DAY 8: AROUND SANTALAHTI AND KOTKA.

Some early morning exploring by the daredevils!

As before, the sun shone today and the temperature climbed to 26C in the afternoon.
This morning, we all went in to Kotka centre, as Anna's mum and Lucia wanted to do some shopping. This was actually pretty boring for the males, but at least we had ice creams in the sun at one point at the Sibelius Park, which kept our spirits up.

We had bought some meat for the barbeque, so after Anna, Olivia and I spent a relaxing hour or so at Santalahti's reception, having a beer, we came home and lit the barbeque. This was to be my first time ever in charge of a BBQ, and to be honest, I wasn't much looking forward to it!

I made sure I really cooked the meat well, and everyone seemed to enjoy it- thank goodness!

It has been amazing to talk to the Finnish people- almost all of whom can converse fairly well in English- some are very fluent. I do think our experiences show that the Swedes are even more fluent- but it hasn't been lost on me how easily the Finns move between their own language, and English.

Tomorrow, Anna, Sandy, Olivia and I are going to Tykkimaki, which is an amusement park in Kouvola, about 50kms to the north. Sandy especially has been looking forward to this all holiday.
Before that, I'm off to the sauna once again to cleanse the skin! By the time I get to bed, it'll be at least 11.30pm, and will still be light outside. While it gets duller, it doesn't get really dark at all, as we discovered the night Anna's folks arrived.


On the decking outside the house; another cracking day!