Tour of Tampere

Following excellent presentations of a technical nature, yesterday we embarked on a bus tour of Tampere. We drove through the city and its various areas and landmarks carrying cultural, spiritual, or historic significance. The bus was quite comfy (maybe too much so, easily prompting power naps in between stops). From what I saw at the bus stop prior to boarding the tour bus is that this kind of bus is what Tampere uses for its city buses. Nice! One of the first stops was the church pictured above. It is apparently rather famous (or infamous?) for its somewhat controversial fresco paintings. The one pictured above is of the resurrection, with the line of people at right symbolizing those arisen from their tombs on the way to heaven. There were other non-traditional depictions in the church, e.g., of death, of the 12 disciples (naked and at a very young age, pictured carrying a thorny garland), of snakes, spiders, etc. The symbolism was well explained by the tour guide, but it's a bit too lengthy for me to reproduce here.

One of the stops included a visit to a farmers' market located fairly centrally in the city. A good selection of fresh meats, fish, vegetables, flowers, and other items were available. Nothing apparently processed, all organic, with I think each shop area being individually run as a family enterprise. Even better than our only Whole Foods back at home.

Our last stop before dinner at a Viking-themed restaurant (very good, btw), gave us a view of the two lakes adjacent to the city. The city was founded here because of the 18 m drop between the lakes, which offered a source of power for the textile mill developed as one of the first major industrial employers in this area—Finlayson, a Scottish firm, if I remember correctly.