St Petersburg, Russia and home via London

Saturday 23^rd – Helsinki to St Petersburg

Today we journeyed back to beautiful St Petersburg – the city we fell in love with last year. We spent almost a week there last January – and it was a week of full-on exploring – but we still felt there was so much more to see and do. There were also some favourite places to which we wanted to return.

So – a trip back to Russia was required!

As opposed to previous visits, this time we opted to enter the country overland rather than flying in. We thought that the train from Helsinki would be a fabulous journey – lots of beautiful, diverse countryside. And we weren’t disappointed – although the train left Helsinki at 7am and it was dark for the first part of the journey!

Choosing to travel by train allowed us to experience passport control in a vastly different way. When flying it’s much like entering any other country in that passports and visas are checked at the airport on arrival. But the train was very different! Prior to leaving Finland, the Finnish passport control boarded the train and our passports were collected. We were then told that until the officers had worked their way through the train we all had to remain in our seats. The external doors were locked and we were advised that the train would be under constant surveillance between the last station in Finland and the first one in Russia. Once we crossed the Russian border, the Russian officers boarded the train. Our passports were then returned to us, our visas checked and necessary stamping done.

Our train took us to a major St Petersburg station which is also on a Metro line. It was a very familiar feeling entering the Metro station – taxi drivers touting for fares, stray dogs, massive doors that swing back so hard you’d swear you were going to lose teeth! We were organizing ourselves to buy Metro tokens when a man in uniform came over to Phil and said something in Russian. When it was clear Phil didn’t understand, the man said ‘You – come here!’ and escorted him away. This was a bit scary for a few seconds. Then it became obvious that the man was taking Phil to a sign to show him that if you have suitcases and travel on the Metro you have to buy a special, more expensive token. We already knew this! Anyway – we’re sure he was just being helpful…

Spent the evening at the Mariinsky Theatre enjoying the magnificent Swan Lake (walked the long way to enjoy the sights). This was one of the main reasons for our return to St Petersburg. It is a beautiful ballet – done very traditionally – and the dancers and orchestra are amazing. We weren’t disappointed.

A traditional Russian cathedral on the way to the Mariinsky

One of the many canals of St Petersburg - frozen, of course.

A favourite bridge, flanked by lions, over a canal on the way to the Mariinsky

Don't leave your car parked on the side of the road for too long!

The Mariinsky, however, is not near a Metro station (the nearest one is about a 20 minute walk away). Last year, we always walked back to the Metro at the end of each performance we attended – it’s a long, cold, sometimes lonely walk. This year, we decided that we would conquer the St Petersburg bus system – it was our goal! It’s also so much colder this year, so the less time you have to spend outside at 11:00 at night the better! There are so many buses in St Petersburg – little mini-buses, middle sized buses, larger buses and trolley-buses. The main route for each bus is written on the side of the bus – but in Cyrillic. We thought we recognized a name on the side of one bus – it looked like the name of a Metro station. Knowing that once you’re on a Metro you can get anywhere, we decided to take a chance. And we did it! The Metro station was on the other side of town – but we that’s not the point! Anyway, we decided that this event probably didn’t constitute a victory over the bus system, so resolved to improve on our next visit to the Mariinsky in a couple of days time.

Sunday 24^th January – St Petersburg

Last visit there were a couple of museums we didn’t get to and we were really disappointed by this, so today’s aim was to visit two particular ones of interest.

Enjoyed our walk to the museum - through beautiful parkland and past 'Spilled Blood' one of St P's most famous cathedrals

First stop was the Museum of the Siege of Leningrad, which covers in detail through outstanding exhibits the events that took place over a 900 day period in 1941 when the people of Leningrad resisted an incredibly persistent attack by the Nazis. This was just so interesting.

Our second museum for the day was located across the Neva so we enjoyed a walk over one of the many bridges in St Petersburg. For most of the year, these bridges are raised at night to let ships pass underneath, but this doesn’t happen in winter as there’s no chance of any boat getting anywhere on that frozen river! Instead of boats, though, you can see people walking across the river. We were brave enough to climb down the banks and have a small walk on the ice, but didn’t fancy joining the Walrus Club and having a dip in the Neva, so we kept our walk to a minimum! It’s just so hard to know whether you’re on thick or thin ice…

Spent the afternoon at a museum created by Peter the Great in the 1700s - his Camera Obscura. This is a fascinating collection of ethnographical items from all over the world. Probably the most popular part of the museum, though, is a room filled with a collection of medical specimens that Peter acquired to demonstrate to his people how science, rather than superstition, influences events. Consequently the room is filled with lots of bits and pieces in formaldehyde – a bit gruesome at times but absolutely fascinating. He really was a man ahead of his time.

Planned to see an ice hockey game tonight – St Petersburg versus Riga. Made our way all the way to the stadium, only to find that the tickets had all gone. Bit of a shame – we were looking forward to the game.

Finished the day instead with a traditional Russian meal – mushroom soup and pelmini (Russian dumplings). Nice!

Monday 25^th January – St Petersburg

Ventured out to one of the smaller islands that make up the inner area of St Petersburg. This one is just a really big park – completely car free. In winter, it’s a place where you can ice-skate, cross-country ski and just enjoy the snow. It was really beautiful. Absolutely freezing – but beautiful! To add to the gorgeous surroundings, it snowed while we were there. While we’ve seen heaps of snow on our trip (and it’s obvious they’ve had major falls over this way during the past few weeks) we haven’t seen much snow actually falling – so this made for a nice change.

Spent the afternoon walking around the Sennaya area where Dostoevsky lived and set Crime and Punishment. Last time we just walked through this area fairly quickly – usually on our way to the Mariinsky – but this time we decided to find out exactly where he lived. Did some research and armed ourselves with a map – managed to find all the flats he lived in and one which features in the novel.

Dostoevsky's street - when he wrote Crime and Punishment

Our last adventure for the day was to try to find Chesma Cathedral – a magnificent building we’d seen pictures of, but had no idea how to find it. Managed to find out roughly where it was and – with only a very rough mud map as a guide – set off for some cathedral spotting. Turns out the cathedral is in a very Soviet area a long way south of the centre of town. Apparently it was built there on Catherine’s orders – exactly on the spot where she was standing when she heard that Russia had won a battle with the Turks. Anyway – we found it. It was a long walk from a Metro station and we had no idea in which direction to head. We managed to get there, though, by stopping every now and again and showing someone a picture of it – and they obligingly pointed us in the right direction. Glad we made the effort – it was an absolute picture.

Soviet images - the building is covered with hammers and sickles and Lenin stands out the front

The magnificent Chesma Cathedral

Spent the evening at the opera at the Mariinsky – a fantastic performance of The Karamazov Brothers (based on the Dostoevsky novel of the same name). It was great to see such a quality production which was both written and set in St Petersburg – a real treat.

The beautiful Mariinsky Theatre

Determined to improve our own performance on the buses, we tried something new tonight – this time we weren’t going to cross town just to get to a Metro station! We came out of the theatre to find heaps of different buses outside, as usual. This time, when reading the route on the side of the number 124, we actually recognized – in Cyrillic mind you – the name of a major street very near our hotel. When we got on the bus and bought our tickets from the conductor, we said the name of the street in Russian and we were right! Feeling very proud of ourselves we made our way home – just one minor hiccup – we panicked and got off one stop too early. Oh well – a brisk walk before bed in minus 21 degree temperatures can be quite invigorating!

Tuesday 26^th January – St Petersburg

Happy Australia Day!

Our last day in St Petersburg – and still so much to see.

Walked down Nevsky Prospect (the major shopping/business street in St P) and then into the back streets hunting another Dostoevsky site – this time we were looking for (and found) the last flat he lived in before he died – and the place where he wrote The Karamazov Brothers.

Next stop was Kazan Cathedral. We visited last time, but thought it was worth another visit as it’s really quite beautiful.

From here we made our way to The Hermitage. No visit to St Petersburg would be complete without a visit to this art gallery of all art galleries. Those of you who read last year’s blog may remember that we spent two days here last time and still didn’t see everything! We spent several hours revisiting pieces that are special to us and seeing new things – very relaxing.

The Hermitage

Despite the sub zero temperatures, we enjoyed a walk along the Neva to the statue of the bronze horseman (Peter the Great) and St Isaac’s Cathedral just as the sun was setting and a full moon was rising.

Our last evening in St P, however, was not relaxing at all! Louise had decided last night at the Mariinsky that she wanted to get her mother a particular souvenir from one of the little stalls (any stall would do!) dotted around the theatre. However when she went to the stall at interval, it was closed! She tried to get one of the ladies selling programs (right beside the stall!) to sell her what she wanted but no-one could help. It’s really important to point out here that they really tried to be helpful. Lots of ladies were running around trying to find someone to open the stall, but to no avail. ‘OK,’ we thought. ‘We’ll come back tomorrow night when the stalls are open again.’ “Yes,’ they said.

So – it was tomorrow night. We were at St Isaac’s and needed to get to the Mariinsky. We saw a trolley-bus coming along – a number 22. ‘Hooray!’ we cried. We’ve seen bus number 22 outside the Mariinsky – this must surely take us there (we are such bus experts now). We piled on with everyone else (the bus was already packed – it was peak hour) and set off in the direction of the Mariinsky. As more and more people packed on and the windows got foggier and foggier – you really couldn’t see anything and we had no idea where we were. ‘I think the Mariinsky is just ahead!’ said Louise, sort of seeing some lights in the distance. ‘Yes – it could be it,’ said Phil. At the next stop, we jumped off the bus – only to realize we weren’t, in fact, at the Mariinsky theatre – we didn’t actually have a clue where we were! ‘Quick!’ we cried. ‘Jump back on the bus!’ This was easier said than done, as more people had boarded the bus than had alighted. Calling on our new found expertise, we joined the other peak hour commuters and pushed our way on. Within a few moments, Phil said, ‘I recognize the building up ahead – we’re here!’ Louise was no help at all as by this stage, her face was pushed against Phil’s chest and she was being crushed! All she could see was a big, black jacket. We got off the bus and realized that the reason he recognized the building is because it was St Isaac’s cathedral – where we had caught the bus from in the first place! We’d done one big loop and hadn’t gone anywhere near the Mariinsky! We realized later that the 22 trolley-bus has a completely different route form the 22 normal bus – and it was the normal bus we’d seen at the Mariinsky. This is so confusing! It was time to consult the map and have a rethink. In the end, we agreed that it was much warmer to keep moving than it was to stand around waiting for buses that we didn’t understand anyway – so we decided to walk (actually we jogged – as much as you can when you’re slipping and sliding on ice!). Got there in about 10 minutes – we were closer than we thought!

By this stage, Tuesday evening’s performance at the Mariinsky was due to start in 20 minutes and people were filing in through the doors. We also filed in and tried to explain to ‘security’ that we didn’t have tickets tonight – but we just wanted to go to the shop. No – this could not be done. No-one could pass beyond the foyer unless they had a ticket – not even to go to the shop! When they saw how disappointed we were (Louise was just about at the bottom lip quivering stage!), they became quite helpful. They suggested we come back at interval. Decided to have a meal at a restaurant across the road and bide our time ‘til interval. We are not leaving St Petersburg without that souvenir!! Phil couldn’t rest, however, and about 10 minutes after the show started, he went back to the theatre and tried to get in again – knowing from past experience that the shops aren’t always open at interval! After successfully negotiating his way past the babushkas guarding the front door he made it to the box office – 5 meters closer! He then pleaded with more security officers and got to the floor manager – another 5 meters! Yay – the floor manager spoke English and was really helpful. When Phil explained he was on a mission to buy a souvenir for his mother-in-law the floor manager was completely understanding (must be some international man-code) and opened the shop especially for Phil! With said souvenir in hand, he rejoined Louise at the restaurant.

And so – at the end of the meal we were faced with yet another bus journey from the Mariinsky! Didn’t do too badly this time, only caught the wrong bus once, but the helpful conductor was able to communicate that we needed to get off at the next stop and wait for the number 27. And we can tell you – it’s bloody cold waiting for buses when it’s minus 21! So – the key message from this story is – Mum… we really hope you like that souvenir!!

Wednesday 27^th January – St Petersburg to Helsinki to London

We like to call this our ‘planes, trains and automobiles day’.

Had to get to one of the major train stations in St Petersburg for a 7am departure for Helsinki. Let’s just say it was a chilly start to the day! Caught the Metro for the last time and were there with time to spare.

Really enjoyed our return train journey to Finland. Same customs and visa control process – just in reverse – and we knew what to expect this time. On the journey from Finland to Russia, we were on a Finnish train, but for this journey we were on a Russian train – and it was completely different. We were offered tea, we were provided with a free breakfast (with a choice of juice or beer!) and the restaurant car was like something out of the Orient Express. The only trouble with visiting the restaurant car was that you had to move between carriages. This required you to exit the warmth of one carriage and literally venture outside to the area where the carriages join and then enter the next carriage. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but when it’s minus 20something and the door handles are so cold it honestly burns your skin to touch them, it’s quite an exercise! Louise decided it would be nice to enjoy a wine with lunch so ventured to the restaurant car (her first visit – however Phil had already been and so had provided sufficient warning). She successfully negotiated moving between the carriages – even the part where you walk outside and see the tracks below and burn your hand – and purchased a glass of red and some chips for Phil. As she made her way back to her carriage, she did the calculations and realized she had just paid $23 for that glass of wine!! There was no way she was spilling a drop. And so with chips tucked firmly under her arm and very full (it would want to be!) glass in hand, she carefully moved between the carriages, conquered the burning handles (by pulling her sleeve down over her hand with her teeth) and the shifting plates beneath her feet and took her seat again. Mission successfully accomplished!

THE wine!

Arrived in Helsinki in the afternoon and had a few hours to spare before catching the bus to the airport for our 9pm flight to London. Spent it trying to stay warm!

Arrived in London around midnight local time. It had been a really big day.

Thursday 28^th January to Sunday 31^st January – London

Finished our holiday with a few brilliant days in London – shopping, catching up with friends, seeing a couple of shows… We love it here.

Reminiscing - outside Islington Town Hall where we were married

It’s been such a fun trip and we’ve enjoyed every minute. But all good things must come to an end.

Thanks to you all for following, for your comments, emails, phone calls, text messages etc. We’ll be home on Monday night. See you all in Brissie!

Estonia and Helsinki

Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting – but internet access isn’t always easy… Hope you enjoy this next post – Riga to Tallinn then on to Helsinki. Will post one more from London before we head home – incorporating St Petersburg!

Sunday 17th – Riga to Tallinn

Fortunately the bus station is just on the outskirts of Riga’s old town and not far from our hotel, so we had an easy start to the day. And – surprise, surprise – an easy bus journey! No issues over seat allocation this time. Perhaps we’re learning… Actually, we did invest an extra couple of dollars this journey (literally only a couple of dollars – bus travel is very cheap here) to upgrade to first class. That means we didn’t travel at the front of the bus, but when boarding we walked down the aisle – through a little frosted glass door – and down to the back. Here we found 16 big, leather seats – all with tables. We also received a complimentary bottle of water and block of chocolate! So maybe that’s why there were no issues with seating this time. Also, there was just us plus one other person in this area – and she got off half way through the journey – so it was like our own private area and no-one to fight with!

It’s approximately a five and a half hour bus journey from Riga to Tallinn. As with the journey from Lithuania to Latvia, we passed through lots of different scenes – forest, farming, small villages. It was really interesting. And once again we witnessed a beautiful sunset.

First class!

Arrived in Tallinn after dark and successfully negotiated yet another taxi system (like buses – they’re all different!) to get to our hotel – a 14th century building which was once a merchant’s house.

Tallinn was once a walled city – much of the city wall and many of the wall’s towers are still standing. Inside the city wall is the ‘old town’ – and we’re sure it’s no surprise to you (given our love of cobbled lanes and medieval architecture) that our hotel is right in the middle of the old town.

Even though our introduction to Tallinn happened after dark, we saw enough to know we would love it here… despite the fact that it’s freezing!!

Monday 18th – Tallinn

Our hotel is just a few meters from the old town square, which has been the central focus of life in Tallinn since the 11th century.

We visited the Town Hall (built between 1371 and 1404). You can wander through the council chambers and then visit the cellar which houses an excellent museum about the fortifications of Tallinn.

The old town square

We acquired a map of a ‘walking tour’ of Tallinn, so spent the rest of the day following the map, visiting all the sights along the way.

The city walls and towers

You can climb around some of the towers and walk parts of the city wall - we had lots of fun here




View from one of the lookouts - you can see the Gulf of Finland in the background

Above the old town wall and some towers

This building was the KGB headquarters during the Soviet occupation. Note the bricked up basement windows - apparently to stop passers by overhearing whatever was happening inside.

We had heard that every Monday night there was a classical music concert in the Holy Spirit Church so decided to spend the evening there. We enjoyed a beautiful performance – a soprano, pianist and violinist entertained us for over an hour. The highlight of the evening was when they performed Ave Maria.

It was about -12 degrees today! It’s also getting quite windy and apparently more wind is coming our way over the next couple of days – from Siberia! Locals are telling us they haven't experienced a winter like this in years.


Tuesday 19th – Tallinn

Spent the morning at the fascinating Museum of Occupation and Fight for Freedom. The exhibits in this museum outline the events that occurred over a 50 year period when Tallinn was occupied by either the Nazis or the Soviets. It’s a fantastic, well thought out museum. Even the building itself has meaning – it’s a new building with floor to ceiling glass walls. This is to signify transparency.

The museum - inside and out. Carmen - thought you'd appreciate the photo of the Soviet hairdresser's chair!

Spent the rest of the day getting off the beaten tourist track (we try to do this in every city) and exploring the ‘new town’. Actually managed to get lost in the new town!

Where are we???

But everything happens for a reason. We decided to check our map and warm up in a little bar down a side street. There was only one other man in there – a local man born and bred in Tallinn. He was about our age and spoke excellent English. His stories of how he has spent his life were really interesting – particularly after we’d just visited the museum of occupation.

Finished the night at a lovely little restaurant with an open fireplace. A very much needed open fireplace – today it was about -14 degrees! Those Siberian winds are icy.

Now that's a pizza - don't you think, Ryan?

Wednesday 20th – Tallinn

Today we walked, and walked, and walked to the beautiful Kadriorg Park. Kadriorg means Catherine’s Valley. In this park, Peter the Great built a palace for Catherine I. The palace was built between 1718 and 1736. Apparently Peter himself even helped with the construction – laying three bricks!

Entering the park - swan pond(??) in the background

Peter's palace

There's always time for a snowball fight!

There are many beautiful buildings (from Peter’s time) in this enormous park – each housing some sort of museum. The focus of our trip, however, was a visit to KUMU (aka the Art Museum of Estonia). This is a very new art gallery (below) which opened in 2006. In 2008 it was awarded the title of ‘European Museum of the Year’. The works on display here range from pieces completed in the early 18th century right up to very contemporary pieces – a great collection of Estonian art.

This room was amazing - completely filled with busts - some people known to us, some unknown (note Lenin in the top left hand corner). For each one mounted on the wall there was a tiny hidden speaker and all the busts were speaking at once. Just softly - and all saying something different - telling a story. It was really eerie.

Phil has a thing for pop art - and fancies himself as a hot shot photographer!!

Spent the evening at the Estonian National Opera – My Fair Lady – performed in Estonian! For some reason we had thought there was going to be English surtitles – but no! It was very helpful to know the stories and the songs – and interesting to hear them performed in another language. It’s very obvious that ‘rain’, ‘Spain’ and ‘plain’ don’t rhyme in Estonian – but it was also very obvious what Eliza said at the races! Great fun.

Oh wouldn't it be lovely...

Another chilly -14 degree day! Let’s just say we don’t stroll home from our evening outings!

This is our last night in Tallinn – tomorrow we journey to Helsinki.

Thursday 21st – Tallinn to Helsinki

Good-bye Tallinn. You'd love it here, Mum!

Had to be organised reasonably early today to catch a boat across the Gulf of Finland to Helsinki. Louise decided she desperately had to have that top she saw in the shop in Tallinn’s old town yesterday – but the shop didn’t open until 10am. ‘We can do it, Phil! We can be there when the shop opens, and still make it to the ferry terminal for 10:30 check-in!’ Well – we were there when the shop opened – despite having to rush through the bitterly cold old town of Tallinn. This was like no other morning we’ve had to date – it was -19 degrees! However, where there’s a will there’s a way. We managed to buy the top, get back to the hotel, call a cab and journey to the terminal – just in time to be the last people on the boat! (I’m not really sure if I like the top now, but Phil says I have to wear it every day for a month! L.)

Wow – what a journey. We were on a huge ferry, and yet we could actually feel it scraping its way through the icy seas. The photos tell the story…

Leaving Tallinn by ferry...

...and the water gets icy...

...and icier...

...until it's so thick and white! Is this a boat or a sleigh??

Arriving in Helsinki

After a couple of hours, we reached Finland. Spent the afternoon and evening exploring Helsinki. We’re only here for a couple of days so want to enjoy every minute.

As the day wore on, it just got colder and colder. Every time we exited a warm building and went out into the cold again it got more and more intense. When it reached -20 degrees we decided to call it a night! This is unbelievably cold! We know we won’t get much sympathy from you all at home – we see the weather reports and know it’s really hot there – and to be honest, we’re glad to be here! It seems easier to get warm than it does to get cool…


Friday 22nd – Helsinki

Armed with our trusty map we ventured off to find out how to get to Suomenlinna
(fortress of Finland) – two small islands connected by a little bridge in the Gulf of Finland. Negotiated the Helsinki tram system and then found the departure point for the little ferry that cuts through the ice on the hour, every hour, ferrying people to and from Suomenlinna. Another exciting journey!

A fortress was built on the islands in 1748. A community of people now lives there and there are many little shops and cafes – although hardly anything opens at this time of year! The purpose of our visit, though, was to wander around the ruins of the fort. It was just beautiful – really desolate. Freezing cold and just so windy! In summer it’s probably packed with people, but at this time of the year there’s hardly anyone around.

Our little ferry - and the journey across the water(?) ahead!

The fortress

A jetty at a remote part of the island - don't think we'll wait for the boat to arrive next summer!

Leaving the island - you can see how the boat is leaving a trail through the ice as it ploughs its way back to Helsinki

Made our way back to the mainland and spent the afternoon hopping on and off trams around the city, exploring lots of different neighbourhoods – some tourist spots and some out of the way areas – essentially admiring the diverse architecture (and shoe shops!) of Helsinki.

Exploring Helsinki

Our evening was spent at Kiasma (the Museum of Contemporary Art). This was a really fun art gallery – very relaxed and interactive – and it’s open at night time! We really enjoyed ourselves here.

Helsinki has been great – we’re really glad we visited.

Next stop – Russia!