Last day in this fabulous place!

On the doorstep.
The table by the sauna, looking out this evening to the jetty and the lake.
Sandy and Olivia's bedroom.
The living room.
The weather forecast said it would rain today. In fact, it didn't, and it ended up being one of the nicest evenings of the week, with the sun still shining now on the lake. We spent a fair bit of time in the middle of Jyväskylä during the day, wandering around the shops and generally enjoying the relaxed atmosphere there. Back home, we have been tidying up the cottage ready for our departure tomorrow morning.

We all agree that in all the time we have been coming to Finland, this cottage, and location, is the best we have experienced. The house isn't big, but it's really beautiful, with everything really well thought out. The lake is fabulous, simply wonderful, and the sauna right next to it is the best sauna we have experienced too. So, we leave with firm intentions of returning in the future!

Tomorrow, I'll be updating from our last cottage and we are all hoping it will also be a great place to stay.

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What an eventful day...

First of all, Happy Anniversary to my mum and dad back in Scotland! Hope you have had a lovely day.

This morning, we had no plans at all. It was a case of just seeing what the weather might do. As it looked cloudy and not very promising first thing, Anna suggested we walk up the road a bit and pick some blueberries. We spent an hour and a half on this and ate loads, saw some frogs, and came back with piles of them! It was great to enjoy such sweet berries, and Sandy and Olivia both devoured a large amount of them.

By lunchtime, we were thinking about sunbathing, as the sun was out and it was getting really warm in the garden. Then it suddenly poured with rain, so we had a rethink. Once the shower was over, we decided to visit a type of zoo that we have passed each day at the top of our gravel road, where it meets the main road to Jyvaskyla. It's only about a kilometre from the house, and we thought that it wasn't far to go if it rained again- and if the sun returned, we'd not stay too long and get back home to have a swim. It turned out to be better than it looked, so we stayed for a couple of hours, and by the time we left, it felt hot, so we came back with the plan to light the sauna. Once again, out of nowhere, it started to pour with rain! So we waited a while and prepared dinner.

By the time we had eaten, it had changed again and it was suddenly a wonderful evening, with fantastic light and the lake was really wonderful, so we swam and sweated for a couple of hours! Then, as we came into the house at about 8pm, there was another shower, before the sun again came out for the last of the day- it's right now at 11pm a really great setting sun in the west. Maybe tomorrow, it'll just be sunny? Let's hope so!

In the garden.
Messy after blueberry picking!
Yum Yum!

This is a Highland Cow, at the local zoo!

A baby kitten plays with us!
Tame rabbits on an island!

Another pony ride for Olivia.



Anna on the steps in the sun.
Sauna heating...

Synchronised bombing!
Pretty good synchronisation here too!

What a fabulous view to the lake!
I didn't realise I could dive so well!
The sauna glistens in the evening sunlight.


The lilies here are just opening.

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Thursday 19th July

Sunset on Palvajarvi lake a few moments ago, at 10.20pm.
Looking back to the house, from the fishing boat.
Sandy fishing. The jacket is not because it's cold- it isn't- but to protect from mosquitoes.

A close up of Olivia in the pizza restaurant.
What a bargain! Four of these, four drinks, and unlimited salad, for 27 euros!


A quiet day today! We had a lazy morning, in the garden, taking some sun, before it clouded over and the promised thunderstorms arrived! By lunchtime, we had gone into Jyväskylä and there, we had a really good lunch in an Italian pizza place. We ordered standard-sized pizzas, rather than the large ones, and when they arrived they were about 14inches across!! Two vegetarian pizzas, one margherita and a pepperoni along with four 500ml bottles of Pepsi Max, and unlimited salad from the salad buffet came to the grand price of 27 euros (£21.60 at today's exchange rate!) Bargain!

After lunch, with rain and thunder all around, we headed again to the indoor swimming complex we visited on Monday and stayed there for the afternoon.

This evening, Sandy and I went out in the boat on the lake to try to catch some fish, but nothing was doing. Back at the jetty, we caught a perch, but then another heavy shower came on and we rushed indoors. Now, as I type this, the sun is shining again and it's a lovely end to the day. The weather has been unpredictable the last few days though, so I hope it might settle down a bit again soon.

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Wednesday 18th July

Today, I'm telling the story by pictures, instead of writing too much description! See below for details:


Setting off to fish this morning on the boat- nothing was doing though and we were soon back on the jetty.

Olivia was first to catch something- a perch, and doesn't she look happy?


Sandy caught a larger perch a few moments after this picture was taken.

For Anna and myself, it was relaxation time- let the children do the work!

There was great debate about whether we should eat the larger of the two perch for lunch. Sandy wanted to eat it, but Olivia didn't, so eventually we agreed to free both of them. Sandy photographed the smaller of the two underwater as it was set free!

With Lake Palvajärvi in the background.

This sauna has a cold-water shower inside it- and it is incredibly refreshing to actually stand and shower inside it, when the temperature is 90C. The shower pumps water directly from the lake, which is only about 3m away.

Above, Sandy, bullet-like, heading for the water, and below, making a mess of his so-called dive!


Olivia doing a "pencil jump" into the lake.

There are lots of waterlilies close to the cottage.

In Jyväskylä this evening. We went to have a look at the harbour area, and had some ice-creams.

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Normal service has been resumed!

Ice creams in Jyväskylä this morning.
In the centre of the city.
Coffee time in the centre.
Strawberries, picked this morning, at lunchtime, back in the cottage.
After the rain yesterday, and no swimming in the lake or heating of our sauna, we were back to normal today!

This morning though, we went in to Jyväskylä to have a look around the centre of the city. With more than 100,000 people living there, it's one of Finland's bigger cities, and it's about 9 miles from where we are staying. The centre is pedestrianised which means there are lots of people walking around the main street, which has loads of cafes, restaurants and pubs, as well as all the well-known shops here. We bought some books in a bookshop, which had a large selection of English titles, and had coffees and ice creams before walking towards the harbour area and back again.

Back at the cottage for lunch, I began to heat the sauna once again. On Sunday when we arrived, I found it quite tricky to get this sauna up-and-running, and it was a similarly frustrating few minutes again today before it all went smoothly- but it was definitely worth the effort. Within an hour of starting, we were sweating it out in temperatures of 90C, in what is really a superb all round sauna. It's wood burning- see the photos below- but it is also large, with a dressing room attached to it, where you can take your towels, swimming goggles etc. It also has a small shower inside the sauna itself, which pumps water directly from the lake itself. In all our visits to Finland, we had never seen this arrangement before, but wow- what an experience it is to allow the cold water to flow over your body inside a room at 90C! Exquisite...and then of course, you just step outside and dive into the lake again!
How to make the perfect sauna- step 1- collect your birch wood.
Step 2- light the wood and tend it in the sauna stove, until it's burning well and the sauna is heated to at least 60C. Then sit in and begin to sweat!
Step 3- above and below- jump into the lake and enjoy the refreshing coolness of the water. Then repeat as often as you wish to!

It's MAGICAL!!



Yee Haaa!! Who needs London 2012?

We sat in the sauna, sunbathed on the jetty, returned to the sauna and jumped into the lake repeatedly for a good two to three hours- and I can honestly say that this place is the nicest we have stayed at in all our visits to Finland. The lake is superb! Although the water is not as warm as it was the last two years when we stayed in eastern Finland, this lake really has got it all. There's loads of wildlife around, the jetty is great for sunbathing, the lake itself is deep enough to dive into from the jetty, and the cottage itself is just beautiful. We all agree it's a place we'd love to return to.

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