I just did one hour of jogging on a dirt road that cuts a big forest and some fields. The only animals I encountered were cows and sheep… No bears, no moose, no snake!
It is 9.30 pm now and the sun is still shining. Time to have a sauna. This is the view from our bathroom toward the lake. The sauna itself is on the left side, behind the glass door.
Hyviä löylyjä! (what you say in Finnish when you wish someone a pleasant sauna session)
The question I hear all the time abroad is “do you eat salmon every day in Finland?”. In fact, the best salmon available at supermarkets in Finland is imported from Norway (Finland does not have access to the Arctic Sea like Norway and Russia). There are some excellent wild salmon that live in rivers of the Finnish Lapland, but you can almost never buy them in the Southern part of Finland. In addition, there are salmon in the Baltic Sea, but because of high levels of toxins in the sea (hence the fish, too), it is not recommended to eat it often.
So, to be brutally honest, Finland has limited salmon supply. However, on the other hand, I always tell people that Finland has an excellent variety of freshwater fish. Vendace (“muikku“) is one type of a lake fish (the one in the photo). It is usually available in autumn around November and easily caught by nets. Yesterday we managed to acquire some vendaces from a local fisherman near our summer house who has special equipment for catching this “lake sardine” in summer, too.
Perfect after-sauna meal: grilled vendace with green salad and rosé wine!
Nothing beats a good sauna, few swims in the lake, fried or grilled vendaces, green salad and a glass of French rosé from the Languedoc-Roussillon region!
PS 3kg of vendace cost us 5 Euros! Eating local products makes a lot of sense!
“Is it always light in Finland in summer?” is the most commonly-asked question I hear all the time.
What happens in where I am (about 350km from Helsinki) in July is this:
yesterday evening the sun set at 11.20 pm (I took this photo 1 hour and 20 minutes later) and this morning the sun rose at 3.39 am.
When I arrived last Thursday, I stayed up late with my parents. My Mom had a swim in the lake before finally going to bed at 3 am, and yes, indeed, the sun had started to rise (lightness at that time was very similar to this photo). I haven’t lived in Finland for a such long time that I observe all this as a foreigner, too. And I can say it is fascinating and exotic!
This morning my brother took me to test our new fishing boat. The lake was calm and beautiful, and the boat swam smoothly in the water. I got to be a captain for a while, too. 
Afterwards he convinced me to try this thing, sitting in the middle of a round-shaped plastic wheel, which is pulled by a boat. It was actually a lot of fun and I did not fall once. We did a few rounds in the bay.
My brother did it, too, but he requested much more speed (but did not fall either). 
Life at the summer house is good. Temperature has climbed well above 20C and the sun is shining. My Dad is preparing grilled lake wish (called vendace I think), so must go now!
Arrived!
pearlspotting 