An Unexpected Last Hurrah

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Having managed to work out Tallinn's tram and trolleybus system, we managed to get back to the waterfront to catch our 12.00pm hydra-foil back to Finland. However, out of the 4 terminals at waterfront, none of them were for the Linda Line. Where the hell is it? It's 11.30am.
The girl at the info desk in ferry terminal A, then tells us that the Linda Line terminal leaves from the Linnahall, 700m back in the direction from which we came. 700 metres?! She says once we see it, we can't miss it. Well, I hope she's right because it is 11.35am now which leaves us little room for error in order to catch our boat.
So we jog lightly back the way we came and we see the Linnahall on our right. But it's just a big, empty concert hall - how are boats supposed to leave from that? This wasn't making any sense. And it's now 11:45am, and I'm praying we find the terminal as I don't wanna be stuck in Tallinn any longer than I have to.
Consultation of the map then reveals that there is water behind the Linnahall, so maybe there is a ferry terminal there. We also see some tourists come out from behind the Linnahall so we run - with all our luggage around the back of the Linnahall.
We see water ahead of us, but no sign of a ferry terminal. It's now 11:50am - we have ten minutes.
Davies then goes running into the Linnahall.
What is he doing?!
I then see a red boat around the back of the Linnahall - that must be it. But Davies is still inside the Linnahall. It's 11:52am.
Luckily it doesn't take Davies long to realise a boat can't possibly leave from inside a concert hall and he comes out just as I point us in the right direction.
Having a bag with wheels isn't always handy when encountering stairs and rough footpaths, so Davies is usually ahead of me with his backpack. But I was thankful for the wheels and tarsealed road that allowed me and my bag to jet it to the terminal with little effort, leaving Davies huffing and puffing 50m behind me with his backpack.
So when we go through check-in and passport control it is bang on 12.00pm, and I am thankful we are on our way back to Finland.
I am not thankful for the bumpiness of the ride though - I had to keep my eyes closed again to stop myself from getting sick. This was much worse than the ride over here. Luckily Davies wasn't hungover this time. Keeping my eyes closed actually somehow managed to put me to sleep and before I knew it, we had arrived in Helsinki, again.

As mentioned before, there is something cool about coming back to somewhere you've been before. We had booked the same hostel as last time, so we knew exactly where to go, and having this famliarity with a place you don't really know that well, is a cool feeling.
As we had seen everything last time, we didn't do much for the rest of the day (read: typing this blog).
We had a bit of a laugh at the supermarket though.
In Finnish, "pussi" means "size".
So being the mature adult I am, I was sniggering and taking photos of the chip packets here that read "megapussi" and "minipussi". So of course we had to buy some - so I can officially say I got some megapussi and minipussi here in Finland. No really, I'm a mature adult, I swear ;-D The local shoppers must've been thinking, "yet more stupid, immature, English-speaking foreigners." Well, then you shouldn't put megapussi on your chip packets should you? ;-D

Back at the hostel that evening, we were cooking up our spaghetti bolognese when we got into the group conversation taking place in the dining room between an Australian guy, Wallace, two German girls, Sonia and Tanja, and two Brazilian guys, Vinnie and Bruno.
Wallace has been in Helsinki for four weeks already, having initially followed his Finnish girlfriend over here. He broke up with her recently though, so he was here figuring out what his next move was going to be.
Sonia and Tanja were having a Scanidinavian holiday and had been to the northern parts of Sweden and Finland already, and the Brazilians were also travelling around Scandinavia, but had been to other parts of Eastern Europe as well.
It was quite funny, as us, the Germans and the Brazilians had all been on the same ferry that we took from Stockholm to Helsinki - the Brazilians and the Germans in fact were on the same boat without knowing it. So we all had a laugh about how we slept in the cheap cabins and how we were even lower in the boat than the cars. We also managed to finally finish off the beer we bought in Germany in the process - and thank God because it was bloody heavy lugging it all around Scandinavia.

Feeling a bit tired after our travails in Tallinn and after 3 months on the road, I was really just looking forward to good night's sleep before catching my flight back to London the next night. But as you do, you get coaxed into going out for a quiet drink with people you have just met, so off we went again on yet another hostel expedition to try and find whatever bar was open on a Monday night in Helsinki.
Wallace was our guide, as he has been here the longest, and he ended up taking us to a club called Redrum. None of us were expecting to go to a club tonight, but we thought we'd just go in there anyway.
I didn't see many black guys while walking around Helsinki the other day, but they all seemed to be here on hip-hop/R&B night. Apart from them however the place was pretty empty. Beers were 1€ though, so we all got one and took a seat in this rather swanky looking underground club.
Wallace was pretty adamant that people aren't allowed to smoke inside bars and clubs in Finland, but if that was the case then no-one was following the rules here, as every man and his dog started to light up around us. It's quite ridiculous really - the club had smoking and non-smoking sections, with the two sections separated by a line on the floor. As long as you were on the right side of the line, you could smoke - although I reckon it was more a ploy to avoid ash and cigarette embers from getting onto the fancy leather seats, rather than any attempt to follow any legal regulations.
Anyway, after some regulation backpacker conversation with our fellow hostellers, the club started to fill up and before we knew it the club was pretty much full - of girls...beautiful girls.
It wasn't quite like that famous night in Copenhagen - but it sure wasn't far off.
Wallace then bumped into two lovely ladies that he knew. One of them then started talking to me, telling me that Wallace had asked her friend out (the one he was talking to at that very moment) and then bumped into her the next night when he was completely drunk.
"You're the most beautiful girl in this bar - have I met you before?", he asked her.
"Yes you have", she replied, "we have a date tomorrow night!".
The girl I was talking to obviously didn't have the highest opinion of old Wallace.
"How old do you think he is?" she asked me.
I guessed 26.
"Haha, you're very kind to him - I think he's more like 35!"
OK, he might be older but not that much older. Oh dear.
Once he finished his conversation, he then showed me and Davies a picture of his recent girlfriend - she was 17.
He was also talking a lot about young girls to us. Creepy.

I then went to the bar where an absolutely stunning brunette was standing next to me, with a row of funny coloured shots.
"What are those", I asked her.
"Vodka and Fisherman's Friend", she replied. "Do you want one?".
Are you serious? That sounds disgusting.
"OK, why not", I replied, and down it went.
Wow - it certainly soothed the throat and cleared the nose!
The bartender then poured her and her friends another round.
"You know the bartender?", I asked her.
"Yeah, he's a good friend of mine", she replied.
"Good guy to know then", I remarked.
She laughed. She would definitely be a good girl to know in this bar - not only is she hot, you can get free drinks from her all night!
"We want to go home, but he keeps pouring us drinks", she said.
"You need a hand then?" I offered.
"Sure", she said.
So down went another vodka and Fisherman's Friend.
Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't have done that - look a bit greedy now. But I couldn't let it go to waste could I?
I then went back to talk to our group which had now assembled on the dancefloor. The German girls were keen to go back to the hostel, but the rest of us managed to drunkenly convince them to stay a bit longer. Except for Wallace, who was trying his luck with another blonde.

It is often said that Scandinavian girls aren't afraid to go after what they want and that in fact, many Scandinavian guys just sit around waiting for the girls to come to them. This is certainly refreshing, and should be the way it is everywhere - why should the guys have to do all the work? ;-)
Well, it's not quite that simple, but the Scandinavian girls are very open to conversation and are very friendly - and the Finnish girls are no different.
You always have a better time when the girls outnumber the guys at a party or a club. I personally always feel a lot more comfortable in this situation (haha), and the girls do too from the look of it. They feel much more relaxed knowing they won't be hit on by guys so much, and really seem to enjoy themselves as a result. When people of both sexes are enjoying themselves, the bar wins at the end of the night. People buy more drinks, and people are more likely to come back in the future, so no wonder bouncers are instructed to control the ratios - which can suck though, if you're a guy waiting outside.
That's a pretty decent analysis, don't you think?
And sometimes, when the girls outnumber the guys, girls end up going for each other like on this particular night. A blonde and another brunette were dirty dancing with each other and the blonde was real keen to take it a step further. Unfortunately for all the hopeful male onlookers, the brunette - who was probably the best looking girl in the club that night, no wonder the blonde wanted to make out with her - wasn't having any of it. If it had happened, it would been hotter than the kiss we witnessed in Hamburg.

So as always on this trip, what was supposed to be a few quiet drinks has turned into one of the best nights out on the trip.
By 3:30am we had lost the Germans, Wallace, and Vinnie, so it was down to me, Davies and Bruno, as we left the club.
Bruno is cool - he's a Brazilian, so of course he loves to party and we had some good laughs that night. On the way back to our brilliantly located hostel, we launched into a lung-busting rendition of Sublime's "Santeria", like two drunken English yobbos would after a football match - we must've pissed off a few locals trying to get some sleep that night.
We then stopped at a hot dog stand, where I had a "liihipiirakka" - two sausages with mustard, mayo and ketchup in a roskie-like bun. It was delicious, and the locals would've been delighted as it shut me and Bruno up.
When I got back to the hostel, Wallace was in the dining room.
"So how did ya go?" he asked.
"Did ya get whore in ya?!".
I just laughed and wished him a good night before going to sleep ;-D

The next day was September 25th. In my original itinerary, this was supposed to be my last night travelling before going back to London to work, and I was supposed to be at Oktoberfest by now.
As it has turned out, I am still going back to London as planned, except I was going back from Finland rather than Munich and I still had another month of travelling, including Oktoberfest, to look forward to. Saweeet!
The fact I was going back to London on the exact day I had originally planned meant that this day had a natural sense of conclusion to it - the end of the first part of my trip. And the fact that I had an awesome last night out - on a Monday night no less - was an unexpected last hurrah. My opinion of Helsinki's much vaunted nightlife has certainly changed now - you just need to know where to go!

So yes, September 25th - I had to be woken up by the hostel staff as I had slept past check out at 11am, but the staff here were really cool and laid back, so it was no problem.
After grabbing the Brazilians' email addresses and wishing them good luck, it was off to the train station to get a train up to Tampere, from where my flight departed.
The reason I was flying out of Tampere (pronounced "tamperer") and not Helsinki, is because Ryanair flies out of Tampere. I managed to score my flight for 1p - sweet deal. Although with taxes and everything I still ended up paying 28€. Still a sweet deal though.
The Finnish countryside is beautiful - clearwater lakes and autumn leaves once again made for a scenic train ride. I reckon it is just as clean and green here than it is in New Zealand.
Train for me is definitely the best way to travel - you really get to see what you're travelling through, it's not too slow, and you just hop on and hop off, usually right in the middle of town. Flying sucks because of all the security checks and transfers to and from the airport.
Two hours later we arrived in Tampere. Conveniently, the Ryanair buses leave directly from the train station to the airport for 7€. I still had 5 hours to kill however. Davies was flying from here to Bremen the next day, so he needed to find somewhere to stay for the night. There was an HI hostel across town a bit that Davies was keen to try - so off we went.
I think that Ryanair must do so much for the economy here in Tampere - like me and Davies, people come here to catch a cheap flight, but will need to get something to eat, maybe stay a night etc. which all adds up.

Walking through Tampere, I was pleasantly surprised.
Originally an industrial town, these days it is more of a student town and is the third largest city in Finland. Remnants of it's industrial past still remain with many of the old factory chimneys still standing. Tampere was once considered the "Manchester of the North".
Walking down the main street, Hameenkatu, you got the sense that this is a vibrant town and it certainly had good vibes. The leaves were falling everywhere and the trees wore beautiful shades of brown and red, which certainly dolled the place up. It is also a very clean and tidy city, and it has a river running through it, which always give cities a bit of charm.
Interesting Football Fact: Ex-All White Noah Hickey played for the local team here, Tampere United, for a couple of seasons as did a couple of other New Zealanders, from memory. Funny where some footballers end up!

The staff at the HI hostel we arrived at, were very friendly and let me leave my bags there for free. Davies checked in, and was fortunate enough to have an 8-person dorm to himself. Also convenient, was the fact that the local bus that goes to the airport leaves from across the road for 4€ - perfect.

With the best part of 4 hours still to kill before I needed to catch my bus at 8.30pm, we decided to have a walk through the city.
The first site of interest we came across was Alexander Church, a red neo-gothic church set beautifully in a leafy park. Opposite the Alexander Church is the "Statue Of Freedom" set against a beautiful background of more autumn trees.
We then followed a road which led us to yet more greenery and the Tammerkoski River. We then followed the river to the old Finlayson textile factory, where the Tammerkoski runs by a tidy green park and a tall chimney which was part of the factory, providing a postcard snapshot.
The factory used to be the city's largest employer in the 19th century, employing half the city. Using the river to generate electricity, the factory almost functioned as a commune of sorts, as the factory provided apartments, a school for the worker's children, a church, a library and even a hospital for it's workers, all on the factory premises.
Nowadays, the factory houses various businesses, art studios, exhibition spaces, sports facilities and museums.
We then passed by the main square where the town hall resides, before stopping at a Chinese restaurant for dinner. I admit it did feel a bit odd eating Chinese in Tampere, Finland of all places ;-)

Then it was time to head back to the hostel and wish Davies a good trip back to Germany before catching my ride to the airport. I will meet up with Davies again for the third time, in Munich.
The bus took around 30 minutes to get to the airport where there was a major queue to check in. The airport was small and dinky to say the least - it looked more like a converted aluminium-roofed barn than a proper airport, but it serves it's purpose.
Then it was up, up and away back to London.

So that is the end of (a very long) first leg of the journey, stretching all the way back to June 17th, when I boarded the plane in Auckland. After over three months on the road, it's time for two days of rest before getting back on the road for the "bonus", originally unplanned leg which will take in Strasbourg, Munich, Prague, Berlin and Brussels befor heading back to Paris (where ironically, my tour of continental Europe began in July) for what will hopefully be a glorious fairytale ending, where I will watch the All Blacks finally win a World Cup Final from the stands.
So until then...

Näkemiin!
Derek

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Photos

I Got Some Pussi In Finland
Proof of my ever-growing maturity ;-D

Tammerkoski & Finlayson Building By Night
Picturesque part of Tampere's river.

Illegal Pussi
Didn't go near this pussi though - that shit is jailbait ;-D

The Hostel Crew
From left; Wallace (obviously checking something out), Sonia, Tanja, Vinnie, me and Davies.

Redrum
As you can see, the club was full of hot girls.

Where Are All The Guys?
Who cares?

Say What?!
The dude in the foreground can't believe his eyes!

Bruno & Sonia
Guess which one of these people is Bruno? Sonia is in the stripy top. Everybody else is female (apart from K-Fed ring-in behind Bruno).

The Almost Kiss (!)
Too bad the brunette wasn't keen. I still haven't worked out what the blonde is doing in this photo - I can only imagine ;-)

Alexander Church, Tampere
Neo-gothic church nestled in the autumn leaves.

Statue Of Freedom
Located in one of Tampere's many pretty parks.

View Of The City
Beautiful shot of Tampere from a distance along the Tammerkoski River. If only Davies had gotten out of the way!

Tampere Town Hall
Located in the main square.

Finlayson Building
Old textile factory that once was Tampere's largest employer. It now houses a variety of businesses, museums and exhibition spaces.

Vanha Kirkko
Old church in the main square in Tampere.

Comments

[Finnish teacher]

Pussi
Pussi means bag, not size.