A Wonderful Morning in Tampere

    'Twas quite an enjoyable morning this morning. My host mother Anne had a meeting in downtown Tampere at around 9:00 so I went along with her, not to go to the meeting though, but to go off on my own and wander the downtown area of the city. 

    So we split apart in front of the railway station and were to meet again at quarter past eleven in front of the Stockmann Department Store. 

     First thing I did was get lost in Stockmann trying to find the restroom (no but really I don't have a problem, I just seem to post about bathrooms a lot). And after that ordeal I was off on the streets of Tampere! I just started walking in any direction I felt at the moment. I ended up at a church, the beside railway tracks, then at the river, and just all over. 

The main street in Tampere

    About an hour or so into my adventure I needed a break so I stopped in a McDonald's (yeah, I get it. I'm in Finland and I went to McDonald's) and got coffee and a doughnut. My Finnish was rough while ordering. I'm sure the cashier knew English (like most people in Finland) but I wasn't going to settle for just using English. So I went up to the counter and said "Yksi kahvia, ole hyvä." ("One coffee, please.") The cashier replied with something so I just took it to be "Anything else?" I didn't know how to say doughnut so I leaned over all the way to the other side of where you ordered and pointed to the doughnuts and said "Ja yksi, ole hyvä." ("One, please.") So all in all it was rough but I communicated and that's the point! :) 

    I sat at a table near the window and just watched Finnish people going about their business while taking my break. 

Look at the size of the cups! Perfect for me.
I can only have so much coffee before I get sick of it.

om nom nom nom.

The River Tammerkoski going through Tampere that connects the two lakes  

Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi. (The elevations of the lakes differ by 18 meters.)

At some point I stopped to buy two post cards at a book store and when I used Finnish there, everything went smoothly! I could even say "I don't need a bag." A very proud moment. 

So I kept walking and walking until I had to meet Anne again at Stockmann. This morning will be a very happy memory to have.

I have plenty of other pictures I took. More of them can be found here.