Midsummer in Tampere

The sun finally came out in Turku, and it was good wandering along the river, drinking coffee at cafes and doing a bit of people watching. I stopped in at one of the museums along the riverfront which was called Aboa Vetus, which I think is latin for Old Turku. It was a fantastic museum. In the mid 1990s they were doing some excavations and came across the ruins of old medieval buildings, which weren't on any maps and therefore came as a complete surprise. The ruins were excavated, and they built a roof over the top and turned it into an underground archaeological museum. Very interesting.

Yesterday I jumped on the train to Tampere, which is an old industrial city which has been gentrified into a pretty cool city. All of the factories along the river have been converted and it is a pretty good place to wander around. It must be a university town, because there's a stack of alternative types around the place, which meant I didn't want to drag out my camera and appear un-hip...

This weekend is Juhannus - or Midsummer - one of the biggest holidays in the Finnish calendar. It commemorates the longest day of the year and is the start of the holiday season. Most Finns apparently head out to their cottages, and certainly this morning the busiest place was the railway station, and even more people loaded up with bags were wandering in that general vicinity. Unfortunately, Juhannus isn't intended for tourists, and pretty much everything is closed, including all of the museums, tourist sites, a lot of restaurants, cafes, shops and fast food places. It will definitely impact on my trip to Tampere, as most of the places that I was interested in seeing will be closed.

Nevermind, will go for a few walks and catch up on some reading and chilling out. Hopefully there will be enough places open to get some food - even the hotel restaurant is closed...