Amuri
Amuri
Amuri sits on the western most edge of central Tampere. Originally the area was home to a housing development for workers in the Finlayson plant.
Today it is mostly high rise apartment buildings, like the one we are staying in.
There is also lots of community involvement. Right outside our apartment is a graffiti wall. It was updated several times during our stay. Mostly it was people practicing their tags, but occasionally the messages were more political and aimed towards Finnish politicians.
There's also a community swimming pool right next to our apartment.
In the middle of Amuri is a Worker’s Housing Museum. It has been one of our favorite places to go. They have preserved two blocks of the old housing district, and decorated the rooms with artifacts and furniture from various time periods – ranging from the development’s creation in the late 1800s all the way through the last residents who lived there in the 1970s. Each room tells a story with fictional inhabitants.
Conditions were Spartan. People often slept as many as six to a small room. The beds were all either mattresses or telescoping beds that would tuck away during the day.
By night the floor would be covered with beds. People would lay down carpets several layers thick in the winter to keep out the cold, and install a second set of winter windows right over the first set. There would be four such households in a single building, all sharing space on a single communal cookstove.
It’s often said that Finland is the happiest country in the world. I think at least part of that owes to the reality that they have several periods of austerity in their not too distant past. The museum is a wonderful way to walk through history, and has a charming café that we occasionally get coffees and pastries at.
A long path connects our apartment to the museum and beyond.
Right down the street from the museum is a park that our kids call “Science Park” because one of the climbers looks a bit like an atom.
It’s typical of Finnish parks. Large. Accessible. A mix of playground equipment and open green spaces.
It even has a soccer field. There’s usually a ball lying around that anyone can play with. I wish more American parks and gyms had free balls to use.
The neighborhood K-Market is right by the housing museum, and is probably our second most visited grocery store, after Prisma. On the north end is Sarkeniemi, which is an amusement park that is very popular here. It also has a huge observation tower that reminded us of a familiar Seattle landmark.
We even saw several people in Helsinki wearing “I heart Sarkeniemi” t-shirts. But we haven’t gone. We’re too chicken. And it looks terrifying. And it costs money. Which apparently you need a lot of when you travel.
On the other end is a church: “Alexanderinkirkko.”
Like many things here in Finland it is named after Russian Tsar Alexander II. It’s kind of interesting because the Russian period of rule in Finland spans like five different Tsars, and very briefly a Soviet government. But without fail all of the statues are of Alexander II. It’s a beautiful church. We’ve seen at least two weddings take place outside.
It’s surrounded by a graveyard with graves dating from the 1700 and 1800s. Oscar was asked a question in his journal about what questions he had about the place he lived and he said: “Why is there a graveyard across from my bedroom?” And every Friday there’s been a long line that stretches around the whole block that seems to lead to the church. We tried to figure out what it was for weeks before finally we walked down there to investigate ourselves.
It’s to give blood. People wait in line for hours to give blood.
Those are the highlights of Amuri. That’s really most of what exists here west of the Tammerkoski. There’s only one more neighborhood to explore, just south of Amuri and Alexanderinkirkko. Which also at long last provides explanation for the second part of the name of this blog.
Hei
hei.
Comments
Post a Comment