|
Finland ~ and we stayed a few
peaceful days with our lovely friend Mona and her family at their summer
cottage on a lake near Lahti.
|
|
We visited the UNESCO World Heritage site of Suomenlinna Fortress on an
island at Helsinki, listed as a unique monument of military architecture.
Reinforcing the seaward defences of Finland, then a part of Sweden, began in 1748 when the Swedish parliament made a decision to build a central fortress including a naval base in Helsinki. Suomenlinna is unique in that although it is a bastion fortress, it is irregular in shape as a result of being built on a cluster of rocky islands with highly variable terrain, requiring a very free adaptation of the theory of fortifications developed in Central Europe. Suomenlinna is to large extent historically authentic, consisting of original structures. Several significant layers of historical development in fortifications and shipyards may be seen on Suomenlinna. The dry dock at the heart of the fortress was the state of the art in 18th century technology.
|
|
There are 187,888 lakes
in Finland larger than 500 square
metres. This means that boat travel is widespread, and locks connect
lakes. We enjoyed watching these boats moving from the lake in the
background to a small lake via this large lock.
|
|
2 August ~ a sight hound lure coursing
competition Our money was on the family Greyhound, Kevin
Kevin started out in fine style, but sadly lost motivation, lost the plastic lure, and decided it was too hot to go galloping flat out after a piece of flapping plastic. |
|
Other dogs were more enthusiastic and grabbed that plastic fluttering lure,
despite wearing muzzles. This pair of Sloughis were eager racers
|
Borzois - enjoying the first heat of the morning
A Sloughi wearing a different style of muzzle which didn't really stop her grabbing that plastic lure
Loosing the Greyhounds as the lure is pulled past them
