Pictures: Highway Sign in Turku | In the Tamrock Factory

   Leif Discovering Finland

I had the pleasure of going to Turku, Finland (just west of Helsinki) on business for a week.  Although this was primarily a work trip, I got to spend a bit of time sightseeing and just interacting with people. 

We (my boss and I) left Toronto on Friday, April 3 and arrived in Turku Saturday, April 4th after going through London and Stockholm. Our luggage and test equipment got left in London!

Saturday evening we wandered around Turku a bit.

Sunday we got a tour of the city of Turku, and Turku Castle, which was used to defend the area from undesirables over the last millenium (now a museum.) Our luggage arrived Sunday afternoon!

Monday we went to work, installing a guidance system onto the latest robotic mining vehicle. The rest of the week was pretty much all work with a bit of time doing the tourist thing.

We learned some neat things about Finland and its culture:

A first-world country, Finland has a standard of living equal to (or better than) in Canada.  Although McDonald's, video stores, Windows 95 and the like abound, I occasionally got a subtle reminder that I was in another country.  Here are some of the things that I, as a Canadian citizen, found different:

Random Interesting Facts

• Stores close at 6:00 PM and are usually not open weekends.
• Palm Sunday (1 week before Easter) is when the kids dress as witches and go trick-or-treating.
• Women definitely have equal status.  During the 30 Years War, all the men took off, leaving the women in charge of the country. They haven't let the men forget it!
• Everybody over age 10 has a cell phone.  (They're really cheap).
• Everyone must do 2 years military service between ages 18 and 30.
• Every office with more than about 20 employees has a sauna and a pool.
• The pop dispensers in office cafeterias sell beer as well.
• Modern faucets have a safety switch which prevents you from scalding yourself.

Food and Drink

As Finland is a coastal country, fish is certainly a staple.  It appears in some unexpected places:

• "Opera Pizza", with Tuna, is a big favorite (it's really good.)
• Pickled Herring for breakfast.

Being neighbors with Sweden means there's fantastic beer available everywhere.  A local cider called "Woodpecker" is also very good. I brought back some Lakka (Cloudberry Liqueur).

Turku's four top nightspots are "The Bank", "The Pharmacy", "The School", and "The Underground Escapeway to Berlin."

Apocalyptica

Apocalyptica is one of the coolest bands ever, specializing in covers of groups like Metallica and Sepultura, but using *cellos*.  They put on a concert in Turku to promote their new album, "Inquisition Symphony".  Tickets were sold out by the time I got there, but I got to sit outside and listen for a few minutes.  Absolutely amazing.  If their tour brings them to North America, check them out!

Engineering in Finland

In Finland, Engineering and quality are synonymous.  Companies don't bother to make a big deal of the fact that they're ISO 9001 certified, it's taken for granted.  Everything is designed, simulated, and tested to the minutest detail.  

As a final touch, a focus is put on presentation to emphasize the quality underneath.   Many products, regardless of their purpose, have the company's logo silk-screened on along with a colorful paint job.

Thursday we finished the job, and unfortunately didn't have time to visit the host company (Tamrock)'s sauna before catching the flight back. Many companies in Finland have a sauna and pool right in their offices!

-- Leif