An hour and a half north of Helsinki there’s a small city called Tampere. It was recently voted the best place in Finland to live. That makes me mad since I actually used to live there back in 2007 and 2008, but anyway, in Tampere there’s an amusement park called Särkänniemi. It’s like Six Flags, but much smaller, and just as expensive. Construction is currently taking place on a children’s part of the park that has an Angry Birds theme. It’s the first official Angry Birds amusement park as far as I know. Back in September 2011 I reported on a Chinese Angry Birds theme park, which apparently no one at Rovio even knew existed. But back to Finland, what does this new wing of Särkänniemi look like?
Watch this video, which sadly can not be embedded.
Now you have a reason, other than Nokia, to visit Finland. In fact, the first of May is coming up really soon, which is called Vappu, and that’s something you don’t want to miss. My fried James Reeves, who used to live in Helsinki, but now lives in New Orleans, had this to say about Vappu 2009:
“Given the conspiratorial tones surrounding Vappu, I half-expected cars set ablaze and Molotv cocktails flying through the air. But it’s more like a Saturday night on steroids and a few hits of bad acid. Beyond that, I’m at a loss to describe Vappu to you. There’s no handy American analogy. Try Mardi Gras in New Orleans without the music and parade. Or New Year’s Eve in Times Square without the countdown to a new year. Maybe spring break on the Florida coast without the beach or the girls going wild. But none of these are quite right. Vappu is very much its own thing with overheated crowds, sailor hats, students dangling from a statue, lots of balloons, people running around in restaurants singing songs, packs of wild teenagers, and more liquor than Mardi Gras, New Year’s Eve, and spring break combined.”
Call me once you land and let’s hit up a bar.
Note: Ripping the video and uploading it to our own YouTube channel is very easy to do, but it’s also kind of sort of morally wrong.