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.

Holy Guacamole!

"I don't know what to eat today" I hear you say.  Well, stress no longer because this guacamole is not only delicious and nutritious, but can pretty much be eaten at any time of day.  Win.  Oh and it is super easy to make.  Double win.  This recipe makes enough for a decent amount of guacamole.  How big is one serving of guacamole? I don't know! Let's just go with this was enough for 4 people to have for dinner with nachos. 

Ingredients:

2 ripe avocados

60ml of fresh lime/lemon juice

2 tomatoes, de-seeded and finely chopped

1/2 onion, finely chopped

1 red chilli, finely chopped (if you leave the seeds in or not is up to you - how spicy do you like your guac?)

5 tbsp fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves, finely chopped

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp paprika

1 pinch cayenne pepper

1 pinch salt

1.  Mash all the ingredients together in a bowl with a fork.

2.  Season to taste.

3.  That's it.

Serve this up with fresh corn chips, nachos, with crudités, some freshly baked bread...whatever you like really! Just make sure you leave some coriander (cilantro) leaves to sprinkle on top before you serve it.

Enjoy!

Back to London...and Harry Potter

After a whirlwind tour of Ireland, we eagerly came back to London for one night only, with our Harry Potter Studio Tour tickets in hand.  I was incredibly excited to go to this, having grown up with Harry Potter et al, as was Chewy.  After a bright and early 6am flight from Dublin, we made it back to London and stayed with our lovely friends (and their cute, little cats), and prepared for the evening tour with a good old power nap.  Once we were well rested, and after several train journeys, and a final bus ride to the Warner Brothers' studios, we made it to the Great Hall...

 

The Yule Ball dress robes.  Even better in person than on screen.

Chewy is unhappy.  Very unhappy.  Very unhappy about not receiving his Hogwarts letter.

The Chamber of Secrets scares me to this day.

Butterbeer in hand!

It was the most magical evening, and we both had the absolutely best time.  I cannot recommend going to this enough, but do make sure you book your tickets in advance as they do sell out quickly, especially during holiday periods.  

And what made this visit even better? It was our anniversary! Take note boys, the way to a girl's heart is most definitely through Harry Potter related activities.