Summer cottage

The summer cottage (and summer) is a very important part of Finnish life. Many people have temporary residences in the forest or on one of the many lakes to stay in during the extremely long summer days. This weekend we stayed in one of my host family's cottages on a lake about an hour outside Tampere. The water was so calm it looked like a mirror

At night we were able to take the rowboat out to watch the sun set at about 11:30 pm. Even after the sun sets, it's still bright enough to walk around outside without lights. 

Here was also my first time trying the sauna, another huge part of finnish culture. In this country there are about 5 million people and 2 million saunas. Many have them in both their regular homes and in their summer cottages. The sauna is usually followed by a swim in the lake The water is much colder than it is at home, but very refreshing after boiling for 10 minutes in the sauna room.