Tampere

This week we went into Tampere, one of the biggest cities in Finland. There are a lot of universities and students here, so it is a very young and lively city. Actually reminded me a bit of Seattle, although it is much quieter. Then again, everything is unusually quiet here in Finland.

First we walked to go see Minttu's art school that she will be going to next year, Tammerkoski. Then we walked around some of the main streets and shopped for a bit, here is what some of it looked like. 

For lunch we went into a big indoor market place that had all sorts of produce, fish, flower, and pastry stands. Very cute. There was a small sit down restaurant in the middle of it all where we ate with a great atmosphere...open walls so you could eat and watch all the people milling around the marketplace. I had an amazing French fish soup from fish caught in the lakes here. 

After that we went on more sightseeing and saw the Finlayson factory, a huge factory that the city of Tampere first developed around as an industrial town. Mostly workers lived there, and the Finlayson textile industry brought a lot of income and people to the area. The factory is mostly unused now, so it has been converted into a museum about the textile industry in Finland and the workers' lives in the industrial era. We then went to a famous cafe in the hills called Kahvila. We had their famous Finnish doughnuts and coffee outside while looking over the lake. Felt very European. We also climbed to the top of a view tower there, and had some amazing views of Tampere. 

After that, (sorry for the long post) we went to an FC Haka vs. Ilves game. Haka is Valkeakoski's home team, so we of course cheered for them. Ilves is Tampere's team, which is a much bigger city, so of course they are much bigger and were favored to win. Against the odds though, Haka played a very good game and tied it 0-0. It was an away game for us so we were about the only ones cheering for Haka there. The stadium was sold out at 5,000 people, apparently the most they have had in a while. It was the quietest sporting event I have ever been to, just as everything is here! It was really great to get a chance to see some professional Finnish football while I am here! I will hopefully be going to another Haka game back in Valkeakoski on Sunday. Thanks for reading! 

Summer cottage

The summer cottage (and summer) is a very important part of Finnish life. Many people have temporary residences in the forest or on one of the many lakes to stay in during the extremely long summer days. This weekend we stayed in one of my host family's cottages on a lake about an hour outside Tampere. The water was so calm it looked like a mirror

At night we were able to take the rowboat out to watch the sun set at about 11:30 pm. Even after the sun sets, it's still bright enough to walk around outside without lights. 

Here was also my first time trying the sauna, another huge part of finnish culture. In this country there are about 5 million people and 2 million saunas. Many have them in both their regular homes and in their summer cottages. The sauna is usually followed by a swim in the lake The water is much colder than it is at home, but very refreshing after boiling for 10 minutes in the sauna room.