Finlayson

 

Finlayson

Finlayson & Co. Oy is a textile company founded in the late 1800s that still exists today.  It’s history is really woven into the fabric of Tampere.  (See what I did there?)  

It was originally chartered to a Scottish businessman under the license of the Tsar, but afterwards sold to a German entrepreneur.  It employed a substantial amount of the population of Tampere – most of them women – and drew many travelers to settle in the city.  While the conditions seem draconian today, it was relatively progressive for the time – offering medical care, a reading room, and a chapel – and importantly gave Finns the ability to work throughout the cold winters.  Its main building – Plevna – housed a giant flywheel and was the first building in Finland (and only the fourth of all of Europe) illuminated by the electric lightbulb.  

The plant remained in operation until the early 1990s.  Today it offers upscale shopping and dining, and is our go-to destination when we are in need of a treat.

One of the kids’ favorite stops is Karkkimeri.  Finnish candystores are amazing.  Row after row of bulk candy to be taken by the scoopfull.  

And the Finns love it.  Our bags always look rather modest in comparison to theirs.  The only downside for the kids is that the favorite Finnish candy is black licorice.  So any candy – no matter its color or shape – has the potential to secretly be black licorice.  It's basically Schrodinger's candy and as a parent watching them struggle with the uncertainty and anxiety and fear is absolutely delightful.

We also like going to Z-Base Tampere.  Which is an arcade/bar.  For 11 Euros you get 21 tokens.  Most games take only one token, some two.  But it’s a great way to spend an hour and have a beer while the kids play some suspiciously unforgiving pinball.  

Afterwards we like to go to Luca which has the best pizza in Tampere.  (And the fifth best in Europe, if you believe them).

There's also a movie theater.  Amy saw a movie about maternity care and home births in Finland ("Kivun ja ilon työ") there with a colleague. It was completely in Finnish, but Amy knew enough to understand a lot of the movie and enjoyed processing it all after the film. On the last week of our visit we went to see The Wild Robot.  Which is legitimately one of the top five best films I've ever seen.  In my whole life.  Which my kids like to remind me has been a really, really long time.  But seriously.  If you haven't seen it yet I think you need to take a hard look in the mirror and examine your choices. 

Far and away my favorite stop is the Labor Museum Werstas, where admission is always free.  They have a fascinating look at labor policy in Finland over the last two hundred years.  And like many Finnish museums its very kid friendly.  

There’s a co-op store for the kids to play in, most exhibits are ones that kids are free to touch and play in, and in one part of the museum there are some toy mice at kids’ eye level that replicate what is happening in the grown up exhibits.  

It’s a fun touch, and gives the kids something to do which lets the grown ups actually read the information.  There’s stuff on workers halls, and communism, and Sanna Marin (our hero) and healthcare, and banking and shopping, and some rotating exhibits.  

And there’s eerie shadows and reminders of America.  Like the Finnish experimentation with deregulation after the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 90s that led to economic depression.  Sound familiar?  And maybe more recently familiar?

Just north of Finlayson are the stable houses that once belonged to the owners of the factory.  Now they house small shops and especially fat bunny rabbits.  The shops are sort of small boutiques.  There is nothing small or boutique about the bunnies. 

They have an especially fancy chocolate shop which we stop in at more often than is probably wise.  They have truly amazing chocolates.  

Not only tasty but inventive.  Last year Oscar got a bolt and nut (because of course he did) that was threaded so precisely that the nut actually was able to travel on it.  

There’s also a great big park with lots of green space to explore.

If you are visiting Tampere for only a short time, I definitely recommend Finlayson.  Next time we will get a bit of what we do on a daily basis.

Hei Hei!