Introduction  Contents  July 4  July 10  July 14  July 18  July 22  July 26  Appendices  About 

talvi > finland > jaunt > Node17

July 19: Goodbye Gemma, hello Tampere

Gemma, having just completed her final year at university, was in no financial state to do the full three-week tour, so she left at this point.³² After her departure Patrick and I spent some time making arrangements for our forthcoming trip to Tallinn.³³ Then we bought lunch from the kauppahalli (covered market) and hopped on the train to Tampere.

Tampere has been described as the Manchester of Finland on account of its history as a centre of industry. It's also known for being the cradle of the Finnish socialist movement, and was the capital of the Reds during the civil war of 1918. The city's industrial past is evident in the profusion of red-brick factories and tall chimneys.

About five minutes after we stepped off the train it started pouring with rain. Over the next couple of days we became very appreciative of the playing cards we had brought: as soon as a shower began we would duck into the nearest shopping centre or doorway, sit down and play cards until the weaather improved. Anyway, the rain quickly persuaded us against camping, so we checked into the nearest hostel, where we were put in a room with the world's most malodorous man. Words cannot begin to describe how this otherwise unassuming Belgian smelled. His body odour was not of the ordinary, everyday type which arises by accident; achieveing it must have taken weeks or months of diligent application on his part. But, hardened travellers that we were, we steeled ourselves for the ordeal and resisted the impulse to tie weights to him and dump him in the river.³⁴

We decided to acquaint ourselves with Tampere's past by visiting the Central Worker's Museum. This is situtated in the Finlayson factory, a huge and now non-functional complex which once produced textiles. It was originally set up in the nineteenth century by an enterprising Scot. Its size is truly impressive, and it's now being converted to other purposes, a cinema and the Worker's Museum being the only two that we noticed. The museum, lacking any translated guides, gave me good opportunity to practise my Finnish on something that didn't talk back. It was mainly given over to an exhibition on worker's safety. There were also exhibits on the Tampere socialist movement, worker's living conditions, and the history of the factory itself. Spent the rest of the evening wandering the streets, heading out towards the lake to the north.

Footnotes

... point.³²

This was the reason for our somewhat convoluted route, involving Helsinki twice.

... Tallinn.³³

The capital of Estonia.

... river.³⁴

Mainly, it must be admitted, due to concern about polluting the water for miles downstream.