A Photographic Prelude To Tampere

Turku- A City Demoted

Finland has quite a history, and is impossible to talk about without taking a look at its peculiar position as a meeting point between the historically tumultuous, exotic Russian east and European west. Finns are a mysterious lot because there is not any clear evidence regarding where they have come from. What is clear is that they were Christianized and ruled by both east and west, being ruled and shaped by Sweden from 1154-1809 and Russia from 1809-1917.

While under Swedish rule Sweden’s administrative center for attempting to “civilize” the rough living, forest dwelling, pagan Finns was Turku (Åbo in Swedish). Eventually though, after Russia fought for and won Finland for itself, the capital was moved to Helsinki in order to reduce the Swedish influence and move the capital closer to the Tzar Alexander I and St. Petersburg.

Turku is the oldest and 5th largest city in Finland. I personally am not a huge fan of Turku, as it has a certain kind of coldness in regards to its layout and feel, but it is historically rich and has a number beautiful Churches and nice architecture. I am, of course, impressed by everything older than 50 years old, being a California boy and all, but if I were to create an ordered list of my favorite Finnish cities, Tampere and Helsinki would be having an arm wrestling/karate chop contest with each other and then Turku would be somewhere down on the list awaiting a promotion. Wait on my little friend. I have no love for you in this empty, blackened heart of mine.

I Am An Old Man Now/God Eats People For Lunch

Soon after arrived I turned the quarter century page in my life. Conveniently, I was born on the same day of the same year as a Bavarian student, so there was no lack of people to attend the festivities. We had cake, and all went down and drank beer by a lake. It was a fine way to begin my stay.

Tampere is a city nestled between two large lakes, Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi. Lapinkaari, the student housing building I live in, is situated wonderfully, right next to Näsijärvi, making for a wonderful place for recreation and the sometimes-desperately-needed peaceful outing. There are trails running along the lake, which are geared for cross country skiing in the winter and running in the summer. It is a truly beautiful area, as I will provide photographic evidence for when I am finally able to choose which photos to post.

Lapinkaari, My Home In Finland

Lapinkaari As Of Last Week

This Is A Place Where I spend Time Sleeping

A Glance Through The Wilds

Fancy, Modern Design

This is the View From My Window

It Snows In Finland?

Finland (I am Still Alive)

To begin, I would like to apologize for my lack of posts, especially to any one that has regularly checked for updates. I know how annoying it can be to check something that should be updated regularly and find it never to be so.

Anyhow, I have finally gotten the inspiration/time/energy to sift through a constantly growing pool of photos to make some new posts and if all goes as planned, I will put up a flurry of posts in the next weeks and try and get up to speed. Given the fact I have been settled comfortably here for a time and am not experiencing new excitement every day, it will not be too hard to do so, I hope. I will likely end up posting many photos with little commentary once I finNish (aye ;-) some brief descriptions/introductions to my life in Tampere.

I hope you are all doing well over there and that the politics and madness, which appear so bizarre and twisted from this perspective, aren’t getting you down. I must say, the longer time I spend in a well-oiled and more-or-less healthy society (don’t get me wrong, Finland has its problems) the more unbelievable and unrealistic the situation in the US appears. Enough of that though, here are some photos.

I first want to post a few current photos of the recent snowstorms, given how early it is here and how beautiful. I will then try and give some kind of chronological, or subject orientated posts so it will be as though I was posting the whole time.

Meow!