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Thunder Bay's five-kilometre-long waterfront is home to a string of grain elevators , whose stirring architecture - all modernist lines and pure functionalism - can't fail to impress. In the middle of the industrial jangle is the marina and behind that is the old CN railway station , whose distinctive high-pitched gables, turrets and dormer windows were built to resemble a French chateau. The station was erected in 1906 and three years later CN dipped into their pockets again to create the Pagoda , a fanciful bandstand just across the street that now houses a tourist office . At one time, the local band would strike up a tune or two to welcome any visiting bigwig - which must have been a pleasant way to forget just how long it had taken to actually get here. Thunder Bay North's most appealing enclave is the Finnish district of Little Suomi , focused on the Bay and Algoma streets intersection, about ten-minutes' walk southwest from the Pagoda. There are over forty ethnic groups in Thunder Bay and several of them maintain their own institutions, but no one more so than the Finns - though for most of its history it has been a deeply divided community. Arriving in the 1870s, the first Finns to get here were left-wing refugees escaping the tender mercies of the Tsar, whereas those who arrived after 1917 were right-wing opponents (plus the odd anarchist) of the Bolsheviks. Little Suomi's architecture is resolutely suburban, but the town's most atmospheric restaurants are here . Keep on going west along Bay Street from Algoma and you'll soon reach Hillcrest Park , perched on a low ridge and with flower beds, offering great views out across the lake.
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