I was visiting home and then I came back home.

Oh my, it feels like I was away for a long time! That might be because I actually was away, and that two weeks does count as a long time on the internets. Therefore it's only proper that I should now flood you with photos from Finland, yes. Beginning with a 4 a.m. view of Tampere because Tampere is a beautiful city in the summer and at its loveliest on those early morning hours when everything's quiet, except for the occasional car driving past.

More proof.

After Tampere we headed up north towards Ruovesi. On the way we stopped at a once upon a time travellers' home (they're called "kievari" in Finnish but alas, I've no clue how to translate that) named Kallenautio.

It now serves as a joint museum, art gallery and a cafe/restaurant. It also offers information on the cultural sights and festivals in the area.

This one was my favourite room.

Look at that wallpaper and furniture and that light and those colours and and and and and and

I used to have a bed like that, btw. I inherited it from my great gran and had it until I was too tall to sleep in it any longer. The construction is such that you can pull the ends further and further apart or fold the whole bed into a smaller, compact one for the day. 

However, mine was constantly pulled open and quite at its limits - a girl born in -79 was far better fed than a girl born in the beginning of the century, and grew therefore much taller. One night I woke up to a loud noise and a huge slam and realized that a) I was in a sitting position b) on the floor and c) had a vague idea that I had just kicked the end of the bed in my sleep and had successfully thrown it off its last few centimeters of hold. Soon after that a friend of mine sat through the bed in a similar manner and I got a new bed, sadly nowhere near as beautiful as the old one had been.

This house was used as both a museum and an art exhibition.

The main house where the cafe is. 

Ruovesi church.

I love that shade of blue!

I love church architecture. The older churches are not actually my favourites (all the ones I like best tend to be built sometime in the early to mid 1900's) but this one's so beautiful that I'm making an exception of it.