My Finnish Friends

[Charon]

I will be visitng your fine country this week (staying in Tampere) between the 29th of June and the 1st of July (flying out early on the 2nd). I will be jetlagged on the 29th, and busy on the first, but will have the afternoon and evening free on Saturday the 1st. Are there any points of interest (history, etc.), dining or drinking establishments I should try to see in the area during this limited time frame (especially since I have to get up about 4 am on the 2nd to fly back)?

Charon

[mora]

Well the establishments close at 4 am so you could head to the airport straight away. Can't give you much advice though, but there are people from the area here...

You might want to check out this place for dining:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Näsinneula_tower
http://www.sarkanniemi.fi/english/seethepark/nasinneula/restaurant.php

[Charon]

Well the establishments close at 4 am so you could head to the airport straight away.

I had considered that, Mora Unfortunately, I have two additional plane changes after I leave Tampere and the though of being half drunk/half hungover rushing around foreign airports with limited time between flights left me a bit wary. Also, subjecting my fellow passengers to drunken snoring across the Atlantic would be a bit rude

Charon

[Panzzer]

Oh darn. I'm from Tampere, but I'm leaving on Friday afternoon for the weekend, I would gladly have shown you around otherwise... There are a couple of museums here in the centrum, nothing WW2'ish though. Then there's the cruises (Tampere is located between two lakes), but I guess you have lakes in Chicago as well. There are a lot of places to eat and drink along the main street (Hameenkatu, or with umlauts Hämeenkatu), but the one Mora recommended (Nasinneula, in Sarkanniemi) is within a walking distance from the centrum too, with traditional Finnish cuisines and a good view over the scenery.. but it's a bit expensive.

Tampere Museums, Rupriikki Media Museum and Museum Centre Vapriikki are located in the centrum. Vapriikki also contains the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame.

Too bad I can't be around when you're visiting, but I hope you enjoy your stay. It should be warm and sunny during the weekend, so I can recommend for you to stop for a beer or two on a terrace (Laukontori has some good ones by the lake, near Hotel Ilves or a block south of the central square).

edit: and Plevna for some good beers, a local brewery, the restaurant is located on the north end of the central square (Keskustori). /ed.

Also, most of the Finns should speak English, so don't hesitate to ask for directions if you're feeling lost or don't know what to do.

[Panzzer]

Uh, on Saturday 10 am local time, there's a funeral of a local Finnish WW2 fighter pilot Erkki Pakarinen (flew in Brewsters and Messerschmitts). So you can expect a Hornet fly-by over the centrum. The veteran in question was a frequent visitor in our (meaning us Finnish computer pilots) meetings, always a cheerful man with plenty of good stories, and always a gentleman.


Erkki Pakarinen, RIP.

Too bad I'm away for the weekend, I would've gone to the funeral if I weren't already booked.

[Grendel]

Charon,

Busy weekend... There's a gothic festival in the town that weekend and I'll be pretty busy. And funeral of mr. Pakarinen to attend.
But where exactly will you be staying? How can we contact you?
I might be able to meet you in Saturday evening.

Of course if you're into gothic chicks, then Lumous ( http://www.lumous.net/index_en.html ) is the thing to attend ;-)

I guess you could enjoy the Spy Museum,
http://www.vakoilumuseo.fi/englanti/index.htm
Right in center of the town.

Lenin museum (yup!) might be a fine attraction
http://www.lenin.fi/uusi/uk/index.htm
Center of town, too

Maybe Vapriikki museum too,
http://www.tampere.fi/english/vapriikki/

I'm kinda useless on dining or drinking places... Some places with very good selection of beers, though. Like Gastropub Tuulensuu, at Hämeenkatu 23.

You can reach me by phone at 040 730 0036.

[Charon]

Registered: May 2000
Location: Finland
Posts: 626
   

Charon,

Busy weekend... There's a gothic festival in the town that weekend and I'll be pretty busy. And funeral of mr. Pakarinen to attend.
But where exactly will you be staying? How can we contact you?
I might be able to meet you in Saturday evening.

Thanks for the offer and advice but I couldn't access the board well after I started my trip. I took my Treo with me instead of the laptop (for some light traveling) and had some trouble finding the post (not the best Web platform in the world, but great for my e-mail when on the road). I stayed at the Hotelli Victoria and attending a conference at the Holiday Spa Tampere.

Finland is neat. The terrain is about like Minnesota here in the US with more lakes, I think. Flying in and out you could see how difficult it must have been for the Soviets with the dense forests and all those lakes to channel land operations into choke points.

The Goth festival explains A LOT! There sure were a lot of goths running around the streets. I thought it might just be a general "Finnish" thing I know death metal and such is still pretty popular. Saw all flavors of Goth, some retro 80s punks, a scattering of hipppies and a few Pippi Longstockings (both fremale and the occasional male take on the coture). Actually ran into several rock bands from the USA at the Tampere airport on the flight out after the festival and chatted a bit.

Had some great food (traditional to a fine Pizza at Pizza Napoli), smoked raindeer is pretty tasty, great beers and great weather. Took a lake cruise and a town tour (went in the church with the murals). Many fine nordic women (not that I'm supposed to notice such things). One funny thing though, just about every brunette I saw had some red hair coloring dyed in.

That midnight sun stuff really started to piss me off. You tend to stay out too late and if I woke up in the middle of the night (since I had no clock in my room) I had no idea if I had 10  minutes to sleep still or 3 hours until I checked my phone. I bet the opposite "Midnight Noon" in the winter is a real drag.

Spent more time in the air then I spent at work functions. Most difficult airport of the 6 (three flights out, three flights back) was Munich. O'Hare was on time, for a change.

Anyway, great time (even if it was work) and great people.

Charon

[Grendel]

Okey!
Good thing you found your way around. I was checking regularly into this thread to see if there's any word from you, but no such luck.
Tampere is the "metal capital" of Finland anyway, so you see more metal fans, goths and all kind of people than in any other FInnish town. But the four day long festival of course brought up the averages. We were on a "goth cruise" on Saturday and first a group of japanese tourists tried to climb abroad too, then another group of American tourists stopped by and watched in amazement as the little ship was filled with colourful goths. Must have been better than any zoo, as they stayed wathching very long, taking photos and chatting with the people .)
( http://www.byterapers.com/~grendel/photos/lumous2006/ )

And there was a band aboard too, imagine that

The bright summernights make it very easy to have long parties, btw. You can sleep when you drop down

Welcome here again, next time, let's hope we'd have better connections and timetables to show you around a bit more.