This Summer’s vacation/workation was a combination of train travel with an Interrail Global Pass, and flights from Italy to Finland and back. First, we took a train to Firenze (*) where we spent three days before continuing to Pisa by train, and flying to Helsinki. From Helsinki we took a train and a shuttle bus to Mänttä to visit the Mänttä Fine Arts Festival — an event that has become almost an annual tradition. From the neighboring town of Vilppula we took a train to Pieksämäki, where Tomi’s father picked us up and drove to Kangaslampi, where we spent two weeks working on our work projects.
After the two weeks we started the return trip: first to Helsinki by train and on the following day to Pisa by plane. We spent two nights in Pisa before continuing to Genova, where we also spent two nights. The final stage of our return was complicated by sold-out trains, as Interrail Pass holders are required to reserve seats in high speed trains. Also, we did not want to travel very long days, so we divided the return trip among three days: first to Torino, then to Chambéry (France), and finally to Grenoble, all by train.
I am also dividing the travel diary among several posts by the themes and places we visited. I will close this introductory post with a couple of words about the weather during our vacation. To sum it up: with the exception of couple of days, we enjoyed superb weather throughout the trip. When we started in Grenoble, it was very hot, as it was also in Firenze, afternoon temperatures rising to nearly +40°C. As expected, it was a lot cooler and nicer in Helsinki, and almost cold when we got to Kangaslampi, the first two days there being the only rainy days of our vacation. After those two days, the heatwave started in Finland, and rest of our vacation was very warm and sunny. Another positive note worth mentioning is that this time we both stayed healthy for the whole vacation. This despite we spent considerable time in crowded trains and flights.
(*) I am deliberately using the city and town names in their original language rather than in English, since I find them prettier and more familiar.
