The PicuMarZ Diary

It has become tradition for us to spend at least one day in the town Kokkola during every holiday in Finland. There are larger variety of shops than in Jakobstad, and many things are also a bit cheaper.

We had an early lunch at home before we drove off to Kokkola. We went to the large warehouses Anttila and Halpa-Halli, to some photo shops (a must if your name is Stephen), sport shops, stationaries and a book shop (a must if your name is Malin). After maybe four hours of shopping we were both satisfied with our bargains. We bought some tortilla chips and Pringles dip at Halpa-Halli and found a park near a small river where we sat down to have a rest and enjoy the crips. We tested the small tripod Stephen had just bought, and it proved to be very useful. Luckily Stephen also tested the bike computer he bought, just to realize that it was broken. We then had to hurry back to the shop and they gave a another one instead.

Stephen wanted to see some of the surroundings of Kokkola, so we walked to the car and drove to a camping site called Sundmun at Yxpila, just a few kilometers outside the centre of Kokkola. There were quite a lot of people at the camping site, some were even swimming in the sea. I think Stephen and I are too spoiled by the high air and sea temperature in Malta, because we felt cosy in the car and preferred to stay there enjoying the view through the car window. Stephen fell asleep almost immediately and I read some chapters in my newly bought book: "Asylum" by my favorite Swedish writer, Liza Marklund. We stayed here for almost two hours, before we drove back to the centre.

Now came the moment we had both waiting for all day: time to buy ice-cream! It might seem a bit strange that this is the climax of the day, but the thing is that last time we visited Kokkola we discovered a cheaper way of enjoying lots of ice cream. A cone of ice-cream is incredibly expensive in Finland, EUR2.30 for two small scopes. But if you buy a 1/2 litre pack of ice-cream it only costs you EUR2! Smart as we are, we bought a pack of 1/2 litre ice-cream each, spending less money that if we had taken one cone each. It is maybe not such a good solution if you consider the amount of calories involved, but we try not to care to much, we are on holiday![I hope the FinishIce-creamm seller in Kokkola is not reading this and arranges the price up!- MarZ]

The whole photogallery about this event can be seen by clicking here