Ken and Kaarna has had enough of the Central Finland and decide to get the hell out of there. So they arrive at the gates of Hell!
They will now visit the Helvetinjärvi (Hell’s lake) national park. Ken has been
here 20 years ago with Hector, before it turned into a tourist
attraction of this scale.
Now there’s a restaurant offering burgers from wild boar and ostriches - raised on the site.
The view to the lake is still beautiful and Ken even finds his and Hector’s initials on the old railing.
Hector carved them, they had just begun to date.
The Helvetinkolu gorge is also just as magnificent as Ken remembered.
Nowadays it’s forbidden to go down there, but Ken leads them down anyway.
It’s early and nobody else is around to see them. Kaarna is pleased with Ken’s rebellious attitude:
- I like Hell! We didn’t come all this way for nothing!
But then the weather turns absolutelty hellish. It’s hard to keep up with good mood when it’s pouring rain for five days straight. The daily amount of rainfall is unbelievable.
Hector says on the phone:
- Check the glove compartment and enjoy.
Kaarna crawls into the front and finds a bar of chocolate with a note ”for tough situations”.
The sweet old Hector has hidden it there beforehand.
But when she opens the wrapping, the real surprise is revealed!
- Use the money to pamper yourselves. Go
to a spa or something! Hector orders.
After argueing about what to do with the money, Kaarna and Ken eventually decide to leave Herbert behind and take a cheap bus to Helsinki, where the weather is not any warmer, but at least a lot brighter.
They check in to a hotel and eat
the food they brought with them. Because eating in a restaurant would
be a waste of good money!
This hotel is brilliant. There are pools and saunas on the roof top terrace!
Kaarna especially appreciates the cold water pool.
And the fact that kids are not allowed to the sauna area after 7:30 p.m.
When you are used to sleeping in a temperature of 12 °C and in a damp bed, the warm hotel room can be a bit tricky. Ken moans:
- I haven’t slept at all. I’ve been sweating like a pig all night.
- So you are too tired and we can cancel today’s plans?!
Kaarna’s wish doesn’t come true,
because Ken is definitely not that tired and he’s not going to
cancel anything. And Kaarna simply has to hang along.
Many times the lovely Aino has invited Ken to visit, and now it finally happens.
Aino and her husband Jaakko
welcome the visitors with open arms.
(Aino and Jaakko are from @merjakayhko)
Their home is really beautiful and all the furniture is extremely stylish.
They must be
made by an exceptionally talented carpenter. Ken is astonished!
And
Kaarna is a bit jealous of Jaakko’s equipment. Well, pros are pros.
Right after everybody has sat down at the table, some surprise visitors rush in through the kitchen door!
It’s JuhaSusanna with some hippie!
How fun it is to see her again
like this! This girls brings extra joy everywhere she goes!
Her companion is called Ville, and Kaarna remembers seeing
him at her art club a couple of years ago at the IPM fair.
(Ville is from @nanolandia55 and JuhaSusanna is from @juha.susanna)
Aino is a great hostess. She has sqeezed fresh lemon juice, and the cinnamon buns are in the oven.
Quickly she adds two more plates on the table for the extra visitors.
Naturally there´s plenty of pizza for everyone.
After a while all these blabbering people start getting on Kaarna's nerves.
Luckily in every home there is at least one room where you can some peace and quietness.
The cat thinks the same.
And when the guests finally leave, the hostess is tired but happy about the lovely day.
And she´s lucky to have a caring husband who takes care of the dishes and gives her a neck massage.
After the super lovely visit to
Helsinki the bus takes Ken and Kaarna back to the horribly wet
Herbert. Now that the Central Finland is left far behind, it’s easy
to find great beaches with clear water and without the annoying ”no
camping” signs.
Ken is hopeful:
- Did you see the weather forecast? This should be the last rainy day before the summer finally starts!
- Don’t count on their promises. This summer has been fucking crappy even if those bastards said it would be the hottest El Niño summer ever.
There are many Medieval churches in Finland but mostly the ceilings and inner walls have been painted white later.
Luckily in a couple of churches the original paintings have survived and Ken and Kaarna now get to visit one of those rarities.
These paintings are made in the early 1500s and the wooden sculptures are up to 200 years older.
There’s a free entry to the church now, but souvenirs are being sold to collect money for the maintainance.
The church makes such an impression on Ken that in the following night he dreams about being a Medieval maid, gathering medicine herbs on the church yard.
Maybe these herbs would cure the plague or keep evil spririts away?
Suddenly the dream turns into a nightmare with evil medieval beasts and priests, who shout threats and obscenieties to poor old Ken.
Their burning eyes and slimy
tongues are horrible and Ken wakes up frightened.
- What a dream. I can still smell the scent of the herbs!
The first decent summer day finally takes place on the 11th of July. It’s hot enough to wear bikini from the morning until bedtime!
Even if the weather hasn’t been on
Ken and Kaarna’s side this summer, the silence in the forests and
beaches has done good things on Ken’s nerves.
Even the screaming and sand throwing kids don’t bother him now.
Ken spots a manor and a garden open for visitors.
It’s about time to include at least one manor in this roadtrip!
The garden is absolutely lovely and blooming.
Ken doesn’t understand much about gardening or flowers, but he understands a whole lot about beauty and atmosphere.
Kaarna skips the garden tour and saves the entrance fee on ice cream.
On the next day it´s her turn to be excited! She can finally see the home of a self-taught artist Enni Id.
Kaarna tells Ken about this woman who wanted to paint but her husband was against it.
- But when the no-good hubby eventually died, oh boy how the old lady painted! She didn’t only paint on canvas, but also on the walls, floors, furniture, dishes, buckets… practically everything around her. Except for the ceilings!
- Why did she leave them white? Ken asks.
- To make sure her soul has a way to go to heaven.
Of course the weather forecast turned out to be way too optimistic.
While the whole Finland is enjoying the hot summer days, one damn dark cloud keeps following Ken and Kaarna everywhere.
Kaarna is ready to give up.
- We should’ve stayed home. This is
ridicilous.
After a couple of depressing days the
weather changes!
Roadtripping is fun again!
Because Ken and Kaarna prefer driving the small road, they need to buy groceries from the expensive village shops, that are nowadays quite rare.
It's always a pleasue to find a store owned by a single entrepreneur instead of a big chain.
They also visit some tiny
museums and see local curiosities.
They don’t need much to be happy - only some sunshine!
One day they find the most excellent place ever by a river with small rapids.
Thw spot is far enough from the so-called
civilization, there’s a hiking trail up to a mountain (a rocky hill
actually), a dry toilet and a fisherman or two every now and then.
And no restrictions for camping!
Kaarna gets to try something new with the SUP board!
Rafting in the rapids!
Now this is heaven!
Ken is also very happy:
- No reason to drive anywhere for days! I can just relax and start to believe that this will become a nice summer trip after all, Ken thinks.
But when hw kneels down for sunbathing a horrible crack is heard from his hip!
- Ouch!!!!! What was that?! Ken screams and Kaarna freezes.
Ken starts to cry:
- Oh no, now I lost the other leg!!!!
- Looks like the screw is too long and it has damaged the opposite side of your hip. I knew that doctor was a quack!
- I give up. Let’s just go home, Ken sniffs.