DAY #1.....

ROAD TRIP TO KAJAANI

With this being our Saturday 'off' from the temple, we decided we were going to head up north, to the Arctic Circle again......

to KAJAANI

We got a taxi to the Airport where we picked up our rental car. Can't take the mission cars that far away.....and there are too many missionary couples now to put one car our of commission for just one couple. LOVE the bear statues at the airport. They are so cute!

We took a 'rest stop' for a walk around the TORI and got an ice cream cone in Mikkeli. That is about 3 hours up the road. We also stopped at the Tori in Kuopio, another hour beyond Mikkeli.

We went by the church in Kuopio. We plan to come back here another weekend so we can visit this ward.

LOVE, LOVE the statues here in Finland. So unique and interesting. You just never quite know where you will find them. This one of a GOLDEN REINDEER was perched high on top of a rock wall along a highway. Just out in the middle of absolutely no where!! Had to pull over and take a picture of it.

After 8 1/2 hours on the road, we made it to Kajaani. With the days so long now, having daylight was not a problem. Above is the Church in a 'storefront' location. We will be speaking in the Kajaani Branch tomorrow.

We took a walk around town on the walking paths to see a few sights. How many different languages can you say "Path of Friendship" in? Apparently at least 6......Top to Bottom: Finnish, Swedish, Russian, German Lithuanian and English.

AND.....Finnish words can say a whole sentence in ONE WORD.....example above.....'pay your parking ticket here' in this one word!! LIP-PU-AUOT-MAAT-TI!!

Just another beautiful old church in town. Every town has a beautiful old church.

The author of the KALEVALA....an Finnish Epic.....lived in Kajaani. He has his own statue.

And I had to have my picture taken with him too!!

The only Olympic Gold Medalist from the 1930's got a statue erected in the 1990's in his honor. A little late, but nonetheless, a statue.....and a castle in the background dating back to the 1600's.

And where else can a group of teenagers 'hang-out' on a Saturday night at a CASTLE but right here in Kajaani??

And they were totally having a great time......

This is a statue in honor of Pietari.....founding father of Kajaani. If you look really closely you will see our hotel across the little river.....the SCANDIC HOTEL......

AND.....our room was complete with our own SAUNA!! Too tired to use it tonight but we probably will tomorrow night!