Alas, our time in Tallinn came to an end and at 8 am we took the ferry back to Helsinki. For some reason the return trip took an hour longer than the way in, and the ferry took us to another terminal far from where we had left the car. Fortunately, an Uber car appeared almost instantaneously and for little money took us to our parking garage so we were able to recover our wheels (the parking fee was pretty high).
Right away we drove out of Helsinki to the west, because Géraldine had booked us in a cabin in the woods on the small island of Björkholm, 250 km away. I wish I could describe to you the beauty of the country we drove through, but the truth is that I slept for most of the trip, only now and then getting glimpses of young shimmering forests and of farms surrounded by an apron of cereal fields. We made a short stop half way there, grabbed a bite to eat, and Lucas got behind the wheel, with Géraldine shifting instantly into her Mom role.
Once we got close to our goal, we had to stop at a supermarket to buy enough food for two dinners, two breakfasts, and one lunch, because we were going to spend two nights in our cabin in the woods. We got grilling stuff (baby pork ribs, salmon, zucchinis, and corn on the cob), rice, pasta, and lots of bread. But we took a bit too long in our shopping and all of a sudden found we only had 30 minutes to get to the ferry. First, we had to figure out where the ferry docked, which by pure chance I found in Google maps at a small anchorage 20 km away. Lucas was a master driver, taking us there in record time so we had 5 minutes to spare.
The ferry is free (probably run by the municipality to keep the small islands connected), but you need to make a reservation for the car, which we had done, so the crew was expecting us and quickly signaled us on board. The ride took maybe 20 minutes and we and a family that was clearly planning on spending their time here fishing debarked and were happily greeted by our hostess, who directed us to our very own piece of the Finnish paradise.
The cabin is comparatively large, and could sleep six people. It has electricity and running water, but instead of toilette has an outhouse. It has, however, a sauna room with a shower that Géraldine has been dreaming about. I was given the duty of starting the fire in the grill and the sauna, and within the hour we were grilling our baby pork ribs and the corn on the cob. We complemented the meal with a big pot of spaghetti al pesto and very much enjoyed eating under the sun and surrounded by trees and water.
The sauna heated to perfection while we were having dinner,
and we had a relaxing half hour sweating our hearts out. I must confess I fail
to see the attraction of locking yourself in a hot and very humid small room
"to sweat away your worries" but will gladly go along with my
traveling companions to get the whole Scandinavian experience :)
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