Album 271
(Translated by
Ekaterina Ivanova)
To conclude the set of albums about Finland, I would
like to offer to your
attention two main tourist sights of Hameenlinna city - a tower and a
fortress.
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Hameenlinna is a small town with a
population of 44,000 people. It is
located about 100 km away from Helsinki, near a Vanayavesi lake. |
| Near by on the parking lot, such a car
was noticed. It has a licence plate "ANN-1", which suits the appearance
of this car so well. :-) Commentary by Michail:
Just to note, the standard licence plate in Finland consists of three
letters and three digits; black on white. If the licence plate that you
see is the other way around - similar to those in USSR years ago - white
on black, then usually the car is a retro or antique, and it had
received its licence plate before the modern standard was introduced.
Besides standard plates, there are "commercial" plates - for an extra
fee at a time of registration one can get a licence plate with a
different amount of letters and digits. In Finland, it is considered to
be very prestigious to have licence plates which form a name - for
example, once I saw a young lady in a limousine, whose licence plate red
"JOK-I", i.e. "PETITE RIVER". ;-) |
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The tower was built in XIX century, so it
could not have functioned in defence. Yet, it looks highly impressive. |
| Here you can see the name of the
architect and the date when the tower was built. |
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Inside the tower there is a staircase
which leads to the top. (Free of charge). |
| Somewhere in the middle, there is a
landing (resting area) equipped with chairs and a table. The design of
the furniture is very interesting: apparently it is made of trees' roots. |
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View from the observation area at the top. |
| Nearby there is a sculpture, portraying
a group of bears. The construction matearial is probably stone, but it
has cracks in it, so it gives a feeling that it is a bear's skin. |
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The symbol of Hameenlinna town - fortress
Hame. |
| The construction of the fortress began in
XIII. Later it was built and rebuilt many times; it is very evident from
the combination of stone and brick. |
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XVIIIth century - external rampart around
the fortress (on the top picture).
Towers - middle ages.
Walls around the towers - XVI-XIX centuries.Former municipal prison
is attached to the fortress (is not visible on pictures). |
| Buildings across the river from the
fortress. |
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The artillery museum is nearby, as well. |
| This is a "hot", new hobby of Finns - "sport-walking
with poles". When one walks, leaning on the poles, equal force is
exerted on every part of the body...kind of. :-) |
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Impressing sight, especially against the
clouds. |
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