Hei Hei Where's the Munkki?

The Last Day I think that when you have space before or after something there’s still the possibility of more.   But the last day is – by necessity – finite.   We wanted to make the most of it.   And in true Claridge style we planned way too much. We wanted to eat at Pella’s.   It had become such a staple for our family that it felt wrong not to have it one last time.   But it didn’t open until 9:00.   And we had returned most of our library rentals, but we had held onto a couple of things for the last night, mostly so Amy could lose at one final board game.   So we had a couple of things to drop off.   And the library didn’t open until 10:00.   Then our train left from the rautatiesema at 11:00.   And we’d have to tram there.   So the windows were tight. We were pretty much all packed and ready to go before leaving for Pella’s.   That was more of an effort than it sounds like.   And surprisingly emotional.   Ev...

  The Last Week Part II On October 1st, Tampere celebrated Tampere Days – its 245th anniversary.   There were free events all over the city – free admission to museums, and boat rides on lake  Näsijärvi , and free admission to soccer games.   We wish we had done more.   But the days were drawing short, and we were preoccupied with packing and planning our return.   We still did a few things, but in retrospect perhaps wish we would have done a bit more. City hall was open.   Which I suppose only happens rarely here.   We had hoped to go but there was a line around the block.   People really don’t mind waiting in line here.   But we figured it probably wasn’t worth our time.   Instead we went to another event – also in Keskustori.   It was put on by a construction company, and was a lot like the touch-a-truck event that happens in Ellensburg sometimes.   There were excavators and bulldozers, and other big trucks and hea...

  The Last Week Part I The end of things is always hard.   I’m not the first person to discover that.   But as our time grew to an end, we definitely knew that the last week would be confusing emotionally.   We were excited to return to our home and family and friends.   But Tampere had become home as well.   We weren’t ready to leave yet.   But we knew we would have to.   And we weren’t sure what that last week would feel like.   But we knew we had to make it special. So we did.    Jyväskylä  took up two of our days.   And for the rest of them we tried to do all of our favorite things one more time.   We went back to TnT and Aloha Ramen.   We went back to the Labor Museum and Vapriikki.    We walked in the Pynnikki and hiked up for munkki.    We did some new things too.   We went to a movie ( The Wild Robot ) and cried because it was such a good movie, and because our time here was e...

  Jyväskylä   Amy was invited to work with scholars outside of Tampere, at another Finnish university as well.   So as we entered our last days in Finland we hopped on the train, and for the first time on our trip our destination was neither Tampere nor Helsinki, but rather nearby Jyväskylä . Jyväskylä is an ancient city, with archeological finds dating from the stone age.   It has the nickname “the Athens of Finland” owing to its age, and its history as an educational center.   It has its own University.   It is the northernmost University in Finland, and as such is the landing spot for many of the students from northern Finland and the Lapland.   Today Jyväskylä is the headquarters for the Finnish Air Force , and is an important paper manufacturing center.   It’s also the capitol of central Finland and the primary city in the Finnish Lakeland, which is absolutely breathtaking. The train ride was pleasant.   Another play car.   Mo...