The weirdest place in Finland?

About to enter the park.
There are some seriously weird characters in here..



Sandy gets into the spirit of the place...

Dozens of sculptures up by the house...

An attempt to copy the Water Lily pond of Monet's?
Back home in the afternoon- we splashed about in the lake.

It's been a lovely day here in Parikkala, though it didn't look like it would be early on this morning, as we were preparing to head to the nearby sculpture gardens. As we left, it looked like it was about to rain and it suddenly got windy, so we put jumpers on for the first time this week! Two miles down the road, we came to the sculpture park, created by Veijo Ronkonnen. I took this directly from the web, as it describes the place rather accurately...

“Deep in the forest of Parikkala, in the easternmost part of Finland, lies one of the craziest tourist attractions on the face of the planet – the sculpture park of Veijo Ronkkonen. Regarded by most as the most important ensemble of contemporary folk art in Finland, the sculpture park of Veijo Ronkkonen is a lot to take in, the first time you visit. Finding yourself surrounded by hundreds of creepy statues, grinning at you with their real human teeth, is enough to spook you into turning back as soon as you set foot in the park.

Veijo Ronkkonen, a former paper mill worker, completed his first sculpture in 1961, and now his yard, and the path leading to it, are filled with over 450 statues, 200 of which are self portraits of the artist in Yoga positions he has mastered so far. The statues have loudspeakers hidden inside them, and the sound effects add to the eeriness of this place.

Although he has had the chance to exhibit and even sell his artworks, in auctions, Veijo Ronkkonen has never agreed to showcase his art. Every time he was asked to showcase his work, the near-hermit always replied he needed to discuss it with the statues first. Sadly, they never agreed to travel.

The sculpture park of Veijo Ronkkonen is free to visit, if you dare, but the artist insists every visitor sign his logbook, before they leave.”

Actually, Ronkonnen died in 2010- and the park was bought by a local businessman, who continues to allow thousands of visitors to visit the place annually.
Once we returned, we swam repeatedly in the lake which felt really warm this afternoon. The temperature hovered around 25.5C from about 3pm until 6pm, and even now, the sun is shining and Olivia is swimming in the lake!