From Russia with love

Sitting in a hot internet cafe in St Petersburg on Novsky Proskpekt. I will not try to write in cyrillic as we are still trying to learn - pretty tricky understanding stuff here already.

So, where did we leave things?

We arrived in Helsinki, Finland after a noisy smelly night on the ferry on a deck somewhere under the water line (!) so not as bright eyed as we hoped. We drew many comparisons with Manchester but didn't really "get" Helsinki as much of a tourist town (even though it seems to have all the things you would expect). We spent the last day out on one of the islands, where there was an old sea fortress now a World Heritage site and a quiet spot to drift around (and sample the locally brewed White Beer).

An uneventful 8 hour train journey across the border meant we finally made it to Russia (with all the worries about visas, this was all incredibly smooth). However St Petersburg did not start well....

A very busy and hectic place (particularly after Helsinki) we were a bit overwhelmed with the unfamiliar signs etc and wandered about a bit in a daze. After getting to within walking distance of our "hotel" it took us 2 1/2 hours to find the place (after phoning for directions). It was weird. A single flat on the first floor of a very run down old residential block set back and invisible from the main road. Even better, after walking in to the un-signed reception we found they were overbooked and we spent another hour trying to find and get checked into their partner hotel in an even more strange location. But, we made it. Even got out to find great food at the Idiot's Cafe and checked out the more outstanding buildings in evening light.

St Petersburg is amazing in its grandure, but quite mad and tricky for English speakers. Starting to learn a few words out of necessity (had to buy tickets from the train station for the Moscow leg tomorrow - lots of queueing). Everything is just so big (including the art collection of the Hermitage Museum - Picassos, Van Goghs etc).

Spent the day as proper tourists - found the only English tour boat that takes you round the rivers and canals of the "Venice of the North" and wandered around (as per usual) to take in the hundreds of beautiful palaces (Palaced out now) and seen our first "Onion church" in Russia (to be fair there was one in Helsinki). Stunning. Weather has been amazing according to the guide - 30 days sun all year is the norm.

Lots more photos to post later.

Going back to the "boutique business hotel" on floor 7 in our funny building in a minute (at least we get a good view) and off to Moskva tomorrow lunchtime...