Last winter Victor and Larissa took us on a "Winter Picnic" to the Finnish Gulf. I can never remember being so cold in my entire life. I never dreamed I would ever be... on a picnic... in the middle of the winter... in Russia.

We gathered wood and started a fire.




It was so cold and wet that it was hard to get the fire going even with all of Tom and his little helper's hot air.




Then Victor made us some Fir Tree Tea in this teapot he carried with him. He boiled water then put pine needles in the water from the Fir Trees.
It tasted.......well....... interesting to say the least.

This is the Finnish Gulf and it is so cold the water is frozen over. The ice is so hard you can actually walk out on where the water usually is.

Russian National Jamboree 2009

This is the site where the "Forgotten War" between Finland and Russia look place. Some people from Finland are doing some restoration work here. The scouts did some clean-up work. These headstones were brought back from people in the village (who had used them as stones in their homes) after they heard of the restoration the people from Finland were doing here.

Flags at Oath Scout Ceremony at dawn

These are the canisters they served the food from.
Oath Scout Ceremony at dawn