The beginning of something beautiful

The 1st and best Vääksy festival

Tuomas is waving hello to you.

This weekend was the ultimate ending to my month in Finland, it was something undescribably beautiful and weird at the same time. I had a huge bunch of excellent friends of mine around me and just that makes things pretty friggin good. But also involved were an endless sunshine, an over 100-year-old steamboat, an ass-kicking little village in the middle of nowhere, the lake and nature, good food and drinks, a blonde wig, and 16 pretty wild attitudes. Here's how it turned out.

A piece of our human creativity.

The Cruise

We were equipped with plenty of eager captains, pursers and even a few pirates.

Hostess and the cap'n. Laundry of the day: vest Fishbone, top Ginatricot, skirt Fornarina, leggins H&M, accessories from Outi - the best accessorizer of all time.

Julie in Captain Stubing's arms.

The fuel.

The engine.

The captain.

Finally I had my man there too, we hadn't seen eachother the whole month!

Rene had the original idea of getting dressed according to the theme. So he went to H&M already in the spring to get a Finnish-Swedish-style blue and white sailor-outfit (that really has nothing to do with steam boats, especially 'cos it gets really dirty there, and dressing up in white is rediculous). Then we got the whole crew to dress to impress, and beautiful pictures! Gotta love him!

We stopped at the open of the lake to have a dip! The best place to swim, I tell you!

The smallest, and BEST crew member was wiggling her toes!

We cooked lunch in the heat of the steamengine.

In the tin foil: the Finnish barbeque-favorite: mushrooms filled with garlic cheese and wrapped in bacon. Then some sausages and steamed spring onions.

Champignons and paprika with blue cheese, and corn. Looks good, huh?

...Jatta's turkey-wieners weren't that alluring, though. But she was happy as always!

Hitting the town of Vääksy

Asko, Rene and senior ladies on the move.

The traffic park is a legendary childhood memory, and even better now that I'm a big kid.

Some smaller girls had stolen all the good cars, so we had to fit ourselves into the tiny ones. Then they chased us and laughed because they were faster. (The lady said it was OK, just 'cos they were there first and actually under 12! Bitches.) My legs hurt so bad, that I decided to pedal with the hand.

The size didn't seem to matter.

Another craetive and free activity in Vääksy.

The Vääksy canal.

Outi presents: some marine fashion in the harbour.

And a dude presents, that crop tops really are IN this summer even in Vääksy.

Some mayhem in the most useless night club in the world

Tallukka, a famous wellness hotel in Vääksy used to have the best (and only) nightclub in the village. Unfortunately, alot of people (that we just saw around the town and invited to go with us) said that it's so dead that it might even be closed. We still decided to go, 'cos we just HAD TO go somewhere. I mean where do the Vääksy-people go?!

I had recently asked from their bar manager, if they'd have live music there when we go. He said they'd given up bands and even DJs already 2 years ago. Despite of that, it says on their website: "Tallukka’s popular events feature top performers and make the Arena a genuine nightlife paradise. The 400 m2 dance floor under a disco ball raises the atmosphere to the roof and the evening does not end until the morning comes. Our staff will see to it that you will not experience hunger or thirst even in the small hours."

We added like 400% to the population of the place, saw no sign of a disco ball, and got escorted out well before the morning came, because "customers had complained of the screaming". If nothing else, Tallukka was an awesome place to get thrown out of!

The lame-ass atmosphere didn't really hold our newly assembled Vääksy-crew back.

The quest to find some life in nightly Vääksy required new theme-outfits.

This guy came in with his fanny-pack and new age crocs. The outfit of the night!

It's sad, really. We did find another place that was still open, but only for another hour. The mystery of the Vääksy night life remains. The whole extravaganza was so good to us all, though, that we're gonna make it an annual (unofficial) festival with more days, more people, more mayhem, and in the end we'll start our own night club there, if that what it needs. A massive hug to all who made it possible!