From Helsinki to Savonlinna

We'd hired a car to take us to Savonlinna, because of course we were going to be driving around and exploring the area,  not to mention spending a day in Savonlinna itself and getting to and from the operas in the evening, so we'd arranged to pick that up on Monday morning at the airport. 

It always sounds so easy, doesn't it? Hiring a car and getting the freedom  to drive off to wherever you want, just like that.  In my experience it's always just a little bit more complicated than that and this time was no exception. The car was there, which was  a step up on a previous occasion in Sydney; however we couldn't work out how to start it. This is not only frustrating but quite embarrassing as well, and doubly difficult when whatever instructions there are lighting up on the dashboard are in Finnish, a language I am convinced was invented solely to be impenetrable to anyone but those born within the borders of Finland itself. 

It turned out that the battery in the key fob was low, and the opinion of the man in the Avis kiosk at the carpark was that we had two options. He could get the car started and we could drive off and trust the battery didn't run out completely during the following five days or , given that he didn't have any spare batteries, we could go back to the office in the airport terminal and they would give us another car. 

Turned out there was a 3rd option because when we went back to the terminal - yeah, who was ever going to take option 1? - as the manager there had a spare battery. What he did not have was the requisite tool for opening up the key fob to insert it, so he finagled that with something else,  possibly a paperclip. I'm not sure, as I took the opportunity for what  people euphemistically call a 'comfort break'. So the fob was fixed, but we still had to cope with the fact that the car was a hybrid, which the OH had never driven before and which is quite a change to a standard petrol/diesel model, if only that when it's in electric mode you can't actually hear the engine. Which is disconcerting. 

Anyway we got away at last and set off for our accommodation which was about a four hour drive. It was approximately 20 km from Savonlinna itself and when we finally got there it was beautiful. It was a B & B, but all the rooms had access to a kitchen one way or another so that you could sort lunch or evening meal.  We were in a small unit with its own kitchen; some of the other ones shared a larger kitchen with laundry facilities. 

Anyway, photographs.

This is the main building where they served breakfast

This is 'our' building, we had the left, slightly larger side. 

The living room

The bedroom

And I have some photographs of the surrounding grounds and the lake, but that will be tomorrow because I'm quite tired and can't cope with blogger's new way of uploading photos this evening. Someone came for coffee yesterday morning and another friend came today and it was lovely to see them but I did find it quite wearing. I suspect the real wearing is coming from the pain in my hip, which is related to the pain in my knee, although my knee is hardly painful at all, unless I jar it, or change direction too quickly. So far it is improving much more quickly than I expected though and that's a Good Thing.