 

Day 4

 

Day 5

Tallinn day two

The next day we had a good breakfast and another swim in the pools. Me and Carlotta had our hairs cut at the hotel. The hair dresser remembered us from last year.

Then we went out to do some more shopping before taking the ferry back at 16.30. This time we found the Rotermanni shopping centre which we didn't find last time, because it was a bit hidden. It was worth seeing. It was built in an old factory and there were very nice coffee shops, some good shops and the Kalev chocolate shop.

Tallinn, here we come! Day one

Tallinn is such a nice little town, so I wanted to go there again this year. Just in time to see Daniele in Lovisa before he flew off with his friend to Monaco and get to know the mother of his friend who had invited him to Monaco.

Then we took the bus to Helsinki and we went to my friend Alexandra in Espoo and the next day by the ferry to Tallinn.

We stayed at the same hotel as last year, Tallink Spa & Conference hotel. It's a good choice if you want to relax in the pools and saunas after having walked around the city.

When we arrived we first had a soup lunch in the Soup gallery where you can eat as much as you want of different kinds of soups and bread for only 5 euros.

We were a group of girls of different ages and different needs, so we all had to be a bit flexible. While we were walking around in the old town, which I love, the 10-year-old wanted to go to the hotel and the pools and the teenagers wanted to go to the modern part of Tallinn where they could find shops that interested them. Francesca took some photos of the old town just to show her parents and Sofia said she had seen all that last year already. Well, after I had forced everyone to take the mandatory walk up to the Toompea hill where you have a view over the old town, we went to the shopping centers in the modern part of Tallinn. When we all were tired the pools and the saunas were waiting for us at the hotel. Just perfect!

Family reunion in Santalahti

The last years we have organized a summer get-together with some of my realatives in Santalahti. It's a camping site with a restaurant, a café, a playground, a beach and a mini golf course, so there's a lot of space and things to do for everyone. There were my mother, my brother and sister, my sister's two daughters with their families, or part of them. A good tradition that I hope we will keep up as long as possible.
The weather was beautiful and the sea water had warmed up at least a little bit. After some mini golf playing, first in the water were the Italians! When I saw that Sofia, Carlotta and Francesca went there and stayed quite a while, I thought I could manage to do it, as well. Slowly I made it and once you got used to the cold water, it wasn't that terrible.
I had brought a little present from Italy to my godson, Justus. Justus is my sister's daughter's 2-year-old son. He and specially his bigger sister didn't think the water was cold at all.
Before going home we had an ice cream and something to drink in the café.

Day trip to Varissaari

There are some nice small islands outside Kotka. The weather had been so cool so we hadn't been at any of them yet. On the 11th of August schools started in Kotka and when they start, also the boat traffic to the islands stops. So now that the weather finally had got a bit warmer we had to hurry to go to at least the nearest islands, which is called Varissaari. It's only a 10 minute's boat ride from Kotka.
We packed our picnic bag and spent a few relaxing hours there. The sea water was still very cold, but Carlotta took a quick swim anyway.

A heart in the nature

Our picnic place in Varissaari

Relax - one of the few moments all three of my children were gathered this summer

The summer restaurant in Varissaari

Old cannons in the summer restaurant