Day 3 - Saturday 7th July

We had an easy morning, getting up quite late, before we headed towards the centre of town on foot. We wanted to visit Stockmann department store as Sandy was looking for some sunglasses. We had a long, lazy look round this huge shop, before we headed back to the hotel, stopping off for ice creams along the way.
Olivia wanted to head back to the area close to the harbour this morning, so that she could have another ride on the pony she rode on yesterday!

Early in the afternoon, our friend Pauli arrived to take us to his place for a late lunch with his wife Hannele and their son Santtu. They live on the outskirts of Helsinki in a quiet residential area, and we were greeted by a couple of baby red squirrels in their back garden! We had a lovely, relaxed lunch and would like to thank the Kauppila family for their hospitality!

Back at the apartment, we decided to have a session in the sauna, before settling down to some dinner and TV this evening. We'll need to pack later as we leave tomorrow after breakfast to head to my colleague Sari and her husband Petri's place in Mäntsälä for morning coffees, before heading on via Kotka, where we stayed in 2006 and 2008 as we head east towards Parikkala, where we'll stay in our rental cottage there with Anna's mum and dad, and sister Olga and her son Arnold.

The weather today has again been very warm, around 25- 27C, and although it is now raining this evening, tomorrow should be sunny and warm by the time we get to Parikkala.