Finland and Russia!!!

Ok so now it’s been almost two months since I last properly entered a blog entry about my travels and I apologise for that. Things have been really busy but I now have found some free time while I’m sitting in the car traveling around Iceland. So I’m going to go back a little way and fill in my travels that have gone on since I last wrote about Prague and Stockholm and my current travels in Iceland.
The weekend between when I returned from Stockholm and Prague and before I was due to leave for Finland and Russia, instead of spending the weekend at home recuperating like most normal people would do, I jumped on a train on the Friday afternoon and headed to Gothenburg for the weekend to catch up with Lars, Åsa and Pontus. I had planned to visit them at a later date but they were off to visit Martina in London that weekend and my only free weekend was the one that fell in between my trips. However, it was nice to get away for the weekend and have home cooked meals again. I even got the chance to go and watch Pontus’ handball team play a couple of games. They were really good and it was good fun to watch. I now have a basic understanding of the rules and how the game works. Lars and Åsa were in the process of cleaning out the house and moving their stuff round to their apartment in the city so that the house would be all ready for a house inspection on the Monday. They had decided to sell their house in Mölndal and move into their apartment in the city and they were having people come to view the house on the Monday. So the house was in a bit of a mess and I spent some time helping to move things between the two places. But the weekend was mainly spent relaxing and catching up with them. Then Sunday night it was back to Malmö to unpack then repack my bags for Finland and Russia. (And for those who know how I pack, you’ll be impressed to know that I managed to pack a bag that was half the size of most people’s bags on the trip and I even had a pillow packed in the bag!!!) I arrived back at about 10:30pm so it was a late night for me.
This then takes me to my trip to Finland and Russia!
The day I had to leave to head to Stockholm to catch the ferry to Turku in Finland, I unfortunately found myself having to attend class from 10am – 12pm. Due to missing the first two classes because I was in Prague I really didn’t have a choice when it came to attendance! Anyway, I was due to catch the train at 12.14pm which gave me fourteen minutes to run from uni to the train station and meet my Dutch friend Vera who was also doing the trip with me. Luckily my class ended ten minutes early so I had plenty of time to get to the train station and even stop by the pressbyrån to grab some water and snacks for the four and a half hour train ride to Stockholm. The train trip was not overly exciting and I slept for most of the trip to catch up on missed sleep the night before. When we arrived in Stockholm we grabbed some food from Burger King before making our way out to Slussen where we were to catch the bus which would take us to the ferry dock. When we arrived at Slussen, we met up with Julia, my fellow Aussie, who was also coming along. We’d been told we’d need to catch any of the 400 buses to get to the ferry however we could not find the buses. We did manage to find another bus heading that way however when we got on the bus we found that Julia could not buy her ticket on the bus. So she jumped off to go and get a ticket and Vera and I made our way to the ferry. Julia ended up joining us about 15 minutes later after walking the one kilometre from the ferry terminal. When then stood around for about another 20 – 30 minutes before finally getting together with the group leaders and making our way up to the loading deck where we were to board the ferry.
The ferry trip was not all that interesting. After watching the ferry pull out from Stockholm we went and grabbed some dinner and sat down at a table on the main deck to eat it. After about an hour our little group of three had at least tripled with others from the trip coming and joining us. It was good to get to know some people before we really began the trip. Then we hit the bar for another couple of hours before deciding that it was time to get some sleep. So at 3.00am we crawled into bed. Unfortunately we were due to arrive in Turku at 6am and because Finland is an hour ahead, that was 5am Swedish time. And we had to get up before then and get ourselves organised so I think in the end we had only about 1 hour sleep.
We were met by our buses at the ferry terminal and after loading all our luggage onto them, headed off for the five to six hour trip down to Helsinki where we were to spend the night. When we arrived in Helsinki we had a city tour. We did this tour from the bus, getting off at the interesting places to have a closer look, but it was good because as soon as we got to Helsinki it started raining and didn’t really stop for the whole day. The city tour wasn’t all that interesting. We saw a memorial that was dedicated to a guy called Sibelius and had a cool monument made out of metal pipes. We also were taken to the underground church and the old city where the Helsinki Cathedral. Once the tour was finished we made our way to our hotel for the night. This hotel was probably the best hotel we stayed at the entire trip. It had a sauna, the beds were comfortable, the bathrooms clean and there was a bar in the foyer which had free chocolate. The afternoon we spent heading into the city centre and having a walk around, checking out the shops. We then spent about half an hour searching for a coffee shop where we could sit down and chill out for a while. The best place we could find was a bar and they served the worst coffee I have ever had. So after wasting a whole $4 on a coffee that even a child could have made better we went and grabbed some food for dinner then made our way back to the hotel. Julia went and had a sauna while Vera and I went and had a drink at the bar. Then it was off to bed as we had to get up early the next morning as we had to drive to St Petersburg.
The next morning we got up early, packed the buses, eat breakfast then headed off for a full day of sitting on the bus traveling to St Petersburg. We left the hotel at about 9am and three and a half hours later we reached the Finland boarder. The boarder and passport control was quite quick considering there were about 120 of us on the two buses and we got through quickly. We then had to travel another ten minutes down the road to get to the Russian board and passport control. Here it was a completely different story to the Finnish board and passport control. We got there at about 1.30pm only to find that they were all on a lunch break. So after waiting for about half an hour, one lady came and opened up a booth. So all 120 of us had to pass through this one lady to get our passports stamped and you can probably guess that this took forever. We ended up being there for about one and a half to two hours. Finally we made it through and were off. However, we were stopped again just after the passport control and a Russian boarder control person boarded the bus and we had to hold up our passports and show that we had the stamp that allowed us to enter. Once we finally made it into Russia, it was another two and a half hours to St Petersburg. Our bus arrived at the hotel about half an hour before the other bus so we unloaded our bags and went to check out our rooms. As we had friends on the other bus, Jules, Vera and I decided to wait for them to arrive before heading off to try and find somewhere nearby the hotel to grab some dinner before heading out to a night club the group leaders were taking us to.
We ended up finding a little bar where we could have dinner. Ordering our meals was definitely difficult as the waitress did not speak any English and our Russia only consisted of thank you and cheers! But we managed to order food for everyone and the meal was quite good. Real Russian food! That night we ventured out to Metro night club. This took about ten minutes by train then thirty minutes by foot to reach. So by the time we got there it was about midnight. It then took us a little while to get into the club as they had to search us then we were crowded into a small room where we had to pay and get stamps before we could enter. But once we were in it was easy to leave our coats and head into the bars. We started off on the first level where they had Russian music playing. It was not bad and we spent some time down there. However I am not a fan of smoking indoors so preferred to stay on the dance floor as hardly any people smoked in there so the air was slightly better to breathe in. We then decided to check out the second floor and I’m so glad we did. We made our way onto the dance floor and noticed that there were four well built topless guys dancing on a balcony above us. The first group of four were all wearing kilts. However, these were soon replaced by another four who had left the kilts backstage and instead were just wearing a black g-string!!! These men were rotated every twenty minutes or so but they were great to watch and kept us girls occupied for most of the night. There was even a porn room down the end for the boys! We had a great night there spending the majority of our time on the dance floor. We made it home at about 4am and hit the sack as we had to get up at about 6.30am the next morning. That night I set my alarm clock however I had forgotten to change the clock on my phone and move it forward an hour. So the next morning, instead of getting up at 6.30am the alarm went off at 7.30am! So we jumped out of bed and I don’t think I’ve gotten ready and had breakfast in such a short time! But we made it to breakfast and got our luggage on the bus in time so it was ok.
Our first full day in St Petersburg began with a bus tour around the city, pointing out all the different sites that we could later visit in our free time. Our first stop on the tour was at the Smolny Cathedral. We had about fifteen minutes to quickly run around and get photos before it was back on the bus and off to the next stop. We drove past St Isaac Cathedral and once again were given fifteen minutes to get off the bus and take some photos before pushing on to Nevsky Prospect which is the main street in the city and is about nine kilometres long. We then drove past the Peter and Paul Fortress where we saw people sunbathing along one of the walls (note: it was about 15 degrees outside and there were icebergs floating in the river that ran beside the wall!!!). The next stop on the tour was the church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood. This time we were allowed about 25 minutes which was just enough time for us to have a look around and inside the church, while others went to check out the flea market next door. Our final stop on the tour was back at St Isaac Cathedral and from there we were allowed the rest of the afternoon free. So we decide to head to the Winter Palace and spend most of the afternoon there before making our way along Nevsky Prospect.
Outside the Winter Palace there was a marching band rehearsing for a performance and so we stopped to watch them practice for a bit. Just before we were about to make our way inside, we had a special show where one of the Spanish girls on our trip decided to run in front of the marching band to reach her friend. Unfortunately for her she tripped and face planted into the ground where she lay there for a little bit. However, the marching band was closing and she only just managed to get out of the way of them. Someone even managed to capture it on video so we have to remember and laugh at as it was very funny to watch.
Inside the Winter Palace was amazing. The Winter Palace is also connected to the hermitage so we made our way through both buildings, looking at the different exhibitions and displays. Then when we got bored or tired of that we resorted to taking photos of ourselves in interesting places and positions in the different rooms. After the Winter Palace we started to make our way down Nevsky Prospect. Julia and I didn’t get the chance to make it all the way down the street as we had to leave the others earlier as we’d signed up for an optional program which was to go and see a folk concert at Nikolaevsky Palace. The concert was great to watch. In particular, I loved the male Russian dancers who dancer while bobbing down. It must be very hard on the knees and ankles but they make it look so easy. After the performance we were picked up by one of our buses and taken back to the hotel where we decided to call it a night because we were rather tired and had to get up early again the next morning as all our stuff had to be packed onto the buses at 7am!!
Day two in St Petersburg saw us head out to Catherine’s Palace and the Pushkin. As this was also an optional program, those who were left behind had the chance to sleep in and spend the morning in the city. Catherine’s Palace was amazing. There were so many things to look at that in the end you just had to choose something, for example the floors, paintings, ceilings etc, to look at because you could just not take it all in. It is definitely an amazing place and it is possible to rent it out but it would cost you an arm and a leg because it would have to cover the amount of money they make from having tourists visit. The afternoon was then ours to do as we liked. We were dropped off at St Isaac Cathedral and we had to meet the bus back there at 8pm for our night drive to Moscow. Seeing as we were already at the church, we decided to go in and have a look inside. You could also climb the colonnade and have a view of the city from up the top, which was definitely worth the 477 stairs we had to climb just to do it. Afterwards, the group I was with split up and went their different ways because people wanted to see different things. So Anne, Jules and I headed off to go and check out a few churches around the city. We went to see St Nicolas Cathedral and a couple of others whose names I’m not exactly sure of. One of them we went to see had been burnt in a fire three years ago and so was closed but we could still admire the church from the outside. After wandering around the city for most of the afternoon we met up with the others and went for dinner. Then it was off to the bus for the not so fun night bus ride.
We were all right to dread the bus ride. I don’t think I have ever been on such badly kept roads. There were so many potholes all over the road which meant the bus had to travel slower to try and avoid them and make it a little easier for us to sleep. It didn’t make much difference as we were constantly thrown about. I did manage to get about five hours of sleep which I was very impressed with.
When we arrived in Moscow we headed straight to the Red Square we were to meet our tour guides for the day. While we were waiting for the guide to arrive another man came to offer us tickets to the ballet that was being held at the new stage at the Bolshoi Theatre. Seeing as they weren’t too expensive and it’s not everyday you can go to the ballet in Moscow, Jules and I bought tickets along with Anne, Dani and Laura. We had the choice of that night or the following evening and because we chose the following evening, the bus drivers kindly said they’d wait for us as the ballet was due to finish at the same time we were due to be at the bus for the trip back to St Petersburg. When our guides finally arrived they took us for a tour around the Red Square, pointing out the Gym (pronounced g – oo – m), Lennin’s tomb, the Kremlin and St Basil Cathedral. We then jumped back on the bus and were shown around the town. We stopped for a photo opportunity on the other side of the river to the Kremlin and at a park where there was a frozen lake which many of us took advantage of for more photo opportunities. We were also shown the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and the statue of Peter the Great which is a huge statue that overlook the river near the Kremlin. After the tour we dropped the guides off then made our way to the hotel. The trip unfortunately took forever (about an hour and a half) because of the traffic. Our hotel was the old Olympic village used for the 1980 Olympic Games held in Moscow. Once we’d checked in, we headed over to the flea market that was located behind the hotel. It was a pretty cool flea market which had a section that sold souvenirs and another section that was all antiques and second hand stuff people wanted to get rid of. There were even stalls that were selling knives and guns and the owners of the stores did not allow us to take any photos in the area near there shop. We suspect it’s not legal to sell fire arms!
That night we went for dinner in a restaurant near the hotel. It was ok but once again they don’t have a rule against smoking inside so the room we were eating in had a constant smoke haze. So I ate pretty quickly then headed back to the hotel to shower and hit the sack.
Our last day in Moscow we had our final optional program which was a tour of the Kremlin. This was a cool tour which took us into the different churches and around the grounds. We once again had free time to explore the city when we’d finished the tour so we went to look at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Then we jumped on the metro and headed to one of the stations well known for its looks before then heading back to the Kremlin so we could watch the changing of the guards. We then went and looked inside the Gym, which is a huge shopping centre with all the expensive brands and labels so of course, we didn’t buy anything but drooled over many things! Then we finished off with a look inside St Basil Cathedral. It was then time for those of us heading to the ballet to head off and find some food for dinner before the concert. Of course, because we had so much time and the theatre being just over the road, we waited a little too long before making our way there. This meant that we ended up practically running to the theatre then madly running around to dump our coats and find our seats. We also were in need of the toilets and thinking that there’d be toilets on each level raced up to our level (which of course was the top level) only to find the only toilets were next to the cloak room on the bottom floor. So we ran back down, went to the toilet and then ran back up to be just in time for the start. Our seats were the worst in the house and so we had to stand for most of the performance so that we could see the whole stage, but the performance was good to watch. Though I’m not too sure what the story was all about. All I know is there was the lead male who dressed up in a tutu and was amazing. We had decided prior to the performance to leave earlier so that we’d make it back in time for the bus and because we’d had to leave our cloaks in the cloak room, we had to beat the crowd so leaving early was our only option. So just before the finale we left and made our way back to the bus who was waiting for us.
That trip back to St Petersburg was worse than the trip coming to Moscow. The road seemed to have gotten worse and therefore I had less sleep that I would have liked (about three hours!). Back in St Petersburg we had the rest of the day free to do as we pleased. So we decided to head out of the city and do a walk around the northern part of St Petersburg. Anne had the walking route in her lonely planet so she led the way. It was a nice walk around the park and past some very expensive houses and consulates. The walk was very relaxing compared to the previous days. We did get to see a Buddhist temple which was interesting. However, when we entered, because there was a group of about 10 of us they would not let us go in without paying because we were considered a group, but individuals were allowed to enter free. So we stood in the doorway and peered in. After our walk some of us headed back to the city while the others went to check out another church out of town. We were supposed to meet up for dinner at a restaurant that was recommended by the lonely planet guide, however the church was further than they expected so we had to eat without them. We had a really nice meal which was a nice way to end our time in Russia. Taking the bus back to the hotel was a little difficult for us though. We were supposed to take the number 22 trolley, however the number 22 bus came first and thinking they were the same thing we jumped on. Once it was clear we were heading in the wrong direction we’d been sitting on the bus for about half an hour. Where we’d ended up was on the right side of the river but kilometres away from the hotel. We then tried to get a cab however none came past. Luckily a minibus came past and the driver kindly took us to our hotel (and we didn’t even have to pay which was probably due to the fact we didn’t know what we were supposed to do!). We finally got back to the hotel over an hour later than we’d hoped but at least we’d made it back. That night we headed out for some drinks at a bar before coming back and calling it a night.
The next day was nothing special. The whole day was spent on the bus heading back to Turku. The boarder and passport control was much more efficient than coming through and we were out of there in less than an hour. And there were even two other buses being processed at the same time as our two buses. We arrived back in Turku at about 5pm and had some free time before we had to head to catch the ferry home. Vera, Jules and I headed to a pub with some others and just relaxed for the couple of hours we had free.
The ferry ride home was once again uneventful. We didn’t stay up very late as we were all really tired so it was a relatively early night for us. It was good to gain an extra hour as well heading back to Sweden. We arrive at 6.30am and said our goodbyes to everyone. Vera and I then made our way to the station as we had to catch a train at 8.20am so that I could get back in time for my class at 1.15pm. The train ride back was long but I managed to get some more sleep to make up for the missed sleep throughout the trip. When we arrived back in Malmö at about 12.50pm, I head straight to the university in time for my class. Thankfully the class which was supposed to be a 3 hour class only lasted an hour, so I was able to head back and unpack and start getting ready for Amsterdam then next day. So that was Russia and Finland – two very different countries to Australia but very interesting at the same time.
And if you made it to the end of this blog entry… CONGRATULATIONS!!! It’s not my shortest entry so well done. Hope it wasn’t too much of a bore!

Puss och kram,
Alice
xo