We went to Oulu on 26 July. It was Friday. We stayed there for four nights and headed to summer cottage on Tuesday. It was three nights in the summer cottage and then we came back to Espoo on last Friday. So it was a week long trip full of activities and fun :)
The journey began with the pendolino train from Helsinki. I met Sharmin and Mohsin in the train station. We got into the train knowing that a 6 hours journey is ahead of us. Unfortunately my seat choosing was messed up and Mohsin has to sit in another compartment. I was very unhappy because it was me who bought the tickets.
It took one and half hours to reach Tampere and many people got down there. We went to the restaurant cart and spent next 4 hours there. We were gossiping and enjoying the wide green fields and trees so much that we didn't even notice how time passed. So at the end of the journey we were not so regretful for the distributed seat arrangement :)
Gagan came to train station to fetch us. We reached his home around 10 PM. We entered their new home. I took off my shoes and started exploring the house. It's a nice house with a big living room and kitchen and a huge terrace. There is a nice lawn after the terrace. I like it very much :) The first night went without much happenings. We were tired off the long journey, so went to bed early after dinner.
On the second day (Saturday) we went to Oulu downtown to have a look. The weather was nice, thus there were many people roaming around. We came back home, took rest for a while and headed to mini golf course near the beach Nallikari. All of us played and I was the lucky one to win :D The same day we went to the beach and played frisbee in the water. It was fun :)
The next day we were mostly relaxing in the morning. Me, Gagan and Mohsin started playing Tigris and Euphrates in the afternoon. The game lasted 4 hours. Mohsin played it for the first time but he won. After the game we went for biking. The girls were sleeping at that time. We biked for almost an hour. After that it was just being in home and gossip and playing pictioary and another game(I forgot the name).
On Monday we decided to go for swimming. We checked two lakes but Gagan was not satisfied with the crowd. He wanted some place with very less people. So we went to Nallikari beach again because it's a long one and you can find some place almost with no people. We again played frisbee in water, also swam for a while. On the way coming back home we decided to go to Koiteli in Kiminki.
Koiteli is a nice place beside river. There are several grill place. You can take your own food and have a nice barbeque there. I visited this place once before but not in proper summer. During summer it's really astonishing. From Koiteli we came back home and got mentally prepared for the summer cottage. Mohsin got his luggage ready to leave for Espoo next morning.
Me and Gagan dropped Mohsin to Oulu airport the next morning around 07:45 am. We took coffee in a coffee shop and then came back home. After taking breakfast Gagan went to have a nap because he will be driving to the cottage. We already finished our grocery for the cottage while returning from airport.
In the afternoon, around 3 PM we started our journey towards summer cottage. It was a nice 4 hours journey with multiple breaks. We met the cottage owner in his office. He doesn't speak English. Among us only Shanila speaks Finnish, so she was the savior :) She communicates with the owner and he showed us the way to the cottage and gave us the key. He also showed all the facilities. Before leaving he gave us a nice homemade chocolate cake as a part of welcome. We were so happy. The first night was not very eventful. We just walk around a bit, had late dinner and went to bed. Sharmin and me stayed in ground floor. Gagan and Shanila went upstairs.
On the second day we did barbeque, fishing, boating and sauna. Also there was enough time to relax. We managed to read novels during lazy afternoon. The next day (Thursday) was pretty much the same but we were playing badminton a bit. On Friday, we left the cottage at noon. The owner gave us two bottles of blue currant concentrated juice. All in all it was an enjoyable but relaxing cottage trip.
Our train to Helsinki will leave at 16:00 from Kuopio. So we had some time in our hand. So we went to Nilsiä, another small town near Kuopio. It's a nice place with hills and lakes. The combination was great. From Nilsiä we headed to Kuopio. It was 15:30 when we reached Kuopio train station.
The train journey from Kuopio to Helsinki was almost 5 hours. This time it was only Sharmin and me and our seat arrangement was quite OK. Still we went to the restaurant and spent the whole journey sitting there. We reached Helsinki around 20:50 and finally reached home around 21:40. Thus a week long vacation trip, full of activities and fun, came to an end :)
Here goes some pictures:
Playing frisbee on the beach
Now frisbee in wather :)
Mohsin in action in mini golf :)
Tigris and Euphrates. Everybody is so serious :P
Koiteli
Koiteli 2
Fire for barbeque in Koiteli
River flows continuously there :)
Wood art, on the way to cottage
Friends, on the way to cottage
Happy couple, on the way to cottage
Chappel near our cottage. The owner made it by himself.
Wooden door, nicely crafted
Our cottage
Golden light of sunset makes the cottage even more beautiful
Rear balcony, I liked the table
View from top floor
Another view
Girls watching sunset from the deck
It's Sharmin and me. You may need a magnifying glass to see us :P
Gagan and Shanila are canoeing
I was trying single row
The expert swimmer doesn't need any life vest :)
Nilsiä, doesn't look like Finland at all
Programming Solution
