Happy Independence Day Finland!

Today Finland is celebrating its 98th year of independence, and I'm a little sad, because I was supposed to be in my home town, Tampere, raising a glass or two with my sister and my father. Instead, I'm recovering from a nasty bug. Oh well, there's always next year, and in 2017 Finland will be 100 years old! The centenary celebrations are already being planned in Finland as well as by ex-pat Finns all over he world.

I did an interview with the Chairman of the Finland 100 Years Committee for a magazine a few months ago. Click here to read the whole article. (Sorry, it's in Finnish, but there's more about the celebrations on the 'Finland 100 Years' website in English here.)

Later tonight I shall be watching the annual Independence ball from the Presidential palace in Helsinki, to see who's been honoured with an invite, and more importantly what everyone is wearing. Here's hoping the YLE (Finnish Broadcasting Corporation) live streaming works this year...

I hope all you fellow Finns and friends of Finland, have a

Happy Independence Day!

Five Places to Eat and Drink in Tampere, Finland

I was born in Tampere, this former Finnish industrial town, but now we live in London, I don't often spend more than a couple of days here.

Last week, however, my father was rushed into hospital, and the Englishman and I flew into town, having cancelled our skiing holiday in Lapland. My dad is now better, thank goodness, but the week spent here has allowed us to sample some of the eateries in town. Here's five of them (in no particular order):

1. Scandic Tampere Station
The first night we were here was Valentines Day, and having not thought to book, we found it difficult to get a table anywhere. Even the restaurant in our hotel, the new Sokos Solo Torni, a towering construction by the railway station, could only accommodate us at ten pm. So we decided to grab a quick beer by the Scandic hotel opposite. It was a bitterly cold night (for us soft southerners at least), so we ended up eating there too. I had a perfectly reasonable reindeer steak and the Englishman and Big Sis a sirloin, washed down with a bottle of Malbec. If in a hurry before grabbing a train, you could do worse than eat here.

2. Stockmann's Fazer Cafe 
I'm really not able to visit Tampere without having lunch or coffee at the top floor cafe at Stockmann's. This place brings so many memories of my childhood and since, and although the food doesn't exactly stand out here, it doesn't disappoint either. We had a very enjoyable salad followed by coffee - which to be fair wasn't so brilliant - and an excellent cinnamon bun.

3. 4 Vuodenaikaa Restaurant at Kauppahalli
Kauppahalli, the covered market at Hämeenkatu, has several good cafés and lunch places, but the best in our opinion is the 4 Vuodenaikaa (4 Seasons). It's a French style restaurant with a short, daily changing menu of fish and meat dishes, nestled at one end of the market. It gets very busy, with seating on first-come-first served basis, so there's often a queue at the till. It's worth the wait, however. We had fried pike-perch with carrot risotto and spinach sauce, a dish which would have been a star turn in any Parisian bistro. 

The restaurant is also right next to the best fish mongers in town, the Ahlströms. If you are able to buy and cook your own food while in Tampere, you must get the fish from here. They do fresh, smoked and pre-prepared dishes, and their version of the traditional Savo rye pastry pie of sprats and bacon, Kalakukko, is slightly lighter and can be bought by the slice. Perfect for a light supper.

4. Pikkubistro Kattila 
On Tuesday night we stumbled across this little new restaurant on Alexis Kiven katu, (just off the main street, Hämeenkatu which runs through Tampere centre) and were very pleasantly surprised about the quality of the food and the friendliness of the staff. We were not going to have a big meal, but as we sat down and saw the menu, we couldn't resist the starters. This was the right choice, as the Englishman's cold-smoked pike perch was absolutely delicious, as was my main of slow cooked beef. The Englishman had Moroccan lamb, which he reported was excellent. After such good two dishes, we couldn't resist pudding either. I had chocolate mousse to die for, and the Englishman had sea buckthorn pastry with vanilla yoghurt mousse. Kattila has a different menu every night of the week, and we'll definitely sample their cooking again.

5. Kaffila 
This small, cozy coffee place serves most delicious coffees, teas, cakes and pastries. This time of year in mid-February, they had the traditional cream buns, Laskiaspulla, eaten in Finland for Shrove Tuesday. We've had quite a few of these light, cardamom scented buns during the week, but Kaffila served by far the best ones. They also had Oatly oat milk for my no-milk latte, and the Englishman reported that his Americano was perfect too, so we were both happy.

Lastly I must mention Pispalan Pulteri. Not one of the five because I wasn't so very impressed by it, but if you wish to visit an authentic Tampere institution, make your way Pispala. This is an old worker's quarter which has since become the most desirable area to live in, mainly due its old charm provided by wooden houses, built higgledy piggledy during the first part of the 20th century, on a hillside overlooking one of the large lakes surrounding the city, Näsijärvi. Pispalan Pulteri is an old bar/pub which various Tampere artists have frequented over the years, and if I'd asked for coffee and vodka, I'm sure I would have been served it without an eye brow being raised. Instead we had two beers, but the Englishman refused point blank to eat there after a visit to the gents. Say no more.

Happy Independence Day!

Today Finland celebrates its independence. I have written before about the history of my country of birth, and about what being in independent means to a Finn, here. But this year, today is even more special for me, because the main celebrations are being held in my home town of Tampere.

Finnish flags flying at Tampere Hall. Photo: Jukka Kuusinen/Yle

The highlight of the day, the Presidential Ball is taking place in Tampere Hall, a concert centre, because the Presidential Palace in Helsinki is undergoing major renovations. Big Sis who's in Tampere at the moment, tells me there's been a lot of hoo-ha in Finland about the lack of any dancing during the ball. It's a bit of a tradition in Finland to see how well the President, or the ministers, or various celebrities who've been honoured with an invite to the televised Ball fare on the crowded dance floor. 'This year it's going to be a different kind of Independence Day - a celebration the Tampere way,' my sister said to me over Skype and threw her head back and laughed.

Our home town is indeed a bit different - dubbed the Manchester of Finland, it has its roots in heavy industry and the working classes. Although nowadays the industry, instead of being heavy metal and cotton  mills, is information and communication technology and skilled engineering, so the town is more white collar than blue collar. To me, Tampere still feels different, more old-fashioned and traditional than, say Helsinki or Turku.

In any case, even if there's a departure from important traditions, such as dancing, I still hope the celebrations in Tampere go well and the organisers do the city proud. If you want to see what really goes on during the Independence Day in Finland, you can follow the celebrations from my home town on YLE (Finnish Broadcasting Corporation) here.

Hyvää Itsenäisyyspäivää kaikille suomalaiseille!

Feeling Homesick

I've recently come back from Tampere in Finland, from a surprise trip arranged at the last minute due to a family crisis. I won't go into what that was, but I ended up being in my hometown for a week, visiting areas of the city which I just haven't had the reason to go to for a long time. Each day of my visit I drove past my old primary school, the woods where we cross country skied in the winter, and the area where our family home was, before we moved to Stockholm. 

During this time in Tampere I also once again marveled at how the city has changed. The two main factories, Finlayson and Tampella no longer produce cotton or machinery, instead the areas have been developed into cultural centres and high quality residential areas. Many old apartment blocks are receiving facelifts; even the train station now has a set of escalators and some lifts. (I know, they've probably been there for a years, but it was the first time I'd noticed them).

When I got back London, after all was OK with family, I found myself thinking how I could arrange my life so that I could live in Tampere. This, from the girl who swore she'd never go back there, or who has for months now been considering applying for British passport (I'm coming clean - I haven't done it yet!).

It helped that the weather in Tampere was glorious. The sun was shining every day, transforming the colour of the lakes into the brightest blue. Each way I looked there was water. One morning I went for a jog and ran past beautiful houses, into the woods along the shores of Lake Näsijärvi, and thought how wonderful it would be to be able to do this every day. The place was so peaceful, so calm, yet it only took a few minutes to reach the city centre by (a regular and not crowded) bus service. To think that I’d be able to have a sauna every day, or that no-one would ask me if I was in bad mood if I didn’t smile all the time!

When I came back to London, on the first morning the tube was hot and packed. On my way home the very same day, our local station was closed due to overcrowding, so I ended up, together with hundreds (perhaps thousands?) of other people, taking the long way round, adding an extra hour to my journey home. Why do I live in a sardine tin of a city like London, I wondered, as I tried to keep my nose out of a particular smelly armpit in another full-to-bursting tube carriage.

At the weekend I went to Harris and Hoole in Crouch End for a coffee and the girl behind the desk asked, after mishearing my name as Elena, if I was Italian. ‘No,’ I said, ‘Are you?’ ‘Yes,’ the girl answered, adding with sad look in her eyes, ‘I’ve just come back.’ I looked at her and replied, ‘I’ve just come back from my home town in Finland and keep wondering what an earth I’m doing living in London.’ She laughed and nodded.

So many of us displaced people feel the same homesickness. Yet, here we stay.

On location in Tampere, Finland

Those of you who know about my books (or have read them), will have noticed that Tampere, my home town, features heavily in two of them. It wasn't something I exactly planned, but I think in my mind I'm often there, even if I was only ten years old when I moved away with my family.

Every time I visit Tampere, I’m reminded of the stories, and the lives of Kaisa (The Englishman) and Eeva (Coffee and Vodka). I take pictures upon pictures of all the locations featured in the two books.

So I thought I’d share with you some of pictures I took of the places I had in my mind when I wrote the two novels.

The steps of the church (Tampere Cathedral)
where
Kaisa and The Englishman were married.

The Tampere Cathedral basking in sunshine.

A few pictures from Kalevankankaa cemetery where Eeva and her sister Anja  (in Coffee and Vodka) played when they were growing up in Tampere.

Here is the magnificent rapids which Kaisa in The Englishman feared when she was little.

What's in a cover - receive a free book!

I know some of you are patiently waiting the publication of my next novel. Something which I promised would happen very soon after The Englishman came out.

Alas, there have been some complications (aren't there always?).

Firstly, this next novel is very dear to my heart because it tells the story of a Finnish family who in the early 1970's emigrate to Stockholm. So when it comes out, I want it to look and feel absolutely right.

The heroine of the book is Eeva, who after a long day teaching Swedish to foreign students, receives a phone call from her father. Eeva hasn't spoken with Pappa for 30 years, not since her parents' dramatic break-up. Now Pappa tells Eeva that her beloved grandmother is dying and Eeva makes a snap decision to take the next overnight ferry across from Stockholm to Finland, to her home-town of Tampere. During the course of the journey Eeva remembers the first time she took the same crossing, in the opposite direction, as an excited 11-year-old together with her parents and older sister. Memories which she'd rather forget, flood back. While desperate to be with her grandmother, she doesn't think she can cope with seeing Pappa again. But on the ferry, and in Tampere, several surprises await her.

Initially when I wrote this book I called it Pappa's Girl. When it came to the cover design, I thought I knew exactly how I wanted the novel to look: a black and white image of a young girl, with the title in very similar letterings to that of The Englishman cover. I was even given a fantastic picture to use. With these tools, my wonderful cover designer, Simon, went to work and produced something beautiful (as he always does!). We whittled the options down to one cover (you'd be surprised how hard this is - the colouring, the font, the text, it goes on….). The most difficult item turned out to be the caption. I just could not decide on the wording and asked for help from my fellow Independent Writers.

The result of this unofficial poll was surprising. While many loved the cover, and the captions, almost as a 'by-the-way', it was revealed that all my peers thought Pappa's Girl was a book about child abuse. This is definitely not the case. While the novel deals with issues of displacement and family break-up, it's also funny (I hope!), and ultimately a book about love. It's definitely not a 'misery lit memoir'.

So back to the drawing board. A new name as well as a new cover were needed!

And since you've all been waiting patiently for so long, I decided to give you a sneak-a-peak of what covers we are working on now.

I'd also love your opinion on these three proposed covers for my next novel with the new name - drumroll please -  Coffee and Vodka.

What's more, the first ten voters will receive a free copy of Coffee and Vodka when it's published in March. 

All you have to do is to say which of the three covers below you prefer. Give your name and your favourite of A, B or C in the message section below, and I will contact you to get your details for the free copy of Coffee and Vodka.

Cover A

Cover B

Cover C

I cannot wait to see which cover gets the most votes!

I love this!

I adore old adverts and this one for Finnish coffee from the sixties (or fifties?) takes me right back to my childhood in Tampere. It evokes the smell of the coffee beans my grandmother used to prepare in her wooden grinder. She held the light pine contraption in her ample lap and with a concentrated look on her face turned the handle, and soon the coffee would be ready to be mixed with water and cooked in a copper pan on the stove.  

Childhood in a poster!

Tampere in the summer

During my holiday I made a quick visit to my hometown, Tampere, with the Englishman, Daughter and Sister, to mark a significant birthday. The weather was absolutely stunning - hot and sunny - making this old industrial town appear frivolous and fun.

We stayed in a hotel as there were so many of us. I chose a place close to the centre, the Sokos Ilves Hotel which was also recommended in the Conde Nast article I wrote about here. It's a multistory building, ugly to look at, but the views across Kehräsaari and the two new bridges across Pyhäjärvi from the (pleasant enough) rooms were stunning.

The view from our 18th floor rooms

I've written before about the incredible light in Finland in June. Because I'm so used to living in the UK where even in the summer it gets dark at a reasonable hour, on holiday I found it really difficult to sleep past the three am sunrise. Equally in the evenings it seemed strange to go to bed when it was still light.

In Tampere we decided to live according to the sun, and sleep as little as possible, so off we went in the evening to find a watering hole. Surprise, surprise, there were quite a few like-minded people out on the town...(OK, two....)

A pigeon had settled on the head of one of the imposing statues on Hämeensilta bridge

This is how light it was twenty past eleven at night. It's no wonder us the Finns drink so much; in the summer it's too light not to celebrate with a glass or two and in the winter it's too depressing not to have a drink...ok that's one of the most contrived excuses I've made up for our behaviour ever.

My grandmother had her business on the top floor of Tempon Talo (Tempo House). Isn't it a beautiful building?

The bar was by the water's edge.

Next morning was another stunning day, and as we headed out of the hotel I couldn't resist taking the classic shot of Tampere: of the rapids which used to power the two large factories in town, Tampella and Finlayson.

We walked along the water, past the men fishing (in the centre of a Tampere!) to the Cathedral where I, more than 25 years ago now, married the Englishman. That day was a similarly hot and sunny one.

This church means so much to me I have to go and visit it every time I'm in Tampere. It has wonderful frescos painted by Hugo Simberg, a pupil of Akseli Gallen-Kallela. 

'Interesting medium,' said the Daughter and peered at one of the pictures depicting skulls and dead gardens. I thought how fleeting life is when one's youngest can say such grown-up things. (The other day she started a sentence 'I remember when I was a teenager...' What the????)

When I was a child we'd come to Tampere Cathedral every Christmas Eve. Sitting on the balcony next to my sister, full of anticipation of the imminent visit of Father Christmas, I'd look at the haunting images and wonder what kind of awful lives these children must have had. I wrote a short story about one of the images, the Wounded Angel, during my MA in Creative Writing a few years ago. Unfortunately during various moves and changes in computers, I've lost it. The image still haunts me, though, as does this city.

The balcony was closed for renovations (I presume) so I could only photograph the painting of the Wounded Angel from afar.

Here is my favourite fresco in all its glory.