Trip to Tampere

Since we had a game on Friday (which we won 3-0) and our next game isn't until next Saturday, we had the entire weekend off! Although the temperature has been getting colder, the weather has actually been a lot nicer lately. There is more sun and less rain! After doing our regeneration on Saturday (I have reduced this from a 5k run to 30 minutes on the elliptical), we boarded a bus to go to Tampere. Tampere is a bigger city about an hour away from Hameenlinna. They have a lot more shopping and things to do and we all needed new winter jackets, so we thought that we should go while we had a few days off. 

The bus to Tampere was quite expensive (11.80 euros= $16.50 each way), but both of the buses were new, clean, and very nice. Luckily the bus station is located close to the center of town and some major shopping areas. We started off at what would be considered a mall. As many of you know, I am drawn to more to summer clothes like shorts, skirts, and tank-tops, so it took a lot of me to just look at the winter gear. I tried on lots of hats, scarves and jackets. I didn't want to buy any accessories until I had a coat just to make sure that everything matched. At one of the last stores in the mall, I found a winter jacket. It was not as expensive as I anticipated and really cute:

The entire hood is removable and so is just the fur portion. I really liked that you can cinch in the sides so I don't look like a big box! It is also long enough which is often a problem for me! (Please ignore the mess on my floor- cleaning day is today! :))

After leaving the shopping center, we just walked around downtown. None of us are familiar with Tampere, so we thought the best plan was to wander around. We stopped in some more stores, but I did not find anything else to buy. And after walking for so long with my new coat, I realized that it is probably going to keep me very warm because it was so heavy! Towards the end of the day, we were all getting hungry, so we stopped at this Italian restaurant to grab a bite to eat. It was really nice to sit down after a day of walking. We headed back to the bus terminal after dinner, not sure of when the next bus for Hameenlinna was leaving. Luckily, there was a bus waiting at the station to leave so we just hopped on it and were back in Hameenlinna by 8 pm. Overall, it was a beautiful day outside and exciting that I found a new winter coat! Here are two pictures taken while walking around Tampere:

 View of part of the city from the bridge right by where we ate dinner. This was one of the fastest moving small rivers I have ever seen!

A pretty little church located near the bus station.