Question for Sinppu -Turku or Tampere?

Sinppu. You were so helpful with your information when we visited Helsinki on a cruise last summer. We spent a wonderful 4 hours on Suomenlinna and waved at the ferries coming in from Sweden.

In June of this year we'll be spending a week in Helsinki and would like to do a day trip to Porvoo and then either Turku or Tampere. Tampere wouldn't be quite as far to go on the train. I know you've lived in Turku, but wonder which city you think would be best for us to visit. We like architecture and nature.

We're going to the Zoo, Seurasaari, the allotment gardens/cottages, Suomenlinna again and explore off the beaten track in Helsinki. Would you have any other day trips to recommend or things to see in the Helsinki area?

DH was born in Finland but was a baby when they moved to Canada. He spoke Finnish until he was 6 and then lost it. He's just started taking Finnish lessons (at 56 years young). He's been able to understand quite a bit but not speak it. His pronunciation is good but he says the grammar is killing him.:eek:

Kiitos.

Lynn ja Juha

The grammar is a slow death to EVERYONE :D

My husband is from Tampere so I know both towns very well and they have a special place in my heart.

To you I would recommend Tampere. It is an old industrial town situated between two lakes (Pyhäjärvi and Näsijärvi) with a lot of cultural heritage and it is chosen as the best place to live in Finland almost every year. The people are relaxed and easygoing.

Tampere has very quirky museums, interesting architecture (a library shaped a like a bird and a church shaped like a fish!) and generally a very close relationship with nature.

Pyynikki observation tower is a classic: You walk up the hill, eat freshly baked munkki (a big sugar-coated Finnish doughnut) at the café and then take in the magnificent views of the whole town.

If you have any more questions, fire away! We both love Tampere very much and are looking to relocate there sometime in the future.

When are you coming? I'm happy to help with anything :)

Kiitos Sinppu. We'll put Tampere on the list. I've seen photos of the tower so we'll definitely be going up for the view. I'm just starting my research as we only found out a couple of weeks ago that we're going. We don't have the date yet, but should know in the next few weeks.....it will be sometime in June. Perhaps we'll be there for Juhannuspaiva. I'll definitely be asking you more questions.

Juha's problem is that he doesn't have anyone he can practice his Finnish on or ask questions. And Google Translate works well for translating words, but when you try to put a sentence together it butchers the translation!!

Hei hei.

Lynn

Juha's problem is that he doesn't have anyone he can practice his Finnish on or ask questions. And Google Translate works well for translating words, but when you try to put a sentence together it butchers the translation!!

Hei hei.

Lynn

Google Translator works well with languages that have simple grammar and are written and spoken the same way. Finnish is definitely not one of them. It's a very informal language and no one speaks it the way it's written (or is grammatically correct...)

Big applause to Juha for trying!

He can always write to me if he wants to. I'm a languages major myself so I do understand the difficulties of learning another language.

I have great restaurant suggestions for you when you come :)

For Porvoo, I recommend going there by boat. Royal line departs from Market square and arrives in central Porvoo. I think there is 1 trip per day, but check the schedule. You can get round trip ticket, or 1-way ticket (taking inter-city bus the other direction, but when I did that, the bus terminated at Kamppi Center, about 20min walk from market square, but no biggie)

If you ride on the open air upper deck, don't forget sun screen.

It's a really pretty route. Glad I did it.

Have had internet withdrawal symptons the last 1 1/2 days. Our modem died, but got a new one so up and running again. Sinppu, we'd love to have restaurant suggestions. And, would you have any hotels you could recommend in central Helsinki...anything within 20 minutes or so walk from the train station would be OK. We had considered staying in Helsinki after our cruise last year and were booked at Hotel Fabian, however, it's now jumped to the #1 hotel on TripAdvisor and unfortunately the prices have jumped up as well.

tg_lindo. Thanks for the boat info to Porvoo. I had seen that and we'll consider it if the weather is favourable. The boat one way and bus the other would be good. I've seen the photos of Porvoo and it looks wonderful.

Lynn

Have had internet withdrawal symptons the last 1 1/2 days. Our modem died, but got a new one so up and running again. Sinppu, we'd love to have restaurant suggestions. And, would you have any hotels you could recommend in central Helsinki...anything within 20 minutes or so walk from the train station would be OK. We had considered staying in Helsinki after our cruise last year and were booked at Hotel Fabian, however, it's now jumped to the #1 hotel on TripAdvisor and unfortunately the prices have jumped up as well.

 

tg_lindo. Thanks for the boat info to Porvoo. I had seen that and we'll consider it if the weather is favourable. The boat one way and bus the other would be good. I've seen the photos of Porvoo and it looks wonderful.

Lynn

Sure, I have many suggestions :) Finnish, Italian, Spanish, Cross-kitchen, steakhouses... If you'd like to meet up, we are up for that too!

It depends what you want from a hotel. We have a budget chain called Omena (apple) that is quite cheap when booked well in advance, but of course they do not have all the amenities "normal" hotels have.

There are plenty of hotels a bit further from the centre that might have better prices. The area called Hakaniemi is close to the centre and has a lot of hotels around a market that might be a bit cheaper. It's a nice area, my mother lives there ;)

Check these links, they'll give you some guideline about the prices:

http://www.omenahotels.com/

(the link can't be seen, but try googling Cumulus hotels)

I'd love to come to Ontario one day. We are going to B.C next August as we have an Alaska cruise coming up, but Eastern Canada has me hooked already :)

Sinppu....would you like to email me at moosetracks_1957 (at) yahoo (dot) com. We'd love to meet up with you both...try out one of those restaurants!

Lynn