Cool winter outing

This is our final weekend before we leave for Singapore next Friday. Will Finland still be in winter mode when return in April? We've heard that spring comes in May...

We decided to make the best of this weekend by definitely not staying indoors.

Since our visit to Uunisaari last Sunday, we began searching for our next outing.

Uunisaari is a little island off Helsinki. In summer, it has a popular beach and one has to take a boat to get across, even though it is just about 100 m from the mainland. Unless you are Michael Phelps (and don't mind getting wet), you are less than a minute splash away.

On the website, we read that a suspension bridge is set up in winter. When we arrived, we realised that all we had to do was hop onto the sea. Yes, we walked on the sea again. Everyone else was doing it. Men, women, children, babies in prams, dogs...

We walked to Uunisaari, around it and on it. We also walked to the island next to it. Some parts of the sea just next to the coast was slightly wet so we had to be careful choosing our next step.

Today (Saturday), we visited Ooittaa. It has a camping site and a recreation centre where we can rent skis and other necessary equipment. There is also the quintessential Finnish sauna.

I asked a family from the children's school to join us. We had visited their home some months back and hadn't had a chance to invite them to ours.

Ooittaa is a nature site just next to a large lake called Bodominjärvi. The lake is frozen and a skiing track has been made out on the ice and leads onto land. Our friends told us that the area is actually a beach in summer and popular with Finns who come to tan. Today, we could not tell where the coast starts and where it ends. And even in summer, temperatures in southern Finland hover around 20ºC and don't forget sea breeze. Bbrrr...

The kids found a slope and sledded. A lump of snow which had somehow become a slide and had a hole at the base became a playground. They also had great fun playing on the slide and swings. Children need so little to be happy.

The highlight of this trip was our BBQ. The simple menu of sausages, marshmallows and hot Milo was really fun. The pit was open to all visitors and the centre provided free firewood. People just sat around the fire and placed their food on the grill. We may look like we are enjoying ourselves, but in reality, we were actually freezing. 

Sausages were the most popular food. The other kids looked enviously at our marshmallows so we shared our large pack with them. The Tohs seemed to be the only ones who know what to do with marshmallows at a BBQ. We are happy to transfer some technology.

The pit was tiny yet everyone was happy to share some space on the grill and seats on the benches. The area was generally clean because users tidied up after themselves. Very nice.

I told you Finland is a nice place.