Lielahdenkatu 40 E 19 FIN-33410 Tampere Finland

02 October 2010

Dear David,

Thanks very much for your letter of September 23rd, which arrived this morning. It's been a while since I've gotten "paper mail" from you! Thanks for the enclosed photos, which I'll get scanned before you arrive so you'll have them in digital format for the rest of your trip. I agree it will be much easier to display them via your laptop than to keep handing around the prints, and of course this way you can also leave digital copies with each of the offices you visit.

It's great that you'll have a few days to visit us before going to Estonia and Lithuania. I have a couple of small things for you to take along to my former international office colleagues in Tartu and Vilnius, since I've heard that they will be hosting your stays there.

You said you'd be arriving in Helsinki Thursday morning and then taking the 13:04 train (IC-53), which arrives in Tampere at 14:52. Unfortunately, I have a class that day which lasts until 15:00, but as it only a short walk from the Tampere train station to the main university campus, I thought I'd just give you directions in this letter and then we can meet in the lobby of the university main building after my class is over. By the time I finish class and drop my notebooks off in my office and then walk from the Pinni B-wing over to the main building, you should have just arrived from the train station. It's easier if I meet you in the main building than try to give directions to my office. After we meet we can then decide where to go next.

Here are the directions from the train station to the university. You will arrive on Platform I of the Tampere train station. Just get off the train and follow the crowd down the steps from the platform. There is only one set of steps leading down from platform one, so you can't miss them.

Once you get to the bottom of the steps, depending on which end of the platform you came down from (which in turn will depend on whether you were on one of the first or last cars of the train), you will see on one side a set of brass-colored swinging doors leading into the station waiting room, and on the other side a tunnel which leads to the other track platforms.

You said you probably wouldn't be carrying much luggage, but if you wish to check something, then go through the brass doors into the waiting room. If you turn left after passing the R-Kioski shop, you will see a passageway straight ahead, past the R-Kioski and ticket office on the left. About 15-20 yards down the passageway are some beige-colored luggage lockers. You could leave your bag there and we could pick it up on the way home.

The cost for the lockers is 2 euros for 24 hours, and you need two one-euro coins to operate those lockers. If you don't have two one-euro coins but do have one two-euro coin, you could go all the way down to the end of the passageway (another 10 yards or so) and there are some gray lockers that take two-euro coins. There is also a barber and an ATM machine down there, plus the station's police office, if any of those would be useful.

But if you don't want to check anything, or after you have checked something, as the case may be, then — back at the bottom of the steps where you came down from platform one — you should turn away from the brass doors leading to the waiting room and walk to the far end of the tunnel. On your left will be Videofirma Makuuni, a movie-rental place, and at the end of the tunnel is a pizzeria. When you get there you will see brass doors on the left leading out of the tunnel. Go through these and then turn right in the second, wider tunnel in which you will now find yourself. After turning right, walk straight toward the end of the tunnel. As you near the end there will be an optician's shop on your left, and a florist and then a small Spar-Express food shop on your right. Exit the station tunnel through the automatic doors.

Outside, you will be in a small plaza. To your right will be steps going upwards. Straight ahead will be a restaurant-pool hall (there is a Ravintola sign on the wall). To the left of the pool hall is a walkway going along the side of the building and then up a set of stairs. You should go along this walkway. (Taking the stairs up to the right would have been a short-cut to the university, but the route I'm describing instead is easier to give directions for.)

What you are going to do is just to walk one block uphill from the train station to the first traffic lights, and then turn right and walk straight for four more blocks. This will put you at the front door of the main building of the university, where I will meet you. The whole trip will take about 10 minutes, roughly five up to the traffic lights and then another 5 to the main building.

When going up the stairs next to the pool hall, you will see the Sevilla Bar & Kitchen on your right. After the top of the stairs, also on your right, will be an old two-story red brick building. Continue along the walkway past this building. Painted on the steps leading to the door at the walkway end of the building are the words "Music Film Theatre" (unless it has snowed by then and one can't see the steps). There is a lighted sign over the door to the building which says Klubi.

After passing this building there will be another small plaza. Across the plaza to your right is a shopping mall called Tuulintori. On the side of the plaza toward which you are walking you will see a newish red-brick building with two signs, saying Bar and Passion (the "Passion" sign being bright red — sounds interesting, doesn't it!). Immediately behind this two-story building you will see an older five-story red brick building with lots of windows at an intersection which you can probably already see, where you will turn right. Continue toward the intersection, with the red brick library building on your right.

The traffic lights are at the corner of Itsenäisyydenkatu (the street you've been walking up) and Yliopistonkatu (which leads off to the right, where you will go next). "Yliopistonkatu" means "University street" — it leads directly to the university main building.

At the intersection, turn right and start walking down Yliopistonkatu. You will see the sign with the street name halfway across the pedestrian crossing, and on the wall of the red brick building behind you as you are standing at the corner. One block ahead on Yliopistonkatu you will see the Holiday Inn hotel. Keep walking straight down Yliopistonkatu, past the hotel. Between the library and the university main building you will cross four streets. The third of these is Åkerlundinkatu, and at that point, to your left across the street will be the entrance of Tampere-talo, the large white-tiled Tampere Conference and Convention Center. This in turn is directly across the next street from the university.

Yliopistonkatu ends at a "T-intersection" with Kalevantie, which runs in front of the university. From the right side of Yliopistonkatu, where you've been walking, you'll need to first cross Yliopistonkatu and then cross Kalevantie to reach the university main building. Use the two pedestrian crossings, as there is a lot of traffic.

When you've crossed Kalevantie you'll be standing in front of the main building. In front of you will be a largish stone sculpture. Behind this is the entrance to the university. Above the doors is the sign Tampereen Yliopisto ("University of Tampere").

Go through the doors into the lobby. Just to your right is a round "info point." We can meet there. To the right of this is the "University Shop," if you want to inspect what they have. There are also chairs next to the windows where you could sit. Or, across the lobby are some public computer terminals if you'd like to check your e-mail. I should be arriving at the "info point" about the same time you get there, so you shouldn't need to wait long.

If disaster strikes (or the train is late) my office phone is 03-35516116 (you don't need to dial the "03" if you are already in Tampere). There is an answering machine on that phone, and I have to stop in my office before coming over to the main building to meet you, so I'll get your message if something comes up to delay your arrival.

Just in case you need it — for example if there is a downpour when you arrive and you'd rather take a taxi than walk in the rain — the street address of the university main building is Kalevantie 4. I doubt if there'll be any difficulty, but it's good to have backup options, just in case!

I'm looking forward to seeing you again soon. Have a great trip!

Yours,

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