Half a Day in Helsinki, Suomi

Between leaving Russia and travelling to Poland, Chewy and I had a brief several hour stint in Helsinki, Finland.  We barely had any time here, and after a long night on the ferry, and one too many of the happy hour cocktails, we didn't see all too much unfortunately.  As we got in really early at about 7am, we just dropped our bags at our friends' hostel and went out for a coffee. 

^^^ That bad boy was taken by our very talented photographer friend Jay.  And yes, we were actually snoozing.

With the help of two lovely local ladies we made it to this market, and tucked in to all sorts of delicious food!

Helsinki was lovely, albeit expensive, and I would love to return to Finland and explore more of the country.

St Petersburg in 72 Hours: Part III

Our last day in St Petersburg was spent visiting the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, the city's oldest museum.  Amongst the treasure trove of items, there is also a ghoulish collection of mutant babies.  Obviously no photos are allowed to be taken in that section, and it is difficult (but interesting) viewing.  It took Chewy and me a long, long, long time to find the museum, I'm not even sure why, but we eventually did and it was well worth it.

Above is just me and Voltaire hanging out.

Remember our lovely little find, Zoom Cafe, that I told you about in the first St Petersburg post? Well, we visited it again.  I had to have the vegetarian Borscht, along with the potato pancakes, both classic Russian dishes.

Now these next two photos won't make much sense to anyone.  Chewy and I were hunting down a post office to send off our postcards from, and believe it or not, this post office was actually open! Seems silly, but it looked completely shut, and the heavy iron door wasn't exactly what you would call inviting.

St Petersburg was absolutely incredible, and I am so thrilled that I was able to see it.  I cannot recommend going there enough, and remember that you don't even need to organise a visa for 72 hours if you enter with St Peters Line ferries! St Petersburg was a 10/10.

72 Hours in St Petersburg: Part II

Our second day in St Petersburg was a gloriously sun drenched one, and we enjoyed every minute of it.  Being great little tourists we embarked on a free tour, led by the loveliest girl, and it was absolutely worth every minute of it.  Details of the tour can be found here.  Having visited The Hermitage the day before, we embarked on a veritable feast of sights today including one of my favourites - the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood, as well as the Palace Square, Peter and Paul Fortress, and the Nevsky Prospect just to name a few.  The list is endless and there are hundreds of things to see in St Petes.

So without further ado here are the photos!

Above is our lovely tour guide! And below follow six photos of the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood, I went a bit snap happy because it was one of the most incredible churches I've ever seen hands down.

And below I'll leave you with the entrance to our lovely hostel (details here). Looking very Soviet, and not exactly welcoming. I for one accidentally walked past this door on several occasions whilst trying to make it home.