| | A Land of a Thousand Lakes - New York Times |
 | | Just about at Finland's center of gravity is Hankasalmi, home to my Finnish friend and traveling companion as well as our point of departure from which to tour Keski Suomi, or Middle Finland, as the lake region is called. |
 | | The cities of Kuopio to the northeast, Savonlinna to the southeast, and Jyvaskyla and Tampere to the southwest, were all between one and three hours' drive away. |
 | | Hankasalmi straddles the shores of one of them - Kuuhankavesi - where on my first day in Finland a dozen or so tow-headed bathers lazed on the birch-dotted beach or dived off the wooden pier, carefully heeding the ''kivi'' sign that warned of rocks below. |
| query.nytimes.com /gst/fullpage.html?sec=travel&res=950DE6D8103DF935A25757C0A96F948260 (744 words) |