Vacation month and music festivals come to a close

The unofficial vacation time in Finland has come and gone. Interestingly, hotel rates drop by about 25% in the summer and restaurants are empty. The sidewalk cafes flourish. Even construction sites shut down for July vacations. With our American way of thinking it's hard to understand stopping construction when the good weather season is so short. This week we attended one of the musical events sponsored by Lieksa Brass Week. We went to an all Sibelius concert featuring the Joensuu city orchestra. The Lieksa Evangelical Lutheran church was the performance venue. Based on our limited experience (a total of three concerts), it appears that Finnish performers do not give encores. The other concert was part of the Joensuu gospel music week. We selected it because it was 5 blocks from home, started late in the evening, and featured kanteles. The Joensuu Lutheran church was the site for that performance. Finland has an impressive music tradition with music conservatories located in many of the cities, even the smaller ones. Every event we've attended has exceeded our expectations.