Pori in the winter
Winter came into its own, announcing its appearance with a sharp attack at -15. Rivers, trees, sidewalks, ears and fingertips froze. But the planet continued to spin, and the craving for everything new pulsated in me until now, even in such an anabiotic state.
City of Pori. City and airport - sounds loud. The airport here, of course, is very homely. Arriving here on the last airship, I saw how only one person walked through all the premises of the building, turning off the lights there, and then locked the airport with a key and got into the car with 2 other employees who had previously thrown our luggage onto the tape. The airport fell asleep at night, like any decent citizen.
Before that, I managed to visit the cities of Usikapunki, Rauma and Kokkola, and I must say that Pori is quite a metropolis, by Finnish standards. Everything here is adult. There is also a market square and a medium-sized bus station.
There are several beautiful churches, and, of course, a museum. Oh yes! There is even a theater here.
In summer, Pori buzzes seriously. The whole summer there are rock, folk and jazz festivals, cultural events and this year there was even a world championship in windsurfing. Turns out it even has a beach. He is called Yeteri and he scattered his sand at a distance of about 6 km. So there is enough space for everyone.
In winter, events slow down, although it will not be completely boring in any case.
Once at the bus station, which is also the market square, I had 2 options. Go down the slope and hit the shopping. I note that the shops were shining in a very European way, and the New Year theme in the windows can lure anyone. Or go away from bright topics and head towards the river, towards the old part of the city. To be honest, my thinking had already acquired such a rational framework later, when I had a map.
Before that, they sounded extremely banal: “To the right or to the left? ".
Years of experience suggested that the first, in any case, should be the tourist information point, which was located here in the cinema building. While looking for this traveler's haven, I twice passed by the cinema I needed. The fact is that the plate with the letter “I” was, well, very unremarkable. But then everything fell into place. I recharged my hard drive with information, and filled my briefcase with the necessary maps and booklets. It was time to return to the path to knowledge and severe frost.
Driven by the frosty air, in a matter of minutes I went to the central church of Pori, which, moreover, is open to the public. I did not go inside, but I admired it from the outside. Its brick color contrasted admirably with the blue-and-white backdrop of snow and sky. Under the sun, she looked amazing and unreal.
Around the church were placed several sculptures of human figures in quite everyday poses. Some trio were discussing raising the price of bread, and one of them, for some reason, looked sideways at me. A little further away, some careless man slipped, and the nearby wife with a child clearly knew the reason why it all the same happened. In general, everything is natural to disgrace.
Behind the church, the Kokemaenjoki river flowed, creating an even more wintery atmosphere. The river flowed along the entire coast of the city, crossed by several bridges and separated the local park Kirjinluoto from me with its frozen banks. The mysterious, snow-covered place crowned with several pavilions has been the central place of recreation for children and adults for more than 100 years. In summer, along the banks of the river, you can frolic in kayaks and swim up to an oasis of untouched nature, but in winter you can only get into the park by a bridge.
Nature was amazing, the head was filled with bright thoughts, and the movement inside the body slowed down, as if listening to the reigning silence and peace of the snowy world in which it was so pleasant to dissolve at least for a while. But the fingers began to treacherously tingle and stiffen even faster than the conscience of police officers with increasing length of service. And the nasal flaps stuck together with every breath, threatening to stop the air supply through the nasal canals, clogging up until spring. It was necessary to go to the museum or any other institutions with positive emotions and temperatures.
To be honest, I was on my way to the Satakunta Museum, about which the information center employee had drunk me, but on the way I met the Pori Art Museum. He probably got me for a reason. Yes, and so I wanted the comfort of warm walls.
A girl who speaks excellent English introduced me to the program and said that since I was a student (why did she get this?
), then the ticket will cost me only 1 euro instead of 3.50. For 1 euro, I can see not only contemporary art, which sometimes looks very frank, but also any other art.
Without too much sentiment, I entered the hall called Next Planet. When I closed the door behind me, I did not quite understand what was happening. I was in a huge dark room, completely alone. In the distance hung a screen with a dim picture of the earth's surface, reminiscent of a deserted quarry. The picture was moving (although the action was rather monotonous) and moved to the accompaniment of a cutting ear crackling. To the right was a huge stand with running LEDs that flashed on and off in a mathematical sequence, reminiscent of the operation of a prehistoric computer. All together it was a little frightening and amazing. In the dark, I urgently began to look for an explanation for what I saw, as I was afraid to trust my intuition, which could paint a completely un-positive picture.
It turns out that it was the interpretation of a Czech enthusiast who tried to blur the lines between the physical and the illusory, the material and the immaterial, realism and abstraction. They can say that he succeeded, the boundaries of my understanding really blurred from “There is something in this” to “Wow, nonsense! ”, although I will refrain from more specific assessments. Contemporary art is all quite specific.
In the next room, the situation was no better. In front of the entrance, a modest avenue showed how to behave inside. Briefly stand in the center, raise your hands up and do not breathe. Something in the spirit of behavior in the office of a radiologist. The fact is that in front of you is a large screen with tinsel on it. And now if you repeat all the postulates. As mentioned at the entrance, the screen will form the pulsation of your heart. You can even check the beats per minute visually.
On the left and right are several screens demonstrating the capabilities of fluoroscopes and ultrasound machines. So to speak, for the effect of complete immersion. Well, the last room was the coolest of all.
A documentary film about two ladies who had seen Khrushchev was shown on the screen. They chat among themselves in an incomprehensible language, and for people like me, English subtitles were put on below. The exposition is called "Magic Kitchen". Their conversations are actually about the kitchen, with some calculations on the topic of everyday life. There are high chairs, a semi-fountain and photographs of the feast and dishes of this couple around. The photographs strike the eye with surrealism. I think a hundred similar pictures could be taken in any communal apartment, where Petrovich and Trofimych decided to drink "bitter" to the accompaniment of what God sent from a modest refrigerator.
I probably should have sat for half an hour and realized that the film is not about that at all, but I used to trust my feelings and the tact of the times.
The visit to the museum ended with a visit to a small art gallery. In front of the visitor, an artist unknown to me evolved from wall to wall. Her works led me to the idea that art can be considered everything that you can later broadly describe and lay a lining from your experiences and worldviews. I think if Malevich was asked about his "Square", then he would have expressed his thoughts for 15 minutes. Here is this art.
Despite all the extravagance of the museum complex, its visit left a mark on my soul and a note in the Finnish diary. From time to time, the exhibitions expand significantly and sometimes worthy works are presented to the attention, as the advertising brochure says. In general, if you pass by, come in, and if you don’t, then I would not recommend going here for the sake of the museum.
Poriartmuseum. fi
Etelaranta, 28100 Pori, Finland
Literally a stone's throw away is the next Satakunta Museum. The scale is bigger here.
Yes, and the basis is the collection that scrupulous Finns began to collect back in 1888. The building here, of course, is more modern, it is probably not 40 years old. But the century-old collection is impressive - more than 80.000 ethnological, cultural, historical and archaeological objects. Of course, I did not count everything, but it looks pretty big. I would say that this is the central museum in the city, and if you want to see only one museum, then this is it.
The entrance here is decorated seriously. Everything is like in people - a wardrobe, toilets, a cash desk, a cafe and a souvenir shop. At the checkout, the lady reacted poorly to my English, and in order not to drag out the conversation, I blurted out only a student ticket. It suited her. 2.50 and welcome.
The exposition looks at 3 floors.
At the very top there is a permanent exhibition “Satakunta rises from the water’s lap” about the life and life of the inhabitants of the region from and to.
The 2nd floor tells about the cultural heritage and history of the Satakunta region.
Here you can also look into a makeshift shop of the last century, look at old fishing methods, see the evolution of means for payment, and also rummage through a ladies' handbag of the 60s and 70s. Even wedding dresses and a life-size hearse of the last century are exhibited here.
On the first floor, the history of the development of Pori itself, starting from its foundation in 1558. There is also a model of the city in miniature, and multimedia "History of the wooden city". There is an impressive woodworking machine and a very impressive telephone that can be used to call the province.
I note that the museum is very well stocked and I have not been able to find so many interesting specimens in one place. Explanatory notes are all in Finnish. But in the corners there are computers with multimedia programs that tell about the exhibition in English.
It's a pity that this museum is not about our history and culture, which would be much more interesting for me. But it is strange to expect to see such a museum here.
Pori. fi/smu
Hallituskatu 11.28100 Pori, Finland
For those who are not enough, they can also look into the Rosenlew Museum pori. fi / smu / rosenlew-museo, but for me at that time it was already enough and I already wanted to break free, to meet snowflakes and street lights.
After wandering for a couple more hours through the snow-covered streets, I finally froze and decided that it was time to return to the bus station. Gulping down juicy pears from a nearby supermarket, I walked over to my platform. There were several platforms, but not a single ticket office. Tickets can be purchased directly on the bus, simply calling the destination to the driver. Moreover, there is one very positive detail - you can buy a ticket on the bus, even to where he himself does not go. This is not a joke or a scam. You just need to transfer to another bus, which will take you to the place.
I don’t know how many times you can change in this way and whether it is possible to buy a ticket to the other end of Finland and get on 10 buses. But such a ticket will cost much less than buying a ticket for each leg of the route.
In general, there are no cash desks, no schedule, only people and platforms. The Finns do not understand our brother's habit of asking everything. In Sevastopol, we have been hanging timetables for all directions for ten years now and, thank God, we have opened ticket sales via the Internet for a year now. But all the same, often near the ticket office you are pushed away by the playful hand of the owner, who is already sticking his head incommensurate with the ticket window forward with the eternal question: “What time is the next one to Foros? ".
