Traveling to and through Turku & Tampere

Downloading pictures from my camera's memory card every Sunday afternoon/evening is something I always look forward to every week.  It's like I get to relive all the excitement of the week all over again.  This week's adventures have been especially wonderful (and numerous). 

I started off the week with...

 

our monthly Ladies Literary Guild book club meeting on Monday night.  It was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable evenings.  Perhaps that was due to the warm, cozy fire in Eleanor's living room.  And being surrounded by walls covered in rows and rows and more rows of books.  I learned that here in Finland it's required by law to have a chimney sweep come clean and inspect your fireplace annually.  And it's relatively inexpensive: less than 50 euros for the service.
 

Tuesday, 11.12.13, was my dad's birthday!!  Since I couldn't celebrate with him in Texas, I found my way back 'home' to Eija's for an evening of catching up over dinner by candlelight...

and gloggi with raisins and delicious gingerbread she and Elli (her daughter-in-law )made earlier that day.  Eija caught me up on her travels to Croatia and the 'Pop up' restaurant adventure that she, Elli and Lauri (Eija's son) undertook in transforming her home into an afternoon café for a day. I'm just waiting for her to sign a contract for the "Cooking with Eija Hjelt" show.

Wednesday I headed down to Turku, the former capital of Finland, to participate in the Finnish Association of Applied Linguistics Conference.  I LOVED exploring the city under the watchful eye of a nearly full moon.  Turku was founded in the 1200s...

 

 with the town's cathedral being built in 1300.  It's one of the most historic structures in Finland.  Another impressive building is the Hjelt Mansion in the old city center.  More about the city here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turku,_Finland#Culture

 

One of several attractive street lamp posts that lines the street in front of the Cathedral and Abo Institute/University (the oldest university in Finland). 

 



 

 Sibelius museum.  It closed for the day before I could make it there...

A building across the street from the Sibelius Mansion.  I'm guessing it's part of Abo University.  The best part?  The bookshelves filled with so many books.  I'm in love.

Friday evening we enjoyed dinner inside the Museum of History and Modern Art (Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova).  We ate on top of one of the archaeological excavation sites where buildings from the medieval period were discovered.  The museum is on the river front--on the 

western side of the Aura River.

I'm not sure what significance this outdoor art installation has but I thought it was really cool. I especially loved the building behind it (which looked like a hotel...but I'm not quite sure). 

Standing on the eastern side of the Aura River looking across to the western side.  I wish my camera could take better night time shots.  This place is magical. 

The eastern side.  Although they don't call it the 'riverwalk', it very much feels like a riverwalk.  I felt like I had been transported back into the 18th or 19th century.  The streets are still cobblestone (and granite setts; see the distinctions here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobblestone#cite_note-belgianblock-2) which makes for some fun foot work when walking in heels.  :) 

The Educarium building at the University of Turku where the conference was held.  I was assigned to give my paper in the main lecture hall (which seats 200 people, roughly) which was a special treat.

 



Walking back to the train station after the conference.  This is Yliopistonkatu (University Street) which is one of the main city streets.  Some how it has a similar feel as the other main cities in Finland.  Love it!

 '

What seems to be missing here? 

 

...

 

Um, how about some kind of arm that comes down to let pedestrians know when not to cross the train tracks?  I find it peculiar that you'll find pedestrian traffic lights on every street corner, but here, where there seems to be a substantially greater danger for crossing, there wasn't any such light to be found.  Hmmm...  It's kind of perplexing.

 

If you guessed that this is a train car on display as part of a traveling exhibition on transportation inventions in the last 200 years, you'd be right.  It was definitely a very old train car and it is a traveling exhibition, seeing as how it was the train that took us from Turku to Tampere.  It was actually really, really cool to travel in such an antique train.

I was in car #2, seat #41.  Love the low tech signage as compared to...

the high tech signage for this train headed to Helsinki.  I actually prefer the low tech signage as it's much more visible/easily read from afar.  AND, the seats in the old car are much comfier than the newer train cars.  I'd take the old train car over the newer one any day.  Any day, that is, that I don't need wifi or an outlet to charge my laptop...  In that way, being on the old train was like being transported back in time...to the days before the internet or computers.

We arrived in Tampere which is the transfer point for those headed to other parts of Finland.  I hopped off to meet up with Kirsti and Katie who were in Tampere for the day checking out the terra cotta soldier exhibit at one of the museums.  This is one of the main streets in Tampere. 

Feels like Finland, eh? :)

We headed down to the river (in the background) in search of the famous locks.  The bridge by the Finlayson building has a gorgeous view of the city scape.  It's a popular place for couples to get engaged.  The tradition is to put a lock with the names of the couple and the date of the proposal.  Pretty awesome, eh?  I loved the date on this one (12.12.12). 

Apparently this a growing phenomenon.  Check out the Wikipedia entry on 'love locks':

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_locations_with_love_locks

The moon was breathtakingly beautiful.  And check out Tampere's 'riverwalk' and the locks on the famous bridge.  Unbelievable.

 

It was really, really cold but we had a blast nonetheless.
(Yes, that really is the moon standing very still in the background.)

 



This piece of artwork near the river looked like a mix between a vertebrae and a tooth. 

Kirsti spied a blue arch up the hill a ways from the river.  We went to check it out and found this AWESOME kids park.  Thankfully there were no signs explicating the upper age and height limits for those who could legally play on the equipment.  The designer of this park equipment is a genius.  These are tire swings that you can sit on/in.  Super comfortable.  And you can do a backflip off of them.  Underneath us was really touch astroturf, another brilliant installation in the park.  No dirt or rocks or sand in your shoes.  this is totally my style of swinging!!

This was a blend of the best that tires and hammocks have to offer mankind.  I want one of these.  Really.  I took pictures of each of the pieces/parts of this invention so I can build my own one day. 

I never could appreciate hammocks because you get stuck in them.  But this thing is amazing.

We're doing our power pose of the day.  Check out Amy Cuddy's TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are.html



 

This is where you'll find me the day after I defend my dissertation.  I'll curl up in this swing with a blanket and binoculars and just take in the majesty of the Finnish sky at night. A-mazing.  Really.  The moon was right above me and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  (Forgive the fashion faux pas as I had taken off my boots and slipped on the flats for our walk around town.) 

We headed back to Tampere on Sunday for a regional church meeting that takes place every 6 months (we call it 'stake conference').  This is my favorite ladies' room of all time.  By far.  I've blogged about it every year, this being the third year in a row. 

This was Katie and Kirsti's first time to see it (it's on the ground floor of the Tampere convention center so I imagine not many people know about it since the main floor and upper floors are the most frequented places).  I took this picture of Katie and me.  Can you tell where we are in relation to the main mirror? 

 

I love the design of the space.  And the mirrors...

 

 

some how bring out the girl in even the least girly of us (to Katie's total embarrassment and dismay).  It was SO MUCH fun having this place to ourselves. 

We felt like kids again and even worked on our yoga poses.  :)

 

They were ready to go and I was just getting started with trying out different angles and ways of arranging ourselves.  This is the kind of stuff just dying to be incorporated into geometry classes.

 

As we were walking out, Katie pointed out this certificate that hangs next to the door:

 

 

It was rated the best restroom in all of Tampere. 

I'd have to disagree, though. 

It's the best restroom in all of FINLAND!!  :)

 

This was both one of the busiest weeks and at the same time one of the most relaxing and FUN weeks of this term.  The weeks are becoming progressively busier, so I'm hoping that with that also comes progressively more relaxing and fun weeks as well.