Hei Hei Where's the Munkki?

  Keskustori Our first neighborhood of note is Keskustori .   It’s about a five minute tram ride from our apartment, and maybe fifteen minutes walking.   “Keskus” means “center” and “tori” is a market square.    So the central market square of Tampere.   You can still see the outlines of a square today, though there’s no market now – instead it’s a bus station.   There's also some official governmental buildings -- town hall chief among them. The street is lined with restaurants (including the first Hesburger we ever ate at), bars, and shops – including Marimekko , one of Finland’s most famous and fashionable brands. One of the most scenic stops at Keskustori is the Kauppahalli – “Kauppa” meaning “shop.”   You can figure out what “halli” means.   But it was one of Finland’s first entirely indoor shopping centers.   The booths are populated by restaurants and chocolatiers and butchers.   We hope to eat a lunch here before we leave...

  Tampere Tampere was founded as a city in 1789.   Geographically it lies in south-central Finland between lakes Nasijarvi and Pyhajarvi .    The Tammerkosk i rapids which connect the lakes have played an important role in the city’s history.    Tampere was given free city status in 1820, which made it an attractive destination for entrepreneurs.   James Finlayson got permission from the Tsar to open a textile factory in 1819, and Finlayson & Co . grew to become one of the largest employers in the region.   It still makes textiles today, though not in Tampere – our comforter and pillows both have Finlayson tags.   The presence of the Tammerkoski and the advantageous business climate turned Tampere into the industrial center of Finland, earning it one of its nicknames:   “Little Manchester.”   In fact for sporting events you see the town decorated in flags and scarfs with the nickname “Manse” which is the Finnish equivale...

  Moomin World Meet the Moomins!    They are a family of characters popularized in a series of children’s books written by Tove Jansson , of previous blog fame.   They have expanded beyond books and are also the stars of several television shows, movies, video games, toys, and pieces of adorable kids clothing. The Moomins are an interesting lot.   They live in a giant blue house.    Everytime Moomintroll (the younger, main character) brings home a new friend his dad Moominpapa builds on a new room to the house so the friend will have somewhere to stay.   Which is the cutest thing that I’ve ever heard.   All of the characters struggle with various neuroses.   Most of the stories involve a lot of good natured, aimless Finnish walkabout. But things get heavy too.  In one of the books a comet seems to be about to crash into earth and destroy Moominvalley and the characters all wrestle with questions of mortality and finality. ...