Day 2 out on the square (the red one). We were first in line for tickets to the Armoury and Kremlin – even managed to get a friendly response using my extremely limited Russian. The ‘Summer Snow’ (poplar seeds) are falling thick across the city – freaky.

The Armoury and Diamond Exchange were beyod what we expected. We saw the Fabregè egg collection (they only have 10 of the original 57 – the rest are lost or in private/other collections). Also the Russian ‘Crown Jewels’ along with halls of precious jewels, masses of diamonds, platinum, gold and silver. Sorry Mom. No photos allowed at all. It seems that they decorated EVERYTHING with limitless supplies of shiny expensive stuff.

We spent the rest of the morning walking aroud the various cathederals ( x lots) and attrations (the Tsars canon and Bell) in the Kremlin. After the awe of the Armoury it was pretty dull.

Following a quick lunch in the massive shopping mall (located underground next to Red Square) we visited the Russian History Museum. Barely an English info board in sight made it boring and confusing. V and I were both falling asleep on our sore feet (Museum fatigue is setting in).

In the evening we went back out to take some night photos. Walked past the Balshoi (busy being renovated) and got a few shots of St. Basils and Red Square beautifully lit. Outside the Kremlin the locals were ignoring the ‘keep off the grass’ signs in the park – during the day I guess the guards chase them off because it was empty. Another budget cut maybe – the guards who watch over the ‘Unknown Soldier’ all day with an hourly changing ceremony knock off at 5 !

– Posted from my iPhone

The overnight train was hot and stuffy but it was a new experience for the both of us. I did not sleep at all but Sim managed ok. We arrived dead on time at 7:10 in Moscow after stopping for a half hour outside the city in order to do so ( guidebook says this is the norm and Russian trains always arrive on time). The toilets at the train station were an experience in themselves. I was not expecting squat toilets at a major train station in the capital.

Negotiated the Moscow metro without too much difficulty and got to the hostel very early. They let us dump our bags and we vamoosed off to go kill some time. Spotted a cool little cafe to go have a second breakfast. Expensive but a very nice little treat for ourselves. The Russians do pretty good breads and excellent tea.

We wandered off to the Kremlin and Red square. Caught the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. Then rounded a corner and spotted the queue for Lenins mausoleum. No photos no bags and you have to go though metal detectors to get in. Its free which was surprising but they charge you a small fee for storing your cameras phones bags etc. Numerous stern looking guards then usher you round a set route into and out of the mausoleum. No dawdling allowed. I still maintain it’s a fake cos he looked pretty good for a dead guy.

Red square ( more of a rectangle though) is everything we imagined it to be. Multicoloured St. Basils at the one end just tops it off perfectly. St Basils is THE picture you see in your head when you think of Moscow. Sim and I both had big grins as we walked around imagining what it must have been like to etch ICBMs and tanks roll through the square during Soviet times.

[sim] Just managed to get V to a bunk before she fell asleep. Got to love red bull. Lots more to do tomorrow. Hope the afternoon rest has regenerated my feet. Dorm seems noisy. Dr Who or House this eve. Cool.

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Just got word from Arne – the German guy who fed us in Norway. He made it through epic conditions to Nordkapp on his bicycle. Well done sir! We’ll have to try something like that one day.

– Posted from my iPhone

It’s been two years since Al passed away. The time has gone by very quickly but we miss our friend and the memories frequently pop back into our minds. V an I had a quite moment on Red Sqaure. We would have loved to have been able to share this trip with him. Love to all the Pietersens, fom both of us.

I know we have been slacking off on posts the past few days. Been hectic and knackered but working on it now. I’m wired on red bull and coffee while V is having a snooze (must be the old age). We’re in Moscow ! Here’s a little eyecandy from this morning.

Keep an eye out below for older posts from St Petersburg. Coming Soon

– Posted from my iPhone

Gonna be another long post….Guess what?

It’s my V’s birthday !!! Happy Birthday my love. The big Three-Oh. Now the fun really starts xxx

Not your typical birthday 🙂 we took a stroll down toward the train station and had pancakes (apple/caramel and bannana/chocolate) for breakkie at the bd girl’s request.

It took some doing but I managed to arrange a parade for V. Well actually it was the SPB City Day parade that came pouring down Nevsky prospect (main street) while we were there. The police had closed the road for at least 3km with officers posted every 15m so we were expecting a show. I have to admit it was rather lame compared to soviet era ones, but was still an unexpected treat. The parade consisted of: A few hundred people on harleys and every other kind of motorbike, a flock of rollerbladers, a herd of power striders (google it), a bunch of girls on with a band on a flatbed. The finale – the street sweepers 🙂 Really ! No tanks or ICBM’s.

Our next task was to get tickets to Moscow. The plan was to take a 1st class sleeper. Not so easy when you don’t speak Russian. The German couple in the queue in front of us gave up trying to get their ticket after 5 mins. We stuck it out and ended up with a 2nd class ticket – close enough !

Driven by the desire to walk as little as possible we stored our packs and challanged ourselves with the SPB subway system (was actually really simple in the end – doh! ) The stations are very, very deep and lavishly decorated (apparently Moscow’s are better). Our first stop, just for V on her bd, was the Military History Museum 🙂 what could be cooler than a massive collection of Russian weaponry ? Everything from AK47s to ICBMs.

Hotdogs and Ice creams for lunch followed by a walk to and around the Menshikov palace. Not briliant. He was Peter the gr8’s best buddy. BTW, palaces here are more like mansions rather than the romantic palatial stereotype.

We ended up near the train station in search of dinner. Eventually found a reasonable looking Russian resturant and made good use of our iphone translation app. The food was as expected. Beer was good. Vodka was, well, vodka.

To top off V’s day we boarded the train after an hour sitting on a cold granite floor in the station. The 4 sleeper cabin was cozy to say the least – an arms length between the occupants. And then to sleep.

Not your average 30th my love. But hopefully one to remember 🙂

Travel Tip

Notes on our experience buying train tickets:
– Find the train info you need on the Real Russia / Seat 61 or way to Russia sites and then get someone at your hostel to write down exactly what you need in Russian. Only works if there are no issues at the ticket office
– Look for the youngest, leaset grumpy looking (tricky) ticket office worker. Probably more likely to speak English and be helpful.
– Have pen and paper. Easier to write a time and date than say it in Russian.
– Never give up, Never surrender. Once you get to the front of the queue don’t leave until you have the ticket you need. When they can’t understand, insist. When they say ‘no credit card’, point to the Mastercard logo on the window, etc etc. Eventually they will help you, call the police or just close the counter 🙂

Photos in the gallery soon!

– Posted from my iPhone

We got a slightly later start – thankfully. A dorm bed never felt so good.

First stop was a walk to ‘The church of the resurrection’ also known as ‘The church of the saviour on spilled blood’ and a dozen other variations. Our first encounter with whacky Russian churches with domes that look like flavoured soft-serves. Impressive outside, grand inside (typical).

I convinced V to give my feet a break and we got on the city tour (hop-on/hop-off) bus. We passed a few sights while listening to an audio-tour and jumped off at the Peter & Paul Fortress.

The main cathederal houses the remains of all but one the Russian Tsars from Peter the Great (who truly was) to the Romanov’s (the last ones). Morbid, but interesting. We spent hours walking around the fort and it’s museums (unfortunately not much info in English). My best part was the Space History exhibit. Very “Soviet”. Big rocket motors and the re-entry pod from the Soyuz-Apollo mission. Wicked Cool !!

We hopped back on the bus and did 1.5 loops of the tour. Just watching the city go by and trying not to doze off – museums are taking a lot out of us. Too tired to hunt for a good meal we chickened out and opted for a MacDonalds. Think we will need a full ‘off’ day soon.

The dorm had been overrun by a hoard of Russian school kids so we upgraded to the penthouse (well a double room across the hall) and sipped a scotch to celebrate my V’s impending birthday while enjoying another ep. of Dr Who.

– Posted from my iPhone

What a day! More than 12 hours on our feet checking out the Hermitage museum (one of the largest in the world). Weather is still no good. 1 hr 45 mins in the rain (getting to the museum and standing in the queue) and no sign of a leak in our snazzy jackets. The Russian behaviour of just pushing into or jumping queues is really annoying but we knew about, it so just need to accept it or do the same (not really our style).

The section of the Musuem we visited (housed partly in the Winter Palace) was immense beyond anything we have seen. The collections go on forever in the most lavishly decorated rooms and halls (Gold leaf was the paint dujour) The first hour in was frustrating. It’s too big and confusing with a really bad free map. There seemed to be little or no structure to the layout – it’s as if everything that the Russians have ever collected has been distributed randomly with no info on the displays (I guess they want you to pay for a tour or audioguide).

If you every want to see my V annoyed, give her a bad map 🙂 she’s my navigator – I have a defective compass gene (tks Mom) After a guided tour of the Gold Treasure Room (not really worth the price tag) we had a better idea of now to navigate. Oddly, the highlight for me was the art ! I think I’m a Monet fan, but there was plenty to see from Da Vinci to Piccasso.

Dodging the vast tour groups wasn’t easy and we did overhear at least one other Safa. Most unusual are the hundreds of soviet era grannies dotted around and watching your every move. I assume they have had trouble in the past or it’s just job creation. I doubt that even deep brain stimulation would illicit a smile. Sitting on a chair all day and barking at the odd tourist must be a terrible job.

By the end of the day our feet were killing us and with a 3km walk home we decided to sit for a bit on a 2hour boat cruise around some of the islands. Unfortunately they have ‘forgotten’ to tell us that the commenary was in Russian only so we just watched the sights go by. I dozed of a couple of times woken only by the blarring Russian guide.

Then just to nail us to the proverbial X we decided to visit St Isaacs Cathederal and pay an overpriced fee to hike to the top of the dome (250 plus steps – the cities highest official viewing platform). The views were panoramic (no kidding) but not the best weather for photos.

A little bad news: Our tour of Star City (Russia’s NASA and one of the highlights for us) has been cancelled because there are not enough people on the tour. This means that all our rushing to get to Moscow has been in vain. Annoying Ruskies! We’ll just have to go to the real NASA one day.

Photos will be in the gallery (soon)

Travel Tip

For the Hermitage
– You need at least a full day in the main section.
– Get to the ticket office early. Beware – they don’t seem to understand English at all.
– Get on a guided tour or you will get lost, if your go yourself maybe a guide book or audioguide.
– We had to pay an extra 200p for a ticket that allows you to take photos. Nobody was checking – don’t bother.
– Flash photography is not allowed, but everyone still uses a flash (we didn’t).
– The cafes inside are a rip-off and you cannot go out and back in on the standard ticket so prepare to starve or pay.
For Channel Cruizes
Check if the commentary is in English before getting on !

– Posted from my iPhone

Another long day. Up at 5:30 to catch the tram into Helsinki train station, then onto the SPB train.

This evening we took a stroll around to get our bearings and find some food. The options in the shop across the road are extremely Russian and limited (some look familiar). For sups we found a local cafe/deli/canteen and had a typical meal. Mash with meat and cabbage, V had some sort of quiche. Not good by any means, but compared to Norway, dirt cheap. So cheap that my stomach is vocalizing its discontent and plotting its revenge as I type this post.

The weather for tomorrow looks miserable but the forecasts have not been accurate yet. We intend to spend the whole day at and around the Hermitage. By all accouts it will be awesome.

– Posted from my iPhone

St Petersburg. Made it. Raining. Did not get searched by customs for a change. As friendly as you would expect. You have NO idea how dodge the entrance to the hostel looks and how tricky it was to find. More later.

– Posted from my iPhone

Ok. Maybe not EVERYTHING. But we had quite a day.

Up at 5am (we are really bad at early mornings) to catch the train from Vaasa. We got the ‘Pendolino’ – A pendulum train that goes 200km/h – Helsinki in 3.5 hrs. Slept most of the way though.

All in all we walked about 6km around Helsinki with our packs (9kgs feels like a lot more after 6hrs of sightseeing). It’s a vibrant city – we took in the sights and atmosphere (usual balance of oxygen and other gasses);
~ The Temple Church. An odd, almost subterranian modern (1969) church blasted out of the ground. Love the ‘No climbing’ signs on the rock walls. If they had bouldering comps after Sunday services I would consider joining the cult.
~ Helsinki Cathederal. More impressive from the outside than inside. I guess they ran out of budget for the interior decorator.
~ The Design District. Shops selling cool looking stuff from furniture to tools. Cashing in on Alvar Aalto’s legacy.
~ The Design Museum. Partially closed (unfortunately) and the first time we have not been allowed to take photos.
~ The National Museum. Excellent pre-history section.
~ Senate Square and surrounds (designed by some famous German architect – Engel – who was called in to make Helsinki look good).
~ Market area. Empty when we got there.
We also took an open top tour bus around town. The audio guide was good and commical – Finn with a strong Aussie accent. Chilled out in the park and watch the locals go by – perfect sunny day.

Found Chakalaka chips (world cup advertising) and headed to the EuroHostel. Biggest one we have been in and we had no problems – besides having to pay for wifi access. The tweeting bird sounds in the toilets are an odd touch.

We spent the evening repacking our gear and checking our security. Tomorrow we enter Russia and things become more interesting (difficult). I’m apprehensive.

We have managed Scandanavia on budget and on time. It has been a little rushed in some parts but that has helped keep the costs down. We are restricted with time by a fixed date in Moscow. After that it’s total freedom. We’ll be back – if only to visit Nico and Nordkapp.

P.S. My V turns the big ‘Three-Oh’ on the 29th. Will have to celebrate with a double portion of 2 minute noodles 😉

– Posted from my iPhone

Danger: Long post with no pictures.

Yes we’ve been a bit slack with posts. We have just had 2 fantastic days with Nico and his family in Vaasa and have just been too busy to post. I have uploaded photos – but only sorted some of them. Have a look under Gallery > Denmark and Norway. Will sort and tag the rest up to Finland asap. Was a mission to upload so in future we will try to choose the best shots and keep the numbers of boing snaps down.

Finland is flat and green with vast waterways and more trees than I have ever seen. It was great to spend time with some ‘locals’ and learn a bit about life there. 5 months of devastating winter sounds harsh (to -25C), but everything is built for it (cars are plugged in to an extension cord and timer to start warming before you get in). Sounds like the ultimate place to have kids with excellent state medical and education. How safe is Finland ? So safe you don’t need to lock your house and can leave your keys in your car!

Nico has an amazing house (that he finished / is finishing) himself. Wood everywhere. Open, warm and inviting. Tech specs: 24mbps Internet (yea please) and cable TV, LAN and video in every room (including the garage/workshop) oodles of decking with more on the way and of course a sauna. Nico has gone ballistic with the best new tech – I love it. The back garden is a forest. No fences just trees for miles. What an amazing place for his girls to grow up!

Sunday we went for a bit of a cruise with the VW’s around town and the island with short browse around an improv garage sale in the neighbourhood. Another public holiday LOL. Nico lives on the edge of an impact crater which just very cool to see from Google Earth and by driving around. His girls (apart from being little angles) are growing up speaking Finnish, Swedish (Finland’s 2nd official language), English & Afrikaans. My brain would pop.

Found Rudolph ! Not in the forest, but on my plate for sups along with some other local specialties. Real food again. I gouged myself. Monday Nico took us around town to do some shopping and show us his favorite toy shops. We have replaced V’s camera with an entry level Canon (IXUS 100 IS) anything is better than Nikon 😉 Also replaced our missing sunglasses with some cheapies and did some other shopping.
(BTW. Found V’s sunnies in my pack LOL ! So it’s 2-1 to V again).

Finished the afternoon off by driving past the Ski Slopes (about twice the size of Tiffindell and 400m from Nico’s back door) and taking a short spin in his boat (unfortunately the weather was not good enough to cruize the waterways.) They have to pull all the boats out of the water before winter sets in as the sea freezes. Apparently you were once able to drive to Sweden across the ice !

Our final experience was to test Nics sauna. After what seemed like an eternity (probably 20mins) of up to 70 deg heat I could feel my pulse in my eyeballs and my skin was leaking like a sieve. A quick cold shower and then to the deck outside and an ice cold cider. We declined beating ourselves with birch branches, assuming it is somthing the locals tell tourists to do, then laugh at them. I was lobster pink but survived about 5mins longer than V. Hard core… maybe not… the locals go up to 100C!

Thank you Nico and Jannika (and Liina and Viivi) for such a wonderful time – we’ll be back 🙂

– Posted from my iPhone

At Nico’s place in Vaasa. Recharging our batteries and absing the washing machine. More soon.

We’re in Finland 🙂 Walked across the border from Haparandan (Sweden, not Mexico) to Tornio. Barely any indication that there is a border ! Turns out we could have taken a direct bus from Haparanda to Kemi, but was still fun to cross a border on foot. From Kemi we’ll take some trains to get to Nic in Vaasa.

[Update: looks like we have broken the ticket machine at Kemi train station. Hope we don’t end up paying twice for the tickets. V found her headphones – 2 all again]

– Posted from my iPhone

Norway bit us farewell this morning (my first encounter with what I can only assume was a bed bug) followed by the realization that V has lost her snazzy new sunglasses and her earphones – that’s ‘2 all’ by my reckoning 🙂

[Update: by the end of the day V has also lost her beanie. That’s 3-2 to me – we’ll get our brains around this nonsense soon – hopefully before we get to Russia. We are also considering replacing V’s camera. It now has 3 large specs on the sensor]

We took a walk around the Ofoten Museum – one of the worst exhibitions we have ever experienced. Time to bail.

The skies started turning blue just after we crossed the border into Sweden. Spectacular train ride – better than Flåm in some parts.

We are only going to be one night in Sweden (Luleå) before a full day of travel to get to a friend in Vaasa (Finland).

Luleå is charming enough. Clean and very tidy. New currency, different food lables – took another few mins to work our which is full cream milk. Cheaper than Norway, but all we have seen is lots of trees and a blurry reindeer. Apparently was 26C here today. Put my toe in the gulf of Bothnia.

– Posted from my iPhone