Landscapes of Lahti and Lappeenranta

I've had 4 host families during my year in Finland. The first 3 lived a fair distance the city (Lahti) so I took a bus everyday to school. Fortunately, my 4th family (where I am now) lives within walking distance of the city. Everyday I walk for half an hour to school or to meet friends. The path to the center brings me along the shore of lake Vesijärvi (translating to "Water lake"). Vesijärvi is the location of Lahti's harbour and the famous concert hall, Sibeliustalo (below). I took that picture in April, when the lake was still frozen.

On my daily walks to and from home, I have taken advantage of many photo opportunities along the coast. Here are some of my best photos from a beautiful sunset yesterday:












Now for the landscapes of Lappeenranta, which is a medium-sized city in eastern Finland. My Finnish friend, Otto Köylijärvi, invited me to go flying with him and his father who flies small airplanes as a hobby. Today I travelled with Otto to Lappeenranta and went flying! Unfortunately, the larger plane was being serviced so Otto's father brought me up in a very small 2-seater plane. However, it was still a great flgiht over the largest lake in Finland, lake Saimaa, which covers over 4000 square kilometres). The picture below is a great representation of Finnish landscapes: lots of water and islands.



Lappeenranta is situated right beside the border between Finland and Russia. In the picture below, the small lake in the middle is actually half in Finland, half in Russia. On the left, note the smokestack and the cross-shaped patch of land behind it. That patch of land was the site of an airport during World War II and is famous for the being a meeting place for Hitler and the soon-to-be Finnish president Carl Mannerheim in 1942.



The meeting of Hitler and Mannerheim in 1942. (this is the only photo I didn't take!) Thanks to Otto and his father for taking me to Lappeenranta today!

This is the last week I have in Finland before leaving on my Eurotour with Rotary next Sunday. I have a full schedule this week, including playing piano in a small concert on Tuesday, a trip to Helsinki on Wednesday, a "sports" day held on Thursday for all the schools in Lahti as well as a concert in Sibeliustalo on the same day, and finally I will perform music with friends at the graduation ceremony at our school on Saturday (followed by various graduating parties throughout the day). I'll be posting again on some day other than Sunday, since that's the day I head off to Europe!