Helsinki

I liked Helsinki. It was a nice city and one I could quite happily go back to. Clean with friendly people. We had a tour of the city and this time it wasn't rushed and took in all of the major sites. The tour ended at the Senate Square and we were given the rest of the afternoon to have a look around the city centre. I did just that. I walked down the mall, around the harbour and a had a good look though a couple of the department stores. We were catching the ferry in the afternoon to so I stopped at a pharmacy and got some sea-sickness tablets, just in case. It was good to see that English is spoken in more places here otherwise my trip to the chemist would have turned out to be a bit harder. The weather was cool but bright and sunny and it was the perfect day.

Everyone met up back at Senate Square where, after a group photo, we climbed back on the bus and were taken to the ferry. The ferry was another big one. Inside there were around 14 levels. Three levels of shops and the rest were rooms. I had to share a room with four other people. It was small and didn't have a window. After taking my tablets I went down to join a few others from the tour in the bar. As we departed I went upstairs to watch the city fall into the distance. Up on deck it was very windy, just outside the harbour you could see the waves and their white caps. It looked rough. Once we got out past the surrounding islands, it was. Soon the rain started again and the waves seemed to get bigger. I was glad that I took my sea-sickness tablet but I took one more just to be on the safe side. They did their job and I spent and enjoyable evening back in the bar below decks. Even when I went to bed the tablets were still doing their job. I could feel the boat lift off with every wave and a second or so later crash down before the cycle started again.

St Petersburg to Helsinki

It was an early morning the next day as we headed back into the city centre. We had a quick (and I do mean quick) tour of the Peter and Paul Fortress. The fortress is home to the Russian Mint, the place where Peter the Great is buried and was even used as a military prison that help famous prisoners such as the writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The guide raced us through some of the different sections, not waiting for photos or for the group to come in close before giving his spiel on the fortress. At the end of the tour we were given some time to browse the overpriced souvenir shops before getting on the bus again and heading north-west towards Finland.

We drove through horizontal rain to the border where we had our passports stamped by guards with stern expressions. We entered Finland at Soumi and as soon as we were there, the differences between the two countries were obvious. The towns were neater, the cars were clean, the roads were good and I could read and understand some of the signs.

We drove through lakes, forests and more lakes. Everything was very wintery and even in the pouring rain looked magical. We arrived at the Scandic Hotel in Helsinki in the evening. It was a nice hotel and good to get back and relax after rushing around Russia.

St Petersburg

The city limits of St Petersburg appear to start not long after the border. Getting over that border however is an adventure in itself. We crossed at Narva, a small town with a big fortress. The crossing process was quite long (although the wait was the longest was on the Estonian side leaving the country). Checking and double checking of passports, getting ticket for the bus, going back again getting said tickets stamped. I'd imagined entering Russia to a vastly from the rest of Europe. I'd imagined a Russia like the one I'd seen in the movies. Stern looking guards, big guns, tanks on street corners, grey buildings, snow and a lot of signs I can't read. Well, it was a lot like that, except for the guns, tanks and snow. The border was certainly an eye opener. While the male guards looked stern and menacing the female ones tried, but when you're wearing high heals and a short skirt its kind of hard to look mean. In the end we made it though and continued on our way to St Petersburg.

My first view of the Russian countryside was that there wasn't that much of it. A bit of forest comes after the border but the outskirts of St Petersburg start soon after. From there it is highways, tower blocks and industrial areas. I was amazed at how many vehicles are on the roads in Russia and around St Petersburg. From the suburbs to the city centre, cars, trucks and buses were everywhere with a traffic jam almost from the border to the city centre. In russia there are many different makes and models of cars on the road. From Lada to Lamborghini. Russian, Japanese, German or American, all makes and models are here. One thing that they all have in common though is how dirty they all are. And that traffic lights and road signs appear to be merely suggestions to the drivers, sometimes followed, sometimes not. I was also surprised to see how Western it all seemed. I'd expected something totally different. Of course I couldn't read any of the signs or anything else like that but that didn't matter. Gucci, Dolce and Gabbana and all the other fashion brands were obvious. This city has money and a lot of it.

I went on the 'optional' tour of the Hermitage museum. The Hermitage is a palace that is filled with all the famous and amazing artworks from not only Russia and those countries that it controlled, but also from the rest of Europe. The tour was supposed to tell us about some of the more famous paintings but for some reason, our tour guide neglected to order headphones for the group (this we found out after waiting outside for half an hour). Leaving everyone struggling to hear what the paintings were about as the guide didn't bother to raise his voice. I left the tour and went round the galleries myself. I got just as much information from the pictures and didn't have to rush through. When I left the museum I wandered the streets until it was time to be picked up.

The bus arrived and everyone got on the bus. We drove to the Nickolavsky Palace to drop off some of the group who were going to attend the folk evening. Or at least that is what I thought. I was expecting to be taken back to the hotel but the tour director decided to change the plan and told everyone who was not going on the bus that they would have to sit around and wait for the others at the show. That was three hours away and the area didn't look to be the best. There were only three shops close by and and a lot of closed buildings and dark alleys. Not the best spot to be dumped for three hours. For the next three hours I looked in the closed shop windows and wandered around the dark alleys. After that, I sat down on the kerbside and waited for the bus. There were eight other people who thought they were going back to the hotel but were left as well. It was not a good end to the day.

Tallinn

The tour of the old town was impressive. Our guide Nikolai walked us through the town giving history and shopping tips throughout the old town. The town is divided into two parts. The upper and lower. The upper part on top of the hill was home to the royalty, parliament, churches and people with money. The lower part of the town was home to the markets, shops and workers. Today, a few more shops were open so the rest of the morning was spent shopping for souvenirs and eating pancakes.

In the afternoon I went on the 'optional' tour of the baroque style Kadriorg Palace to see the art collection. The palace was ordered to be built by Peter the Great so I guess that one would expect a pretty good collection. After the palace we went for a tour of some other sights in Tallinn including a destroyed nunnery and the Olympic sailing village. I also got to stand on a beach on the shores of the Baltic sea.

Riga to Tallinn

It was a 9am departure from the hotel this morning. From there we drove to Irnagii and crossed the border into Estonia. Lunch was included and taken in a quiet village called Parnu. The village wasn’t that small but it was certainly quiet. The streets were empty and the shops were closed. We wandered around for a little while but with nothing open it was just really a village, as we arrived back to were the bus was going to be I saw that most were waiting there and obviously had the same idea.

The hotel we were staying at this evening was called the Kreutzwald Hotel Tallinn. It was a nice little hotel although I didn’t stay in it for long. As soon as the bags had been delivered I went for a wander into the city. The old town was about a kilometer from the hotel and up a reasonable steep hill. As the old town is sat on top of a hill (and snakes its way down wards). It was overcast but wasn’t raining so I thought I’d make the best of the goodish weather and have a look. Even though the place was pretty quiet the old medieval buildings were impressive as always and the views of the surrounding city from the little lookout spots. The skyline was full of old roofs, church steeples and tower blocks. But, to have a closer look, that would have to wait until tomorrow.

Riga

Riga is a beautiful old town with many art nouveau buildings. We had a tour of some of these buildings and heard a bit of what makes a building art nouveau as opposed to something else. The morning was spent looking around the city and the afternoon spent on an ‘optional’ tour of the Ethnographical Museum. We had a tour guide taking us around the different houses in the museum. He also told us a bit of the history of the time when Latvia was under the control of communist Russia. It was quite interesting and a nice way to spend the afternoon.

Vilnius to Riga

We left our hotel and drove northwards towards Latvia. Our first stop was just over the border at the Palace of Rundale. This palace was the former summer residence of the Duke of Courland (one of the areas of the Baltics) and was designed by the same guy who did the Winter Palace in St Petersburg. The tour of the palace revealed many amazing rooms with decadent wallpaper, floorboards and trim. You had to pay to get into the gardens so afterwards I strolled around the front (also nice) and watched the ducks on the canal that ran through the property.

Upon reaching Riga, the grand capital of Latvia, we drove through amazing buildings, past triumphant squares and stunning boulevards we pulled up in front of our hotel (the Raddison Latvia). It was a very nice hotel and the rooms were modern (if a bit small). After seeing all the splendour that surrounding me I automatically made a priority list. First, laundry; second, drinks in the bar and thirdly, dinner. I found the Laundromat a short distance from the hotel and managed to get what I wanted to accomplish across to the attendant though sign language and a smattering of Latvian that I had read in my guidebook. She answered me in broken English so I can only assume it was that my newness tot he language was obvious.

Vilnius

The next day we went to explore the town. It was full of old buildings and churches. We had a couple of hours to look around the city. I explored many of the churches in town but there were still many more that I didn’t get the chance to have a look at. I also spent a bit of my time in the main square listening to some musical acts on stage. They had all kinds of music playing from rock and acoustic to classical and even opera. The crowds walked my, some stopped. By the time I had to leave to catch the bus a small crowd was now watching the performances.

I’d decided to go on the optional tour to Trakai Castle that afternoon. Trakai is a small, traditional, red brick castle that sits on a small island in the middle of a lake about half an hour outside the city. The castle was originally built by one of the first kings of the region. Since that time it has been destroyed and rebuilt to what it is today. I was told that many films have been shot there including Robin Hood (which version though I’m not too sure). The whole place was very touristy although there wasn’t much to the castle itself. There were a couple of rooms which had been done up with the history of the castle and informative panels about certain sections. We had a local guide this time who took us through the castle. She was a good guide whose commentary wasn’t as dry as everyone elses. She was also the first local tour guide that liked to take questions. We hadn’t see that in any of the three countries we’d been in so far so it was a nice change.

That night I also attended the ‘optional’ dinner excursion. The tour guide described the restaurant as a ‘folk law dinner’ although there was very little folk law and the dinner wasn’t up to much either. We had our orders taken on the bus a day or so before. I decided to order the fillet of cod served on a bed of mashed potatoes and a traditional salad. In the end what I was given was fish and chips. It wasn’t a pleasant evening that I had invisaged. The staff were rude and unfriendly and the people doing the entertaining, singing and playing traditional instruments appeared bored. This carried on throughout the evening. Even with the coffee after dinner no milk was served. I asked a waiter for it who replied “in a minute" in an exasperated tone. The milk never arrived and after the reaction I received from asking the first time, I did not want to ask again. It was interesting to note that the tour guide and driver were treated differently to the paying customers with the staff being friendly and, I noted, they got milk with their coffee. We were rushed through the meal, in and out with a three-course meal plus coffee in an hour and a half. The consensus among those people on the tour said that the meal was disappointing and staff were solemn unsmiling and rude. When this information was relayed to our tour guide she replied much the same as before. That it was impossible to please everyone and that there was nothing she could do. Apparently it was even too much to listen to the issues the people had with their meal. Even though all who attended (apart from the tour guide and driver) paid 60 euros for the meal. The rest of the evening was spent in the hotel bar with the others who attended the meal. The meal was crap but afterwards was a nice way to spend the rest of the evening.

Warsaw to Vilnius

In my true wussy sense I woke up this morning with a slight headache. I put it down to a bug that I’d picked up in the long hours I’d spent on the bus and not the beer I’d drank the previous night. It was another early morning and a drive that took pretty much the whole day. Today we were heading from Warsaw to Vilnius in Lithuania. After a quick stop in Augestow for lunch we continued driving arriving into the capital city just as it was getting dark. From the bus, the city seemed like many other I had been to. Some posh areas, some looking derelict. Some fancy restaurants lining the streets, some people (quite a few actually) digging through rubbish bins.

The hotel was called the Hotel Gratis and was situated a little way from the centre of town. It was a nice big room however and that was good as I was sharing again with Merv. Due to the late arrival, dinner was served at the hotel and consisted of Borsch (a beetroot soup) and fish (covered in a suspect looking whitish green sauce).

Poznan to Warsaw

It was an early start the next day and we drove for several hours before stopping at a McDonalds for lunch. I had a wrap with bacon, mushrooms and other miscellaneous substances. Early afternoon we arrived in the city of Warsaw. Our hotel, the MDM, was in the business centre of town (about half an hours walk to the old town). I had a new roommate, Michael (Merv had his own room). He was a big improvement and I noted was neat, tidy and put a towel on the bathroom floor when using the shower.

In the afternoon I went on the ‘optional’ tour of the rebuilt medieval city. After the war the whole area was rebuilt to look like it had before (although I’m guessing with proper electrical wiring and sewerage system). It looked impressive. Even though we were shown pictures of the ruined buildings taken after bombing raids by the Germans, it was hard to believe that the rebuilt versions were the same ones. It was very impressive. For the rest of the afternoon we were left to explore the town. Looking into the many souvenir stores, churches, cafes and other touristy places.

That evening I met up with some of the others on the tour for drinks and dinner. After plowing my way through one and a half litres of beer (in one glass!) I retired to my room and fell asleep listing, not to snoring or farting, but to accordion music being played on the street outside.