Blogs from Tampere, Pirkanmaa, Finland, Europe - page 6

Alright, I finally threw in the breakfast towel… I NEEDED an American breakfast. I just couldn't hang with the soupy eggs anymore. A friend had advised me that there's an American Diner with supposedly authentic bacon n' eggs breakfast so I tried it out. I can't say it was totally authentic, but it definitely helped. Three The American Diner is located in an area of Tampere called Finlayson. Finlayson is an old cotton mill turned into something like a mall. There's a movie theater there, several restaurants and some shopping. There's also a Vakoilumuseo (spy museum), advertised as the first spy museum in the world. So for 7 euro I took a gander; it's small, but very interesting. Actually very similar to the one in DC, just smaller and without all the high-tech displays. It's interesting ... read more

At work we had some meetings with other players on the project. In Finnish meetings you get free coffee and sandwiches... Bonus! I still saved room for Pea Soup at lunch though. Wow is that stuff good. Pretty much like ham n' beans, split pea soup, etc. Top with a few onions and their good bread. Very warming... I'm looking forward to next Thursday! After a mooseless drive home we played it lame tonite and ate at the hotel. I'll tell you what though, it's about the best food we've had in all the places we've tried. I had a manchego cheese appetizer, drizzled with honey and balsamic vinegar. Simple, but very tasty. Then I had the goat cheese pasta. I know, very cheesey meal, but it was good damnit! Compliments to the chef.... read more

Instant coffee, send thought of the day, eat soupy eggs and off to work... Still no moose! They're hard to see heading to work since it's still dark, but none sighted on the way home either :( Hopefully we'll have a sighting before this trip is over. Nothing too special to report from work today. Other than I'd bought a travel mug earlier in the trip to help me survive the long morning drive. Well, the best deal I could find is one of the "picture mugs" that has a plastic liner where you can insert photos. Well, I don't have, or really need, any photos. So I decided to print out some useful Finnish phrases and put them in my mug. It's come in handy and I'm slowly learning to pronounce, "Ilmatyynyalukseni on taynna ankeriaita." ... read more

After last night let's just say I slept in and missed breakfast at the hotel. Finally getting up and rolling around noon I hit the streets looking for a barber. Remember I'd given up on the damned clippers. In my walking around Tampere I'd seen plenty of beauty shops, but nothing that looked like a truly straight male type of barber. I finally found one not far off the main drag in Tampere called "Paturi Only Male". It looked reasonable, but of course about everything is closed on Sundays and it's hours didn't fit with my work schedule so it'd have to be somewhere else or wait until next weekend. Who cares... It's time for food. I found a place called "Sevilla" close to the hotel. Seems like a chain, but it's not bad... Mostly Spanish ... read more

Easy and short day at work today. The company we're here with had an employee appreciation event and were going to the theater in Tampere at night so most people left early. Dave and I took advantage of leaving early to try and make it home in time to make a weekly status telecon with St Louis. We didn't make it in time, and guess who's fault it was? Yes, the Prius again! One of my biggest adventures so far is getting gas into the car. Leave it up to a hybrid to be tricky on taking gas. First the Prius has a hidden gas tank door opener button... And when you push it... There are lots of beeps, like you left the lights on or something? I don't F'n know... but it finally stopped beeping. ... read more