In Tampere...

After my arrival to Tampere I headed to my hotel – Omena Hotel at Hämeenkatu 28 (really great idea of cheap accomodation and the great value for a price). I had a shower, changed and then went to the train station to pick up my friend – Agata. She came from south part of Poland, from Upper Silesia (where I am originaly from) to Turku and then took a train to Tampere so we could meet up and next day she needed to go to Lappeenranta in south-east Finland.

Agata and me at Tampere Railway Station

It was great to meet up with Agata… she is a huge finnophile, like myself so we had planty things to talk about, disscuse Finnish life and experiences gathered in Finland… while having beers:) We ended up in the bar opposite to Tampere Railway Station called Ale Pupi with karaoke and dancesJ lol That was fun! And I was even encouraged by some guy to go and dance as well :) lol Aactually we were the last customers… I guess we left it around 2.30 AM or so...

Next day we explored a bit of Tampere. As my friends suggested we needed to go to Pyynikki to have the best doughnuts in town and some coffee in Cafeteria of the Pyynikki observation tower

It was lovely… in the forrest, on the hill… yummy doughnuts and fresh air. The day was bright and sunny… I was so lucky as the weather for whole my stay was just amazing.

After our coffee we went down to the bank of the lake Pyhäjärvi… that was such a nice view… ice still on the surface… quiet and peaceful… we climbed the rocks and enjoyed the view… It was one of these many amazing and relaxing places in Finland. 

And in Tampere, being in a city centre, we needed to walk around 20 min and we were reunited with the nature… it is incredible how close it is over there! I wish to have such a quiet spot in London for moments of stress…

11 days in Finland... April/May 2011

Moikka!


The day has come... I need to share my thoughts and experience with you after my trip to Finland. Amazing experiences, fantastic people, great time and beautiful nature all around me - that's in a nutshell how it was in the Land of Thousand Lakes.


My flight from London-Heathrow to Helsinki-Vantaa was on 22nd April at 12:05. British Airways had no delays and everything was on schedule.


While being airborne in some point I was able to see Finnish Land. At last!!! :) I was so excited! Frozen lakes... forest... and frozen sea... I have never seen frozen sea in my life :) so that was an amazing moment:) And when the plane started to descent I was in seventh heaven as in a moment I was going to walk on Finnish soil... 


We have landed... :)


As I have been to Vantaa Airport before it was easy to get to the car park and get the bus. This time I went to Tikkurila train station (bus no. 61). I have found this really nice guide on YouTube how to get out of Vantaa Airport, it may be of some use to you:

At the train station I needed to buy a ticket for a train to Tampere. I have found the ticket machines, happy me :) and wanted to purchase the ticket. How surprised I was... the information on screen was only in Finnish and Swedish... :) well, I tried both... I thought I would have more luck with Swedish as I know some German. hahahaha :) no way:) So I asked a girl who was buying a ticket next to me and she (she was very straight to the point :) ) explained me quickly what, how and when... and I was a happy owner of InterCity train ticket to Tampere. Thanks to this ticket I have learnt new Finnish words :)


junalippu - railway ticket
vaunu - carriage
ikkunapaikka - window seat

Riihimäki station

On the way I tried to read some book... but I was too excited :) and needed to take some pictures... the weather was beautiful, blue sky and sunny... I left Tikkurila at 18:22 and the train stopped in Riihimäki, Hämeenlinna, Toijala and arrived to Tampere at 19:52. My final destination :) Yupeeee! :)

Source: Google map

Ihanaa Leijonat, ihanaa! :)

Hei! :D


Oh what a match that was! Just amazing moments packed with emotions and tension! :) 


Yesterday evening the Ice Hockey World Cup final match between Finland and Sweden. I have watched it on-line. For a whole day I was panicking as I wanted to watch it live but all internet sites I have found wanted me to pay for a monthly subscription. At the end Jari send me the link to the official International Ice Hockey Federation site and then I was able to pay-per-view for the match. 


It was worthy every penny spent :) Watching the match and commenting on Skype as I watched it with Jari from Espoo - that was great fun... I was shouting in English, Polish and occasionally in Finnish :) I can bet my neighbours think I am crazy now :)

The first period passed without any scores but flying puck gave us all a huge amount of excitement. In the second period Sweden scored 1 and that was just so disappointing... but then Leijonat showed what they can do... and the third period was just an amazing time... all Finnish scores were like one after another... The boys were great!!! And fast! The game finished with the result 6 : 1 for Finland and a huge happiness in Finland and in my room :) I needed to celebrate it together with my Finnish friends, so the bottle of sparkling wine needed to assist me! :) 

The game was amazing and after 16 years Finland won the World Cup!!! Celebrations on the streets after the match... I am wondering how many people actually went to work today :)


Ihanaa Leijonat, ihanaa! :) ja kiitos!