Sightseeing

   During the congress I liked sitting outside. It was cooler and windy. The peaceful atmosphere of Tampere was attractive too. I was sometimes under a tree or sometimes on the grass. Then someone would come to me and have a conversation. It was Tuesday afternoon, when I just finished my game review session. I had about an hour to take some rest before Pair-Go tournament. Although no one was waiting for me there it felt as if I have to go to the tree as soon as possible. I just wanted to go and sit there. Thus, I was about to leave the school building. At the very moment, one guy approached to me and asked me I could give him some comments on his game. I hesitated. It wasn't that I didn't have time. I just didn't feel like reviewing another game. So after a few seconds' silence, I told him "OK. 5 minutes though." That's how I met him. Who? The one who gave me many useful information on the city of Tampere.

   He couldn't remember the right sequence of his game, and I asked him a few questions to avoid the awkward moment. Then I found out he was a native man from Tampere. The following day was free day for sightseeing, and I didn't have any plan yet until then. So I asked him for recommendations on places and restaurants. Fortunately he seemed very passionate to help me with that. We went to the registration desk to find a big map and he pointed out many places and restaurants that are good notwithstanding too expensive prices.

Verkaranta Arts and Crafts Centre

   On Wednesday, I grabbed a map with circled places I wanted to see and just walked out from the hotel. At first I was imagining how cool it would be being a lonely sophisticated looking traveler. (wearing sunglasses and looking at map and street signs!) Yet, unfortunately my day plan at the breakfast sounded charming enough to drag people. So I ended up being in a small Korean tour group instead of a brave girl who travels alone. I didn't mind it though. Haha. Anyway, the first place we went to was ¡®Verkaranta Arts and Crafts Centre.' It was a relatively small flat brick building by a river. Inside, there were a fancy gift shop, small café that had nice outside veranda, and classy exhibition room. The exhibition was about Finish designers' dishes, tiles, vases and some other interior decorative items. They were colorful, shiny and inspiring. Some of them were for sale at only ￠æ1500 ~ ￠æ500 range, but I didn't bother to try the limit on my credit card. 

Tammelantori Market

   One of my all time favorite places to go is market. Although I tend to buy things only when they are really necessary, I like walking about the market and enjoy the lively atmosphere. Tammelantori Market was local flee market combined with several farmers' markets. It was in huge parking lot-looking place. We bought a pack of wild berries and blue berries. They were fresh, but not as sweet as Korean ones. Then we all gravitated to the ice cream booth since it was very hot. About young boy's face sized ice cream cone looked more desirable than anything else. Then Mok 9P treated everyone to a big ice cream cone. I didn't have it thought. Somehow I didn't feel like eating ice cream at the time. Ah, probably because I ate too much berries just before reaching the ice cream booth.

Tampere Cathedral

   This local cathedral wasn't on my To-go list actually. Because I wasn't a religious person, its location on a map didn't catch my attention. Yet, luckily it was on the way to Tammelantori Market, and its appearance was outstanding enough to have me look at the map again. Inside, there was a huge pipe organ, strange looking but biblical paintings, and elegant stained glasses. Although if felt somewhat different from Korean cathedrals, still it had the atmosphere of the religion.

Fransmanni

   This is a name of French restaurant in Tampere. When I asked a Tampereen man about the restaurants, he strongly recommended this one. It was located in the first floor of a big shopping mall. Red and white check patterned tablecloth, purple candles and napkins and comfortable chairs matched well all together. We ordered beef stakes, salmon pasta, chicken pasta and so on, and everyone seemed quite satisfied with his/her choice. Also, they had such nice bread, warm and soft, with fresh creamy butter.  

Mesto Library

   A library is always an attractive place to visit since it's guaranteed that there are plenty of books there. I don't know why but just looking at many books often makes me feel so good. City library of Tampere, called Mesto Library, was placed in the right next block of the school that used for EGC. The building was well-known for its bird-looking design and half transparent glass top. When we were looking for the library, we just passed this building because we just assumed it was some kind of music hall. Anyway, thanks to a kind lady, we could get into the library. There was an information center at the center of the building, and lots of bookcases were drawing a circle just like rays from the sun if you look at it above. Most books, of course, were Finnish, but there were some English books as well. Overall, it was clean, cool and bright, which is perfect for reading books.

Lenin Museum

   When I first heard that there is a Lenin Museum in Tampere, I wondered why Lenin Museum is there, not in Russia. Anyway, it sounded quite interesting and I could easily find some friends who were interested in visiting there as well. So I went there with four handsome guys, two from New York, one from Romania, and one from Korea. The museum was rather small, but there were lots of information and reading materials. It turns out that Lenin's Russian Social Democratic party's Workers Hall was built in Tampere, and Lenin was involved in Finland's independence movement. Also he used to come to Finland to hide from the government and smuggle newspapers and secret documents. Although it would have been much better if I had some background knowledge at this field, it was still good to follow the flow of Lenin's trace. In addition, I could get the whole picture of the origin of Lenin's pursuit.

   Then at night, I was thinking of going to the observation tower, but somehow I couldn't make it. (Well, I watched the soccer tournament of EGC and drank beer on the grass instead.) I thought I would have some time later, but I finally missed it. Too bad... Yet, still it was a great day and I enjoyed myself a lot!

The end of 2010 EGC :)


























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