July 19, 2010
This was one of the most beautiful days so far on my trip, spent mostly outdoors on a river in Eastern Finland.
We had a quick breakfast at the lodge, which was, again, surprisingly delicious, were introduced to Valteri, our guide on the rafting trip. At first, we were a little bit nervous about him. Almost completely silent, sitting by himself, never addressing me, 6 inch braided beard. He drove us in silence to pick up the others on the trip, 4 Finnish and a German. Because of the presence of the German, who also spoke English, I felt less about the tour being conducted in both Finnish and English.
Valteri drove us in a van, along with the raft to the river, and soon he began to warm up, telling guide jokes in English and Finnish, that I am sure he tells every group ("this is a self emptying boat, mostly for water, but sometimes for customers!"), he gave us instructions on paddling, and told us what to do if we were thrown.
His warnings ended up not being necessary, as the rapids were not too scary (level 2?), the group was pleasant, and the water not so cold. I didn't bring my camera as I did not foresee that we would be able to keep it dry on the raft, but I wish I had, as the scenery was spectacular. For one of the rapids, three of the guests rode it outside of the raft (which was actually a superior experience), and on another, most of the group did the same.
By around 2 pm, we stopped for a while for lunch. We grilled sausages over an open fire (Valteri introduced them as the "national vegetable"), ate fresh salmon from the river, coffee cooked over the fire, Finnish pastries and coffee cake.
I hadn't been river rafting in 14 years (Costa Rica school trip). While this ride was much easier than I had expected, it was also extremely pleasant, and highly recommended.
After we returned to the cabin, we packed up our stuff, and got in the car to Savonlinna, home of a month long opera festival in July, performances held in a giant castle by the river. We were expecting trouble finding a place to stay there, but the Lonely Planet helped us out by recommending the cabin of a steam ship staying in the Savonlinna port overnight. While Lonely Planet warned that the cabins would be "cramped", I was not expecting it to be as small as it was. I estimate no more than 1.5 meters in each direction?
We had dinner across the street from the steam boat (I had a plate of small fried fishes and mashed potatoes, and some wine), and then walked along the harbor towards the castle, where rich looking, older folks, mostly Finnish, were exiting the castle after a performance of Tosca, and wondered whether if I had come to Savonlinna alone, not knowing of the opera festival, whether I would have, upon discovering this crowd, attempting to find where they were coming from or where they were going. We joined many of them at a fancy outdoor bar by the river. A lot of fun.
**Carly Simon -- Let the River Run
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