Municipality-spotting duo mark 50th Finnish stop with Tampere visit

Two municipality-spotters arrive in Tampere today to spend the last weekend of August in the city, marking the pair's 50th Finnish municipality, Tamperelainen reports.

Veera Hietaranta, 46, and Minna Viinikainen, 46, began the project three years ago with the aim of visiting all 308 Finnish municipalities. They post trip summaries to their Instagram account Speedy Silver and Us and follow a few self-imposed rules: a photo by the municipal sign, one at a local school and one at the church, habits that reflect Hietaranta’s work as a teacher and Viinikainen’s role as a cantor. The pair have about 5,000 followers and often ask locals for tips; Tampere alone yielded nearly 300 suggestions.

Both former Tampere residents, they plan to see parts of the city they have missed: Amuri’s Helmi and the Amuri museum block, the Hervanta Police Museum, Pulteri and Pispala School in Pispala, and Tampere Cathedral. They expect to visit Pyynikki Observation Tower for coffee and doughnuts. They hope to catch a performance by Sampo Joenvuori and to enjoy the Glow Festival. They are in no rush to finish the project and joke they can complete the rest over a lifetime as work schedules allow.