Kuopio

The day after Christmas we caught an early morning train and made our way to Kuopio, a city northeast of Helsinki in Finland's Lake District. We stayed at the Hotelli-Kylpyla Rauhalahti, a hotel just outside of town. Unfortunately, the world's largest smoke sauna, located near the hotel, wasn't operating the days we were there. Luckily, the hotel has its own spa, and when in Finland, one must sauna.

The next morning we took the bus downtown to check out the sights. We made our way through the Market Square with views of the town's Christmas tree and City Hall.


It began to snow as we walked to the Old Kuopio Museum . . .


and our route took us by the Kuopio Cathedral.


After touring the Old Kuopio Museum we trekked to Puijo Tower and the ski jumps. To get to the top of the hill where the tower is located we followed the trail through a spruce forest.


From the tower we had wonderful views of Kuopio and the surrounding Lake District.

We had dinner at the revolving restaurant in the tower where we toasted Bernie and Bill on their wedding anniversay. Afterwards, we made our way down the hill by walking by the several ski jumps. We continued walking to the Market Square where we caught the bus back to the hotel where we did, what else, took a sauna of course.