Geo: 58.386, 24.4986Bussed down the country 127km south on Eurolines to Parnu, staying Koidula Park hotel On Kuninga (more reminisent of a Blackpool B&B I'd say only dearer), beside it was an 18th century Elizabethan church with lovely maroon and ochre brick work and over looking Koidula park. All very nice and the sun was splitting the rocks, so after a walking tour we went to the Superbrand beach the 1st afternoon til after 7pm, seemed to be a really nice place altogether UNTIL we tried to get food. They may as well have had a big sign at the town perimeter saying 'Vegetarian's F. Off', the mexican restaurant had NO bean dishes (I think that is incredible), the turkish had no falafel, and they were too up their own asses in the fancy Italian to ... read more

Geo: 59.6868, 30.784Good start to the day with brekker in bed on the train and arrive in St Petersburg at 9am, met by a local guide Olga who was a cocky little cow and had a bus tour of the city til midday stopping at Palace Bridge with view of St Peter and Paul fortress, the hermitage (winter palace) and stock exchange etc. Then drive over to said fortress and wander around this for a hour or so. Then we boarded the cruiser aurora which heralded the October revolution and is now a museum ship. Then went to St Nicolas' catherdral where there was a funeral on - why its a good idea to bring tourists in at this time is beyond me so we left. But we also saw 2 weddings and St Petersburg iconic ... read more

Geo: 55.75, 37.6215 - 18 Jul MoscowThe 77 hours ends and with it the trans siberian train journey at 17:43 when we arrive at Moscow Yaroslavl station (there are many stations here), hurray. We drive through the city to get to a burb called Ismailovo to the massive Hotel Beta (built during the olympics theres also Alpha and Delta) and by metro it is 5 stops to Red Sq. so fine 3-star location. The LP book is of course sniffy about the hotel but it's perfectly fine with a big enough room and a nice sparkly lobby and bar complete with what we suspectare working girls who look a bit like they could be in 'Eastenders'. First impressions of Moscow on the coach ride to the hotel is very impressive especially the 7 sister buildings which ... read more

Geo: 57.9972, 56.2353... read more

Geo: 57.155, 65.5156... read more