Tampere, Finland

Finland?! Yes Finland. This past weekend I hopped on another Ryanair flight and headed north to the beautiful land of lakes.  In Tampere I was met at the airport my my sweet Noora.  My family hosted Noora as a foreign exchange student during my junior year of high school.  Five years later, Noora got to return the favor and host me for a weekend in Tampere!

After another goofy flight with Ryanair (everything about this airline cracks me up - the great lengths at which one must go to reach their remote airports, the ridiculous classical music they play when boarding the plane, the obnoxious blue and yellow interior, and the celebratory bugle blow when the flight successfully lands...) Noora and her boyfriend Toni met me at the Tampere airport.  It has been about 3 years since I had last seen Noora, and she looked just as cute as ever!  Plus, she has a great boyfriend who is in a band and a super legit skier! During the ride back from the airport, we immediately started catching each other up on one another's lives.  As we drove through Tampere, I couldn't help to notice how serene and peaceful everything felt.  The beautiful scenery combined with the calm lakes and the over all lack of people made me feel very relaxed and welcomed into Noora's country.  We got back to her place (an adorable little efficency apartment - I would expect nothing less!) and headed to the supermarket to grab supplies for dinner.  The supermarket was essentially the same as German supermarkets, except for the massive fish selection.  We grabbed a slab of salmon, fresh veggies, and a loaf of bread and then headed back to Noora's place where we (mostly Toni) whipped up a delicious dinner.  Then we went for a stroll along one of the lakes near Noora's apartment and I got to experience a BEAUTIFUL Finnish sunset.  The sun sets so late in Finalnd (it's still pretty bright around 11:30pm) but the sunsets make it worth the wait!  After our stroll, we got ready for bed, watched some of the Olympic opening ceremonies (which were crazy!), and chatted until we fell asleep.

Reunited!

So yummy. So sooo sososooo yummy.

Hey beautiful sunset!

So beautifuuuul!

Toni, Noora, and I enjoying a lovely sunset!

So awesome!

Saturday was a full day of Finnish adventuring.  We woke up relatively early and headed to meet up with Toni at a bike rental place.  We got ourselves some bikes and started off towards a Finnish breakfast place where I had the absolute best rice porridge I've ever eaten.  After stuffing ourselves full of Finnish breakfast, we set out to bike around the other lake surrounding Tampere (Tampere is situated between two lakes of different elevations and mad made channels run through the city connecting the two lakes).  We biked around the whole day, seeing old factories, well-pruned parks, and an authentic gelato place.  We even biked up the tallest hill in Tampere which is home to an old watch tower and the best Munkki in the city.  We were rewarded with the best view of Tampere as well as the tastiest Munkki!

View from the top!

Munkki. It may look like your ordinary powdered donut, but its oh so much more!

Tampere is a truly beautiful city.  What it may lack in quantity (as the third largest city in Finland, Tampere rings in at about 300,000 inhabitants) it most certainly makes up with quality.  Everything is so clean and well pruned!  The buildings range from old wooden houses, to stone mansions, to brick factories, to new glass apartment complexes.  Oh, and the lakes.  Have I already mentioned the lakes?  Yes?  Oh well, I'm going to mention them again.  The lakes in Finland and clean and calm and freaking gorgeous.  I jumped into one of them.  Yes, I bought a bikini for 6€ at H&M and I jumped into a super frigid Finnish lake (Noora and Toni did too).  Then the three of us snuck into a sauna without paying!  How crazy!  I almost died in the sauna.  The only seats left were in the corner furthest from the hot rocks, so I sat up in the very corner.  Right after some older man in a very tiny speedo poured more water onto the hot rocks, Noora informed me that where I was sitting was the hottest place in the sauna.  Then the heat hit me like a wall.  I could barely breathe!  So what did I do?  Went and jumped back into the freezing lake, and then came back to the sauna where I found a better seating arrangement.  That was truly and unforgettable experience!

In the lake! Cheesin'!

After my crazy lake/sauna experience, we decided to go out for pizza.  We all ate whole pizza by ourselves, and I think with all the biking we did that we earned our pizzas fair and square.  We headed back to Noora's place and gabbed the night away.  Noora and Toni introduced me to the Finnish cartoon series Muumi, or The Moomins.  Apparently it is also a sensation in Japan.  Of course.  I can't believe Noora didn't tell me about this 5 years ago because now I'm kinda obsessed.  Just have a look:

Sunday we got up, returned our bikes, and then headed to this awesome little waffle place.  They served sweet and savory waffles.  I opted for a savory waffle and got one with salmon (when in Finland!), sour cream, and dill.  To say it was delicious would be an understatement.  Then before I knew it, I had to part ways with my Finnish sister and her awesome Finnish boyfriend and head back to Germany.  I think my favorite part of the weekend was discovering that no matter where we are, or what we are doing with our lives, Noora and I can pick up right where we left off and act just like we did back in high school - sisters. 

Just had to include a picture of this epic waffle

And last but not least, me and my beautiful Finnish sister!