Pirkanmaa Pride 2015

Pirkanmaa is the district around the industry city Tampere. Tampere is called “Manse”,  the Finnish Manchester.

We told in advance that we are going there. So we got company, Thea and Gitta would be there, too. We also were asked to present the greetings from DreamWearClub at the request of the organizing association, Pirkanmaan Seta.

So we drove to Tampere in two hours. Or actually it took longer because we met Thea and Gitta on our way to have a lunch before the Pride Parade. I left the others to the starting place of the parade and found the parking place near the end of the parade. It was only 20 minutes trip to walk to the starting point and I found my friends at a mall next to the square where we were about to take off.  We also met the new acquaintances, a wonderful couple from Kokkola.

                                             Thea and Gitta at the Tullikamari Square

There were a football fan club sitting at a bar terrace next to square and they responded to our shouts with their own, naturally supporting just they team.

At that very moment when the parade started it started raining. There was also quite strong wind so carrying the banderol was a rather physical task. Because of the rain there wasn’t much audience along the route. Some of them were rather pissed and didn’t respond our slogans very politely - but there were only a few such persons.

                                      Crossing the windy Hämeensilta bridge

The parade ended to the celebration place in the center of Tampere. The rain has made everything wet and it was rather cold, too. 

After an hour it was my turn to present my greetings. 

             

After that my spouse informed me that her shoes were too wet and to avoid catching cold we left the place. After changing dry socks and shoes we had something to eat and drink and went to the rainbow mass. After that we saw some tiny theater pieces and finally ended to Pride club where we met again our new friends from Kokkola. Because the city was full of other happenings and the hotels were full we decided to go home instead of having a long night in Tampere.