My first visit to Finland brought me to Tampere; a city in the south of Finland approx. 180 kilometer north-west of Helsinki. Purpose of this trip was the MeeGo Summit and therefore this trip was more or less business-related rather then private but still I tried to capture some local impressions.

The trip started in Munich with Finnair to Helsinki and then with a propelle-aircraft to Tampere (fairly cheap – 280€ overall for at the end 4 flights).

The weather that was waiting – fairly cold with 3-10 degree Celsius but very sunny. Still Finland’s lakes were covered with thick ice (perfect view while flying with the propelle-aircraft). I was told that the spring just started and the temperatures rose above freezing point just a couple days ago.

Tampere is an fairly old manufacturing town but with its own charm. Nice old official buildings like the Renaissance Revival Raatihuon (City Hall) or large brick-build manufacturing halls. My first memorable (in this case nerdy) observation was done at the Helsinki airport (twitter/7grad):

„Charging your phone for free over induction with #powerkiss at helsinki airport http://yfrog.com/h0ns1wplj„

Others were:

  • perfect 3G reception with extraordinary DL/UL data rates
  • night-life starts 00:00 but not only teenagers also parents or even grandparents with kids
  • sauna a must have for every house /house hold
  • very friendly people with a very open mindset

Overall, a very nice trip that was very much enjoyable even if it was work-related.