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.
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". ;-)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. :-)
