Our Struggle in St. Petersburg, Russia

     Lonely Planet (our touring bible) refers to the history of St. Petersburg, also known as Petrograd and Leningrad, as one of struggle.  First, its struggle of identity, where even from its birth over 300 years ago, St. P has been striving to be more like Europe.  Second, its struggle with ideas, where communism has gone against fascism and more simply put, democracy versus autocracy (which is still an issue to this day).  As soon as PDub and I set foot on St. P soil, our struggle was with East Asian tour groups (apologies to all of my Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese friends).  In the line for immigration, I clung to PDub's arm fearing that myself and my 35lb pack would be knocked over and trampled by individuals shorter than me (and I am 5'3").

     No worries, after a few thrown elbows and bloody noses, PDub and I were on our way to the historic heart of St. P.  I instantly felt like I was in a different country where the architecture was like none I had seen before and the people spoke only Russian and looked completely different.  I have been to other countries (aside from the U.S.) but never felt this instant outsider notion.  When in Mexico, I felt like I was back in Texas, and when we visited Paris later in this trip, it took me three days to finally feel like I was in France.  To me, being a visitor and experiencing a new culture is like being in heaven, and Russia hit the spot.

     The shuttle dropped us off at St. Isaac's Cathedral (you can't miss it) where we proceeded to walk the few blocks to our hostel.  Yes, we went from hotel rooms with heated floors to rocking, tiny ferry rooms to a private room with community bathrooms, but for the price and location, we couldn't have asked for a better place to stay.  After hearing about the amenities, which included free international calls (sorry parents for not taking advantage of this), and dropping our packs off in our room, we headed for the streets of St. P.  First stop: food! at the ZooM Cafe where I indulged on some borscht, a cold, red soup containing cucumber, potato, beets, and topped with sour cream.

St. Isaac's Cathedral

Soul Kitchen Hostel Jr.  I would recommend this place to anyone!!

The ZooM Cafe.  We had a tough time finding places seeing they are typically hidden and the restaurant name written in Cyrillic.....kind of a challenge for us.

Borscht.....Probably wouldn't order it again but glad I did.

     After lunch, our true struggle began: getting everything in within the 72 hours (about 60 for us) that our visa-free allowed.  I look back at my travel journal and still can't fathom how we did it all, although we did miss much.  Here was our itinerary and what I hope to share with you over the next few days:

Day 1: Hostel Check-In

            Lunch

            Lonely Planet Walking Tour

            Pub Break

            Dinner

            Ballet Performance

            View and sunset from St. Isaac's Cathedral

Day 2: Breakfast

            Private Palace Tour (with lunch in there somewhere)

            Hermitage

            Dinner

Day 3: Breakfast

            Check-out

            Church of Spilled Blood

            Walk to Peter and Paul Fortress

            Lunch

            Hermitage

            Cafe Break

            Return to Ferry

St. Petersburg, Russia: Visa-Free on the Ferry from Helsinki

     The purpose of this blog: to aid those fellow-travelers and travel agents who would like to visit or plan someone's trip to St. Petersburg, Russia using the visa-free policy.

     With respect to this rule, I read so many articles, TripAdvisor comments, and of course the rule itself, Russian Federation Government Resolution No. 397.  I also spoke with our own travel agent as well as others, all of whom supported obtaining a travel visa and refuted the visa-free travel; of course, all of this made me extremely nervous and highly apprehensive to visit St. P.  In my mind, the Russians were not going to allow us into St. P from the ferry, and we would have to wait the rest of the day at the harbor to return.  Even worse, we would be contained in the tiniest of cells with bread and water, no toilet, no shower, and most likely torture for non-existent information until someone from our embassy or even the President of the United States would come to our rescue; hence, the start of World War III.  Luckily, none of this occurred, and my fears turned out to be ridiculous....even laughable.
     What is this visa-free rule?  In 2009, the Russian Government passed a new rule which allows foreign tourists and persons without citizenship traveling by ferry to enter St. P without a visa and remain there for no longer than 72 hours.  These persons may include those traveling on the ferry from Helsinki (like ourselves) or those traveling on a cruise ship.  All you need is a passport (duh), your arrival and departure ticket from the ferry (they give you when you check-in), hotel confirmation (never asked for it, but we had it), and a tour booked (this could be the shuttle from the ferry into the city...already included in your ferry price).  With all of this (which isn't much if you think about it), you have a trip to St. P.

Our first time on a boat overnight.

Our VERY tiny room for the night, and of all days, PDub decided that he was running low on socks (it was like day 4) and was wearing this pair for the second time.  The sweet smell of stinky feet was inescapable.  The flask was a gift from the groom.

On the deck of the boat before heading down to dine at one of the many restaurants and hit up cocktail hour at one of the bars.

     Why would we choose visa-free instead of getting a travel visa?  Obtaining the travel visa was our other option; this required a visit to the Russian embassy and some money (would you expect anything less).  If you do not have the convenience of having embassy row next door, your next best option is to hire a travel agent to get your visa.  A couple we met at the wedding obtained two 90-day tourist visas for $1,000.  PDub thought we could spend our travel money on other things, so we took advantage of the visa-free policy and ate more Russian pancakes.
     Honestly, our choice of using the visa-free policy worked out great for us.  My nerves were uncalled for, and I think that travel agents should take more advantage of this newer Russian rule.  Shoot me an e-mail if you have concerns or questions!

Passing through Helsinki, Finland

     After the wedding festivities, we took the train back to the rainy Helsinki, our main travel hub.  I say rainy because that it did every day we were there.  Upon our return, we checked in at the Hilton, where PDub was able to use his points for the room (if it's free, it's for me!), and proceeded to prepare for the next leg of our trip.  During our preparation and over the evening and next day, we did get to do some touring of Helsinki.

The Hilton...Our first free night and the largest room yet.  (The bathroom even had a floor warmer).

     Helsinki is the capital of Finland and located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland.  Although Helsinki dates as far back as 1550 (first established as a trading town), it was appointed by Russia as the capital in 1812 to ensure Swedish persuasion was minimal.  It was around this time that the city center was built, and this area is where we spent most of our time.
     Our favorite area to stroll was called the Esplanadi, consisting of two main streets overseeing the water and garden and lined with several shops and cafes.  Nearby is the Uspenski Cathedral, which was built from 1862-1868 by a Russian architect and overlooks the city of Helsinki.  Although we were unable to go inside (closed), I have heard the interior is lovely.  Another church in the area, the Helsinki Cathedral, cannot be missed seeing that it is the distinctive landmark for Helsinki's skyline, like the Eiffel Tower for Paris or the Arch for St. Louis.  It was built around the same time as the other church, started in 1830 and finished in 1852, and it sits on one side of Senate Square, the area where citizens did and still do congregate.  Lastly, you can't miss the more recent church that was built into and out of a rock, Temppeliaukio Church (opened in 1969).  Think we have a thing for churches....or is it just this city?

Uspenski Cathedral....PDub can't handle keeping both eyes open when the sun is out.

Up close.....no worries for the looming storm cloud, it does contain rain.

One of the Love Lock Bridges we saw on our trip.  You get a personalized lock for you and your love and put it on one of these bridges....an expression of locking down your own love and ditching the key (a pair of bolt cutters would probably ruin this symbolism pretty quickly).

Overlooking the Helsinki Cathedral from the Uspenski Cathedral....pocket pose.

Standing in Senate Square looking up to the Helsinki Cathedral.

Overlooking Senate Square from the Helsinki Cathedral.

Inside the Helsinki Cathedral.  Everything was very white....very pure in my mind.

Martin Luther himself....stone pose.

The organ in the Helsinki Cathedral.

The Temppeliaukio Church (Church of Rock).  Again, don't worry about the storm cloud, gettin' caught in the rain is no biggie.  It's almost like the Finnish are unfazed by it.

The interior of the Church of Rock.  All natural light makes it very earthy....it could be that it was also built out of surrounding stones.

The altar of the Church of Rock.

     Other than one more layover, which consisted of several chapters in Game of Thrones in the Esplanadi, I hereby conclude our Finland time.

A Rehearsal and Wedding, Finnish Style

     It seems that we are traveling all over the world to witness our friends tie the knot but no complaints.  Our own wedding took place in Mexico under a gazebo on the beach.  The next destination wedding we attended took place in a castle in Ireland.  This destination wedding in Finland occurred in the largest wooden church in the world.  Thank you for giving us a reason to travel and see and experience so many new things!  I am looking forward to many more destination weddings (already have one on the calendar for January).

     So after the long hours of traveling and brief tourist outings, the wedding festivities quickly arrived.  On Friday evening, we attended the rehearsal at the church, dinner at the father of the bride's house, and drinks at a local place.

The groomsmen....and I thought PDub was tall...

The groom and PDub.

Rehearsing.

The lovely couple.

      On Saturday, we attended the ceremony and reception.  The wedding was absolutely beautiful and was held in the Kerimäki Church that was built between 1844 and 1847 and can hold 5,000 people.  Although the rumor has been disproven, the size of the church was blamed on a miscommunication between the architect (working in centimeters) and the builder (working in inches).  Ah, the beauty of having different measurement systems.  After the ceremony, we went to the reception venue, which overlooked one of the many lakes.  The dinner was scrumptious with the best reindeer meat I have had (tasted like a cross between pepperoni and salami); plus, this Fazer guy really knows how to do good chocolate.  Paul's speech was fabulous (no really, it was), and the band even learned how to play country music.  You couldn't have asked for a better evening!

The largest wooden church in the world.

The groom's family.

Before the ceremony....

The interior of the church.

After the ceremony.....

Rice.

More rice.

A happy couple.

Another happy couple...wait...same people.

Cheers!

The boys gave the groom a ball-and-chain keychain.

Caution: Suspenders.

Every wedding needs a kick line.

Two-steppin' for their first dance.

My favorite picture that their photographer took....really captures the beauty of the area (and the couple of course).

Savonlinna, Finland

Savonlinna, Finland

     On Thursday, we slept in attempting to recover from the previous day.  However, our travels were not over as we had to catch a 5-hour train ride north to Savonlinna (wedding location). While waiting on the train, PDub asked me if I thought they would allow him to drive the train; I guess he thought his degree in engineering meant more.  Thankfully a true engineer (conductor) drove us through the rocky hills, forests, and lakes of Finland and landed us in the beautiful Savonlinna, which happens to be a chain of islands on several lakes.  We checked into our room at the Sokos Seurahuone Hotel that overlooked the lake.  Downfall: we had two twin beds, which made us feel like we were back in the 50's questioning if we should push them together.

"I got my degree in engineering...Let me go ahead and take the wheel.  Plus I look pretty snazzy with this cup of coffee."  Thankfully I've trained him out of using the pinky-up drinking technique.  Great improvement, PDub.

Our first train ride....ever.

The view from our room.

     After only having some mini homemade donuts at the train station in Helsinki, we were starved, so we headed to the lakeside Restaurant Kalastajan Koju for some fried muikko fish, a recommendation from the bride and a local favorite.  Just like the newest KFC commercial with the dad saying, "I ate the BONES!" you actually did eat these bones; something strange for both PDub and I, but you couldn't even tell they were there.  I am not a seafood fan by any means, but these were pretty good.  After a walk by the lake and stumbling upon a castle (that we visited the next day), we ate some ice cream and headed to bed to watch some Finnish television (highly populated with tall blondes), a Julia Roberts movie, and finally deep sleep.  Unlike anywhere in the continental USA, Finland does not find darkness in the summer nights and instead only a dusk color if and when the sun goes down.  It makes you feel like you can stay up into the late hours and by far does not help with those of us who have issues with time changes.

Bbbbbeer.  Koff....a Finnish thing.

More beer....and a photo bomber in the background.

Fishie!

At the restaurant overlooking the lake.

Our scenic walk.

More scenery....and I'm not referring to PDub.

I found a Castle!