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Finland’s Utula Nature offers a silent stay amidst the pines on Lake Saimaa, about five hours from Helsinki.

Afterward, the two leaders took a cruise on Lake Saimaa in a steam boat to Olavinlinna Castle, where they dined before attending Tchaikovsky’s opera “Iolanta,” performed by the visiting Bolshoi Theater as part of the annual Savonlinna Opera Festival.

The pair will take in a Tchaikovsky opera put on by Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre at a medieval castle, and go on a steam ship cruise on Lake Saimaa.

Although the seals have a fairly carefree existence in the sprawling labyrinth of waterways that make up Lake Saimaa, dotted with more than 1,300 islands, there is one real threat - fishing nets.

As word has spread about the seals’ plight, conservationists again expect millions of viewers to tune in hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the remaining 360 Saimaa seals - according to the latest count by Parks and Wildlife Finland.