Mikkeli: a stroll at Tertti Manor

The lawn is still green at Tertti Manor at Mikkeli, in the South Savo region of Finland. Whoever mowed the lawn must have been enjoying himself or herself; it would never cross my mind to make patterns on the grass! If you are standing on the driveway, you may notice that the arrowhead is pointing towards the walled garden...

However, the Secret Garden, surrounded by the thick granite walls (there used to be a large cow-house) is closed for the winter. No wonder - the more than 200 different flowers inside the walls must be weary already, having been at their best in July when there are guided tours to the garden on Sunday afternoons. At other times you can only visit the garden by prior arrangement.

You can take a peek into the garden through the closed gate but there is hardly anything to see now. October isn't the best time to visit a garden in Finland...

However, not all is lost: Virginia creeper makes my day as it is covering a large part of the stone wall in flaming red colour.

Not everything looks as happy as Virginia creepers. Poor common hops have lost their colour and turned dry and brown already in their poles.

I return to the pink wooden manor house along a short alleyway lined with tall, old spruces. These days, the old Tertti Manor building serves visitors as a restaurant. Behind it there is another old style building with a couple of guest rooms. The open verandah resembles a gazebo. It would be a lovely place for a cup of tea when the pink Tertti rose is in bloom.

The front garden of the manor house slopes gently towards the nearby lake Säkälampi. There are quite a few apple trees, among others, but the greatest tree of all is the 140 years old white willow. How about sitting down on the bench with a book, under the protecting arms of the aged willow tree?

I follow the soft, somewhat muddy path to the shore of lake Säkälampi. We are not in the middle of nowhere; you can hear the sounds of the road nearby. However, the view over the fields is relaxing - this is the countryside, after all. I take a path to the right and walk through the small forest to another small field. A narrow brook is waiting for me.

There is a tiny wooden bridge over the brook. This is not just any bridge: it has a name, Ponte Hoh Hoijaa. (Hoh hoijaa can be roughly translated as a big sigh after the day's work is done...) The bridge was opened in 2001. I guess I'm now at the edge of Tertti arboretum.

A good guess... There are quite a few colourful leaves on the ground that have fallen from trees that don't grow in a regular Finnish forest. Rhododendron is also something that you need to plant there, but once you've done it it may well survive the winters at least in the southern part of Finland.

Wish I knew more about the different tree species! What on earth are these tall, slim fir trees called? They have been planted in such straight rows...

To my surprise, I spot a granite post in the middle of the arboretum - typically used to tell the distance to the nearest towns by the side of the road a couple of decades ago but now history - which has a lots of numbers on it. What do the x and y mean? What does number 10 refer to? At least I can guess that P stands for longitude, L stands for latitude.

What a great sunny day. I can imagine not just sitting down to read by the tall willow I met earlier but also here...

The stone fence is not extremely long but it is a rare sight these days, having taken days and hours to build. You can't build one with a machine. You can tell this is a pretty new fence because if it were an old one, it would already be covered with moss.

I leave the arboretum and start walking back towards the Tertti Manor house, following the narrow road that leads me past the last flowers of the summer by the side of the field.

Members of cabbage family can take many colours, not just the typical green. Wow!

The square garden close to the manor includes lots of different herbs, salads and whatever you can think of. This must be the secret behind Tertti manor's restaurant: their own herb garden. The sign promises that Lemon balm can turn old women to young maidens...

The patio in the middle of the garden has been carefully decorated. In the summer time, you can sit here and sip tea or coffee, served from the Dairy Café next door, and smell the herbs and plants around you.

The sun is close to setting. I take a last look at the garden that is so close to falling asleep for the winter, with the last bits and pieces waiting to be picked up, dried or used fresh in the kitchen. I wonder who gets to enjoy these lovely artichokes?

Mikkeli: visit to Naisvuori

The sun smiles at me, almost surprisingly (rain is a frequent guest these days), when I start walking towards Naisvuori hill from the market square at Mikkeli in south Savo. Walking along Maaherrankatu street something strikes me on the asphalt. There are some words embedded on the pavement. In front of the optician's shop it says optikko, 

whereas by the goldsmith shop Oskari Laitinen the pavement says kelloja (clocks), koruja (jewellery) and kihloja (engagement rings). A great combination of advertising and street art ;-) After crossing the street, I notice a plaque attached on the pillar of the corner building. The oldest sports club in the greater Savo region, currently called Mikkelin Ampujat ry (Mikkeli Shooting Club) was founded in the inn that was right here back in 1886. What a pity that the inn doesn't exist anymore. 

The park on my right is called Kirkkopuisto (Church Park) but the wooden church is long gone, having been destroyed by fire. The only remaining building in the park is the open-air stage which is quite neat.

The view from the stage opens towards the fountain and the happy birds that are rising from the water. Behind them, you can spot the glass roof of the fairly new shopping center Stella which replaced the old small market hall and the bus station. The new bus station is now located by the railway station.

I join the "line" of solitary walkers that is crossing the park diagonally to Maaherrankatu. The yellow autumn leaves add a dash of colour to the green lawns. I soon arrive at the corner of Maunukselankatu street and spot the sign to Naisvuori hill which has for a while been hidden behind the apartment buildings.

Below the steep rock there are quite a few plants - like a somewhat wild rock garden. In the winter, the garden is resting, but during the early summer, you can see rhododendrons in bloom.

Right now the Virginia creeper is painting the view flaming red, to add more fire to the autumn colours.

The granite steps that lead to the top of Naisvuori hill make it easy to climb up but I wouldn't recommend high heels for this route.

This must be the first time I see a tree like this in Finland but I instinctively think it must be a yew tree. They do not grow wild in Finland! The bright red berries look very inviting but I remember from some Agatha Christie novel that they are poisonous.

When I see the colourful plastic thingy on top of Naisvuori hill, my first thought is that it must be a work of art. However, a small sign in Finnish next to it says something about a playground... So it must be simply a climbing frame for kids.

The solitary statue by the observation tower seems to be covering his eyes from the sun, looking into the distance. The plaque is hardly legible but in the end I can decipher a word: vaeltaja, a wanderer. Naisvuori actually means 'women's hill'. I wonder how come the statue is of a man, instead of a woman.

Unfortunately the observation tower at the very top of Naisvuori hill is only open during the summer months so there is no hope of sipping a cup of tea there or of enjoying the best possible view over Mikkeli from up there. However, there is a pretty good view towards the city centre also from the foot of the observation tower.

A wide path winds down from the top of the hill to a square where you can read the story of Naisvuori hill in Finnish. A restaurant pavilion was built on the hill in the 1880's but alcohol was banned from its menu. Why? Naisvuori was seen as the only place where women could enjoy the sweetness of summer and the beautiful view without fear of being disturbed! The water tower by architect Selim A. Lindqvist was built in 1912 but it hasn't held water since the 1950's.

After passing the open-air summer theatre on my right, the first building I meet is Naisvuoritalo which looks like it must be used for parties. This place has also military history like many others in Mikkeli: the plaque on the wall says that Finnish Military Telegraph battalion was founded here in 1918.

Lower down by Mikonkatu, I spot a text in an old fashioned font on the wall. Mikkelin Telefooniyhdistys (Mikkeli Telephone Company makes me think about the times before cell phones, when telegraphs poles and wires were what you needed to carry messages across the land.

I arrive back at the city centre but not all buildings that I meet here are modern either. Kannattaa ajatella miten kannattaa ajatella, or it is worth thinking what is worth thinking, it says on the windows of the corner building of Savilahdenkatu and Mikonkatu streets. My first thought is that I hope that this beautiful wooden building gets lovingly renovated. Soon.

The paint is of course beautifully worn and a work of art in itself but it doesn't really protect the wood beneath it...

My last stop before getting back to the market square is Taito Shop arts & crafts store. One of the items for sale there is a city map in the form of underpants - available already in some Finnish cities, also in Jyväskylä. When I look at the underpants more closely, I see that Naisvuori hill is also listed as one of the few attractions that have been especially marked in black. Pants don't lie; Naisvuori is worth visiting when in Mikkeli.

Meandering at Mikkeli

I stand next to Mikkeli market place and turn my head to the end of the pedestrian street, Hallituskatu. The steeple of the red brick church is reaching towards the sky on a small hill.

Up we go; granite steps lead to the neo-gothic Mikkeli cathedral that makes me think about Harry Potter films, even if its features are not as sinister.  The sign at the front door warns about ice falling from the steep roof, and not in vain. While I'm standing there, a  large clump of hard snow crashes on the ground behind the warning sign. A sure sign of spring coming!

I continue my walk behind the church and descend on Otto Mannisen katu street, named after the Finnish writer, translator and poet Otto Manninen who made his career during the first half of 20th century. Behind the wooden fence, another artist's work greets me from a tree.

Round the corner, Puistokatu street is lined on this side with wooden buildings. I stop to gaze at the tiniest river shape in the melting ice, carved across the frozen pavement by the water drops from the drainpipe.

On the other side of the wooden fence, there are speech bubbles on the wall. "Koira." ("A dog.") "Saako silittää?" ("Can I stroke it?") "Sä oot kaunis." ("You're beautiful.") This must be an art garden or something like that!

On the left, I discover another piece of art hanging from a leafless old oak tree. A mysterious, leafy lady is swinging quietly. A sign on the yard reveals that the wooden building houses an art school for children and young people, as well as art classes for adults.

No wonder the speech bubbles greet me on the walls. "Moi"! "Hello!" On the other side of the yard, there are some university buildings for more serious students.

However, the building next to children's art school is also dedicated to art. Mikkelangelot, a local art society, has its facilities here, as well as Mikkeli Centre of Photography. The rhyming sign next to the doorbell politely implies: "Ring the bell, wait a while /And you can enter / art in style" or something like that... On the broom that leans on the wall, someone has scribbled that the first to enter must sweep the stairs! I step inside the Mikkeli Centre of Photography but find it is deserted, except for the two men doing some renovation work. I check out the wall of photographs and return back outside.

On the other side of the street there is a football field below the street level, totally covered with snow of course. A cross-country skiing track has been made around the football pitch - skiing is about the only thing you can do there at this time of the year!

I turn back and follow Ristimäenkatu street which is named after the church (risti = cross, mäki = hill, mäen = genitive of 'mäki')  and stop to have a look at a solitary pillar which isn't attached to a fence although it should be. Poor man, carrying the heavy load on his back. What is your story?

At the corner of Ristimäenkatu and Hallituskatu streets, the posters insist that I must visit the corner building, Mikkeli Art Museum. Today the museum features Southern Savo regional exhibition, besides the permanent exhibitions in the impressive granite building that represents Art Nouveau style. The welcome is friendly and I get a brief introduction to both the museum and its exhibits. The building was first a post office but before becoming a museum, it has also served as a police station, including some jail cells!

A local or regional art exhibition may not sound like much but the works of some artists are really impressive, notably those of Nadia Zubareva and the human sculptures made of metal net; Anna-Liisa Kuosmanen's fabulous red double bass woven of willow;  Pippa Laurio's black and white works that create an illusion of being three dimensional, and Pirjo Vartiainen's autumnal willowherb painting in its fantastic colours.

The exhibitions is really refreshing and I return to the market place with a light step. The market place itself, right in the center of Mikkeli, is actually frozen for ice skaters so I'm surprised not to see anyone skating there on this beautiful day.

Mikkeli boasts of a new shopping centre Stella that was opened last November. The shopping centre meant saying goodbye to the old, small market hall (which was supposed to be temporary but had stayed there for decades). Something was left of the old days: the renovated gate buildings still guard the entrance to the new shopping paradise. I walk through the spacious, glass-covered square and enter a smaller adjacent building behind it to find the small shops of which most were found also in the now demolished market hall. These shopkeepers now have their stalls in a building that was earlier used for handling parcels sent by bus. Just a little bit of history left... Time for a cup of coffee or tea in one of the nearby coffee shops!