Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Summer Cottages- Part 2

We were invited to visit a cottage a couple hours north of Helsinki in Vääksy with the family of one of Joey's friends from school.

oskare and joey


Their cottage sits right on Lake Päijänne--one of the deepest, largest and coldest lakes in Finland. 

vaaksy cottage


When I got there, I walked down to the lake. The water was so still, it reflected the clouds above just like a mirror. I just couldn't capture it on camera :(     It was stunning.

lake try 1


It was also one of the most "Finnish" couple of days I felt we've had since coming to Finland!  We were treated to some truly wonderful meals. Timo is a big Weber grill fan and brought this back to Finland with him from New Jersey!

timo and his weber


You can't beat fresh Finnish salmon on the grill!

The table was always beautifully set with Arabia dishes (the blue plates and yellow mugs are Arabia from Finland).

table setting


and Ittala glass (the glass "bowl" with the cookies is also from Finland).

torte


 Oskari's family lived in New Jersey for two years so it was fun to compare and contrast American and Finnish cultures--the good and the bad!  The conversation was never dull!

Oskares family


Rob and Joey experienced a true summer cottage sauna with a dip in the cold waters of Lake Päijänne!

sauna


They also took a boat ride around the Lake.

boys in boat


Joey tried swimming in the Lake, but he said it was just too cold!

boys swim


The kids slept on Moomin bed linens...

lily sleeps on moomin


...while the adults were treated to a beautiful lake at midnight


Lake at midnight


Joey and Oskari played Finnish monopoly.

finnish monopoly


In fact, I was feeling so Finnish, I thought I would try the lemon licorice ice cream. I actually ordered it as sort of a joke, and ended up loving it!

It was a truly Finnish experience!

Thank you Oskari and family!

path to lake


2 comments:

  1. I am so happy when you have experienced something so Finnish! I feel like if I lived in Finland right now, I would show you so much...

    ReplyDelete