Finland in August, long summer days and very short nights. It had been a long day for me tramping through the pine forests watching and photographing the cars and crews competing in the World Rally Championship. The weather was warm and humid and it had rained for hours resulting in damp, sweaty clothes under the rain protection gear.
I finally made it back to my room at the Hotel Seurahuone in Jyvaskyla in central Finland just before midnight. The proprietors had made me very welcome, their excellent English making it easy for this non-Finnish speaking tourist. I was delighted to see an Australian flag flying from the hotel roof in my honor. The room was small but very comfortable and as I stripped off my damp clothes I had a sudden thought - try the sauna and really relax after a tiring day.
So I stripped off, tied a towel around my waist, donned my robe and walked up the corridor to the door marked 'SAUNA'. I pushed it open and found a small entrance room with iced drinking water and a box of small birch branches. I drank some water as I thought that the heat in the sauna would be dehydrating but decided to leave the birch branches where they lay.
I removed my robe and gingerly pushed open the door into the empty sauna. As I entered I thought to myself that though it was quite hot I expected it to be hotter. Seating myself on a low bench I saw the heater but was unsure how to use it, so I left it alone. I sat on the hard timber, relaxing and letting the exertions of the day slowly flow from my tired muscles.
As I sat there with my eyes closed I was jolted awake when the sauna door suddenly opened. I had expected to be alone at this time of night but now I had a companion. A Nordic goddess entered the room; quite tall, slim and blonde with a small towel wrapped around her.
"Hyvaa huomenta." she smiled at me as if it was quite natural to enter a sauna late at night with a complete stranger.
"I'm sorry, do you speak English?" I asked hopefully.
"Yes of course I do," she replied, "I said good morning."
"Oh, yes good morning to you too."
"That is an unusual accent," the goddess said as she sat down on the bottom bench, "Where are you from?"
"Australia actually, I suppose you would not have met many Aussies here in Finland."
"That is true, you would be the first Australian I have met," she laughed, "Did you bring a kangaroo with you?"
I brought out my standard answer to that question. "Ah no, there are quarantine regulations against that."
"Touche, it was a silly question, then why are you here in Finland?"
"I'm here to watch and photograph the Rally of Finland," I replied.
"You are? Oh that's great. That is why I am here too, I just love the excitement, by the way my name is Inga, what's yours?"
"My name is Rick, nice to meet you Inga."
I was amazed at finding a fellow rally enthusiast in the sauna at this time of night. As Inga and I chatted about the rally she moved to the heater and poured some water over the cover, causing steam and the temperature to rise. Beads of perspiration were breaking out all over both our bodies and I was starting to really feel the heat. I found that Inga was divorced and lived about 150 kilometers from Jyvaskyla. The rally was an annual pilgrimage for her, as it was for thousands of Finlanders.
Without warning Inga suddenly rose from the bench, removed the towel from around her body, placed it on the bench and lay face down. My eyes popped as I caught a quick glimpse of her shapely breasts and pubes, this was certainly a night of surprises.
Inga turned her head sideways and saw me ogling her body. "Oh I am sorry Rick, did I embarrass you, it is natural for us to go nude in the sauna."
"I am fine if you are Inga," I stuttered, trying unsuccessfully to take my eyes off her shapely arse.
She smiled at me and we continued to chat about our native lands and the rally. The heat was now very intense, and the perspiration was dripping off me onto the floor.
"Rick, you may need some water if you are not used to the sauna, I will get some for you." With those words Inga rose and walked nude in front of me to the door. She returned with a glass of water and some of the birch branches. There was not a hint of embarrassment as she handed me the water and the birch branches. I thanked her for the water, aware of a definite stirring of my cock, and wondering what I was to do with the twigs and leaves I was holding.
Inga lay back down on the bench, looked at me and spoke the words that were to change my plans for the next few days.
"Rick would you do me a favor and use the birch on me."
"Use the birch on you?" I asked.
"Oh yes a sauna is not a sauna until we have been traditionally beaten lightly with the birch," Inga explained, "It stimulates the skin and is great for blood circulation, come over here and I'll show you."
My mind was whirring as I moved over to her, the towel around my waist poking out in front of me.
"Now take a small bunch and beat it against my skin," Inga said, trying to keep a straight face as she saw my discomfort with the towel.