Last Day in Naantali

From Kari

The weather was perfect and sunny again today. We started this morning with a tour of the gardens around the summer residence of the President of the Republic of Finland at Kultaranta. The president is arriving early next week, so all of her gardeners are busy planting, watering, and trimming. Afterward we went to the Kultaranta Golf and Sports Center. Because today was the Center's opening day, we each enjoyed a visit to a theraputic salt room, complimentary massages, and over lunch on the patio balcony we watched former US golf pro Bobby Mitchell tee off. Ironically, his cerimonial swing put his ball in one of the course's ponds not too far down the fairway.

Markku and Tiina met up with us in the center of Naantali after lunch and Markku took us sailing on his boat. Though he built it recently, the boat is based on the wooden boats sailed in Finland during the 17th and 18th centuries. The trip was quite the experience, even for those of us who had sailed before. I even had the opportunity to raise a sail with Ossi and Mary manned the helm.

After our voyage, Markku dropped us off at Heikki and Heidi's. Eija, a local Rotary Coordinator, met us there to sauna and the bravest of us swam in the sea. After the sauna, we took a dip in the hot tub and then sat down on the patio for a dinner of Finnish sausage and Eija's strawberry meringue cake for dessert.