Finland sweet Finland ♥ (17.08 - 23.08.2012)

I don't remember when exactly did I make the decision of having this trip. At first I was determined to go to the premiere of Imaginaerum the movie - the first release date announced was the 17th of August. In the middle of June, Nightwish announced that the release of the movie is postponed. I had just made the first steps to start organizing, and I really wanted to go, so I didn't cancel the plan. It ended up lasting 7 days - 5 days in Tampere, and 2 in Helsinki. I went there to meet my friends Tuulia and Samuli, to get some new items to my Nightwish collection, to visit Linnanmäki and Särkänniemi and to see and experience new things.


I left Tallinn on the 17th, early in the morning. I made the first big mistake of packing my camera in my suitcase, so I couldn't take any pictures on the first day. I arrived in Helsinki at 10.30, and went straight to the railway station. It wasn't too far away, and I knew the right way since my last trip, so I just walked. It took me about 30 minutes. I knew I had to make it on the train that left to Tampere at 1 o'clock, so I had some time. I didn't have the tickets yet, so I joined the queue to buy them. It was very long - I had to wait for about 30 minutes for my turn. I went looking around for something to eat while I was waiting, because I was hungry, but whenever I made it to a cafe or a restaurant, I lost my appetite and moved on. Soon it was my turn and I bought my train tickets to Tampere and back. I still had over an hour of spare time and nowhere to put my suitcase. I went wandering around and near the railway station. I bought an ice cream and ate it to feel a bit less hungry. I went to Kamppi for a short time. I didn't want to go on a shopping spree, because I had my suitcase with me and I wanted to save my money for later. I found a really nice pair of earrings in a jewelry store though, and considered buying them. I didn't, because I knew I would come back to Helsinki later. Waiting for the train was long and boring. About 20 minutes before the departure I went back to the raiway station and saw the train was already there. I found my seat in the long train (it took me about 5 minutes to walk to the other end of the train), put my suitcase on the shelf and sat down.

About an hour after leaving Helsinki someone came up to me with a ticket pointing to the same seat. It came out that I was in the wrong place - while finding the right car, I used the system we have in Estonia - first car is in the front of the train. As I found out later, it's different in Finland - you just have to look at the screen to see where the cars are, and the seat where I was supposed to be was actually at the other end of the train. So I took my suitcase and started my journey through the long train. I must've looked really clumsy walking in the narrow train with my suitcase, while the train was moving. 

I arrived at Tampere at 3 o'clock. Tuulia was there waiting for me. We went straight to her home, which had to become my home too, for the next four days. I left my suitcase there and changed my clothes, because it was very hot outside. After that we went back to the center. We walked around there for a bit, looking for music stores and such. They were all closed, so I couldn't buy anything. Didn't do very much on the first day.

The 2nd day, Saturday the 18th, was the day we planned for visiting Särkänniemi. I wanted to go there for a long time. It was an amazing day. We went on all of the bigger and better rides, including Tornado three or four times, and I bought two on-ride photos. Here's some photos from the 2nd day.

On Tukkijoki (Log River)

..and Taikajoki (Magic River)

Chillin' with Tuulia

Just me chillin'

Lasten eläintarha

"My face when I see my crush"

Mother of views (Näsinneula tower)

Dolphinarium

Tornado

When I was in the line for a rollercoaster (I was alone, because Tuulia didn't want to go on it) I heard estonian behind me. It turned out they were local estonians. We had a little chat. I don't remember much they said, except "After you've visited Särkänniemi, Linnanmäki feels so boring." I knew what to expect, since I've been to Linnanmäki 3 times before this trip.

On the third day Tuulia's mother drove us around. We visited Pyynikki tower, which was very interesting - the view was comparable with Näsinneula, I could easily see the whole town from there, but unlike Näsinneula, this tower couldn't be seen from almost anywhere in town - it was on top of a high hill, but t wasn't very high itself and it was surrounded by trees. There was also a nice little cafe. I heard from Tuulia's mother that the cafe was famous for it's donuts, and after I tried them I understood why. It's hard to describe the taste, but it was something unique. I guess you'll just have to go there and try them. :)

View from Pyynikki tower

 Pyynikki tower

A stone showing the water level a long, long time ago. 

Then we visited Lenin museum. It had a lot of documents, newspaper clips etc. There was a store selling posters, clips, badges etc., but all the good posters were sold out, so I didn't buy anything. Tuulia was very excited when she found a random poster with Korean writings on it.

After that we bought some snacks and drove a few km out of town to some place. I have no idea what exactly was it supposed to be, but it reminded me of Teletubbies' house. Sadly I left my camera at the car, but here's a picture of the place I found on the internet. 

I should probably mention that there's lots of bushes and tall grass growing around it now. We found a lot of raspberries and picked some and took them home.

That same day Tuulia gave me some salmiakki to try. At first I thought it must've been one of the most disgusting things I've ever tried, but the more I had the more I liked it. I even bought a bag and took it home with me.

"Pelastakaa maapallo - se on ainoa planeetta, jolta löytyy salmiakkia." 

"Save the Earth - it's the only planet with salmiakki" 

 The third day was Monday, so my dear friends had to be at school. When I woke up in the morning, I was alone. Soon I received a text from Tuulia's mother. She invited me to her office. While I was getting ready to go, my head was creating all kinds of scary scenarios and possible reasons why she invited me. I was thinking through everything I could've done to make them dislike me. I didn't find any big reasons and that discouraged me even more. When I finally made it to the office, it turned out that Tuulia's mother just wanted to give me a map and point out some more music stores. Now I couldn't thank her more for that, because the 2nd hand music stores had a wide variety of Nightwish records I couldn't find anywhere else. I almost spent all my money that day and nearly doubled the size of my collection. No doubt, I was very happy.

The Nightwish items I bought during the trip.

After shopping, I went walking around the town and I also took some pictures. 

After the walk I went home and had a nap, because I was tired. Later that evening I watched a movie with Tuulia, and then we went stargazing. It was past midnight by then, we grabbed a telescope and drove out of town. It was quite cold, but it didn't bother me. I saw a couple of Perseids, Jupiter and some starsigns, sadly I can't really remember which.

The next day Tuulia and Samuli had a short day at school, so I joined them. I was allowed to join one lesson out of two that Tuulia had. Quite a coincidence that in the one lesson I was allowed to they had presentations about minorities in Finland, including estonians. My finnish understanding turned out to be good enough to understand most of it, so it was very interesting to listen to. And the one about estonians was a very good one. A girl from the group who made it even presented herself to the class in estonian and she didn't make any mistakes. Just mentioning that I was given no special attention, and most of the people in the classroom probably didn't even know I was estonian.

After school we went to Tampere (the school is in Ylöjärvi), and in the meanwhile took some pictures... of ourselves and each other. Here's a picture of all three of us.

Cheeeeeeeese!!!!

.... and while I'm at it....

...a nearly irrelevant picture of Tuulia's cat Tiikeri 

We walked around Tampere for a few hours and had a lot of fun. We also found the same store in Tampere and I finally bought the earrings I mentioned earlier. Then Tuulia went home and me and Samuli stayed for a few more hours. Then I got really tired, and since I had to leave Tampere the next day, I said my goodbyes to Samuli and headed home too. A bit later we went for a nice walk around a lake with Tuulia. Once again I didn't take my camera with me. Later we watched some videos with Tuulia and I packed my bags. 

The next morning my train left at 8 am, so we didn't do much in the morning. I said my goodbyes to Tuulia and her mother and got on the train, this time the right car. Since I got barely 5 hours of sleep, I slept most of the time I was on the train. When I arrived to Helsinki, it was raining. I had planned to buy a Helsinki card for two days and go sightseeing, but since I hardly had any money left, I buried that plan. I even thought of skipping Linnanmäki. After I arrived I went to the hostel to put my luggage to the luggage room, but before I could do so, the fire alarm went off and everybody was told to leave the building. Whoever triggered it, must've had a good laugh. Soon the firefighters came, turned it off and soon we were allowed to enter the building again. 

Since there was free internet and the weather could let me down anytime, and I really didn't feel like going out, I stayed at the hostel and used the internet for a little bit. Then I overheard some people doing check-in much before it was open, so I thought I'd give it a try too. Luckily, a room was ready and waiting for me. I took my suitcase and went to my room. It was a nice room, nothing luxurious but I liked it a lot. 

There was a nice kitchen in my room, but it had no dishes at all. I could borrow them from the common room, but I was too lazy, so after I put my stuff in my room I went to buy some frozen food that I could eat without using any dishes. After getting the food I noticed that the time was right to head to Linnanmäki - I decided I'd go afterall, because the sun had just come out. I walked to the Railway square and took a tram from there. While walking I noticed that my bag was somehow open, looking just like the work of a pickpocket. I checked it to see if anything was missing, and I couldn't find my camera. I got really scared, but I did think that I might have left it at the hostel. I ran back really fast, and luckily, it was there. I took it with me, and started heading to Linnanmäki. When I got there, it had just been opened. Like I mentioned earlier, I had been there three times before, and each time it was very hot and sunny and there was a lot of people and the lines were very long. This time was different. For the first time I was alone, and there was no lines at all. The estonians in Tampere were right though, because I felt like I couldn't spend a whole day in Linnanmäki. The evening was perfectly enough. My favourite ride turned out to be Ukko, a rollercoaster that was built last year. I went on it 9 times. My goal was 10, but the park was closed and I didn't make it to the last ride of the day.  

Ukko

The arm of a true adventurer

Another rollercoaster I kinda like is Vuoristorata. It's not the craziest ride in the world, I like it more because It's pretty unique. It was built in 1951, and it's the last side-friction rollercoaster that was ever built. There's only 9 rollercoasters of that type left in the whole world. Side-friction rollercoasters are on the track very much like regular trams or trains, which is why they can't take turns too fast, and that's why they need brakemen to slow them down when needed.

Vuoristorata

on Vuoristorata

 Jarrumies at work

And then there were the other rides. I made rounds around the park. I didn't visit any other rides than the rollercoasters and Maisemajuna, which is a monorail ride around the park. 

On Tulireki

The best part of Vonkaputous

Salama and Hurjakuru

A picture I found in Linnunrata

Kehrä and Rinkeli

Kirnu, which is also one of my favourites

Kieppi, or as I like to call it, Suicide

The technical side of Salama

One great advantage Linnanmäki has compared to Särkänniemi is the wonderful scenery and random mysterious music playing everywhere. Observe.

The park was closed at 9. It was getting dark when I left, and it had just started raining. I walked back to the hostel. It was my first time seeing Helsinki in the dark and I must say, it was beautiful. I didn't even mind the rain.

The next day, when I woke up, it was still raining. I stayed in my room for as long as I could, packed my suitcase and left it at the luggage room. Then I went outside, thinking about what to do for the rest of the day - my ship didn't leave till late at night. I didn't have any money left either. I could feel a huge wave of boredom coming at me. 

That didn't happen though. I easily spent two hours looking around in Kamppi, and the rest of the time simply flew by as I walked around Helsinki. My legs were dead very soon, but I kept walking. Helsinki is such a beautiful town, it has impressed me more than any other town I've ever visited. I found myself seriously considering to move there one day. I love the architecture:

The most beautiful church I've ever seen 

One lovely building after another

Pedestrian and bike road Baana

National Museum of Finland

Helsinki is also the World Design Capital this year. I can see why. 

A lovely exhibit I visited

March 2012

August 2012

Security cameras on the building of the Ministry of Economy and Employment

And the surface, with enormous granite rocks revealed in some places. Granite is beautiful. 

The most beautiful combination.

And while I was walking, I also saw this lovely performance.

I walked around for more than 6 hours. Then I went back to the hostel to pick up my luggage. I noticed this funny sign while I was at it.

Then I rushed out and walked to the port. I made it just in time - in fact, out of the pedestrians, I was the 2nd one to get on the ship. I got to sit in front of the ship again and see the lights of Tallinn from far away. Except that this time I was much sadder to be going home. I could've stayed for another week.. or year. 

I'm really thinking of moving to Finland in the future. Before I do though, I'd like to visit my friends while they don't have school, and I really want to visit Kitee, the town that has become a pilgrimage destination for Nightwish fans around the world.