The Last Week, Part II

 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 heavy equipment.  Along with balloons and other door prizes.  It was a lot of fun.


The Moomin museum was free that weekend also, and we took full advantage of that.  We had already seen everything there, but it was nice to take our time, and really enjoy every detail.  The kids especially enjoyed all of the inlaid dioramas, and they had a special exhibit on the author Tove Jansson.  Apparently most of the characters in the (as a reminder, kids series) books are inspired by her multitudes of extramarital lovers.  Which makes the books both a lot less wholesome and a lot more interesting.  She was bisexual and it was nice to see that reported as just a fact as opposed to the hyperbolic, hypocritical pearl clutching scandal that it is in the States.

Two days before we were scheduled to leave an international fair came to Tampere.  We had actually seen it in Helsinki when we took our cruise to Stockholm.  But it was too busy for us to enjoy.  This time it was super close to our house.  It ran the whole length of the Hameenpuisto in Tuulensuu.  Which is a place we haven’t talked about but is a beautiful greenway right by the Metso library.  


The whole greenway was lined with booths from different countries selling goods and trinkets but mainly food.  We had a huge Bavarian pretzel and a French dessert waffle.


 The penultimate day we tried to do all of our favorite things, and played at our favorite parks.  




We had our favorite foods and enjoyed one last time at our favorite places.  We took a leisurely, beautiful walk through Santalahti, and were stopped by an old lady.  She kept saying “Aiti, Aiti!”  Which means “Mom.”  We think she was saying that the boys looked like their mom.  We cooked our favorite grillaus chicken salad.  And we soaked up every last bit of sunlight on a chilly October day.  We tarried as long as we could, and raged against the dying of the light.



Hei Hei

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