Finland 11th June

Missed the 3.45 sunrise and got up at 10.30, it's hard to guess the time when it's always light.

Went into Hamina for a look around and to do some shopping.
Walked through Hamina Park, the grass is generally kept long all over Finland, that way the flowers grow, cut the grass, cut the flowers. We were a bit worried about snakes as we waded through it. No snakes in Finland, no Bullants, just a few stinging nettles.
 We went over to the Bastion where the amazing membrane structure is, we saw this on our last visit. It is all pulled down and packed away at winter time.




 


This is the is the old munitions store, two thirds of the building is underground. It's an Art Gallery now, we saw a display on our last visit. 
This was built by the Russians in 1785.
In WW2 it served as an intelligence centre and a gas shelter.




 

Behind the Bastion walls are storage cellars, today they are coffee shops. The central area is the theatre area capable of seating up to 5000. This Bastion was originally on the edge of a bay, however Finland has been rising over the decades, it rises one centimetre every year and the lake is now a grassland.  



 
The houses in Hamina are mainly timber framed, the doors are well above ground level and open outwards. Most of the houses have ladders up to second levels or the roof.
This house has the ladder up to the roof. The angled ribs on the roof near the gutters are there to stop the snow falling of off the roof, they are angled to allow the water to run away as the snow melts. The ladders are not there to access the roof but to allow you get out if the snow is too deep to open the lower doors, which is why they open out (so you can't open them in and let the snow fall into the house) there are access hatches at the top of the roof. Hamina often gets to 30 degrees in the summer, but -40 is not unknown in the dark winter. Mid winter the sun doesn't rise, it is either dark or twilight.

Hamina Town Hall - 1798 




 
We went down to the harbour and met an amazing old man who owns a large ship he has turned into a floating bar, we had a good look around that and then Anna-maija convinced him to let us look through his private museum, there were two floors and lots of rooms of mostly nautical displays from around the world. It was an amazing place.

This was his Museum building from the ship. He has concerts here, one is scheduled for this weekend when he has a 1970's Finish punk band performing, very tempting.

We called in at the supermarket for some supplies, the fish here is great, smoked, fresh, flavoured  and lots of it.

Home for a great tea.

Tammy did a load of washing at 8.00pm and hung it on the line.

Then we headed off for to the lake for a sauna.

The sun was setting when we got there and continued to set for the next few hours.

The sauna is good, wood fired and right beside the lake.

Once you are feeling too hot, it's straight into the lake to cool down and then back into the sauna.

Anna-maija showed us a video of the same lake a few months ago, the ice was two feet thick and they had cut a hole in it with a saw so that they could still jump in, the water temperature then was 4 degrees, now it's 20 degrees.

We got back home at midnight, Tammy got the nice dry washing off of the line.