Tahkovuori

I departed Tampere on the morning of Saturday, July 9, on a Finnish Rail train bound for Kuopio, a small city in the heart of Finland's lake district. Since this was a Saturday, and longer-range bus service appeared to be non-existent then, I was forced to take a taxi 50km to Tahkovuori, a ski resort outside the sleepy little vacation town of Nilsiä, which is here. I should have rented a car instead, given the cost (80 euro). This would have bought me and Eric more flexibility later on. This is where Eric's orchestra was staying.
This is where I got a view of some ugly Finnish architecture: this is the hotel:

The photo does have the redeeming quality of also showing two Saabs of notably different vintages in the foreground.

This is also where I observed a real oddity of Finnish architecture:



Notice that there are permanent ladders going onto the roofs. Presumably these are needed to clear snow from blocked chimneys.

The hotel meals (served buffet-style to the orchestra and its guests) consisted of Finnish cuisine: seafood, boiled vegetables, some sort of potato, and beet salad. The veggies amongst us were not impressed.

At about 10:30 PM, I went outside and shot some pictures:


If you think these pictures are interesting, there are better ones coming from the canoe trip.