Finland and St Petersburg

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After another long train ride from Moscow, I arrived in Helsinki. As a tourist, there isn't a whole lot of exciting things to see, but I think it would be a fantastic city to live in. There are parks everywhere, it's on the coast, the city provides great wi-fi around the city centre (I never had a problem connecting outside anywhere in the city centre, and for a city with a little over a million in greater Helsinki, the city never felt close to that size. Public transportation is some of the best I've come across, though a little pricey as is everything else. They have buses, trams, commuter trains and a metro, so even at rush hour it was never all that crowded. I only went out one night in Helsinki, but the night-life was ok. The people seem friendly enough and they love their hockey. The main downside is everything is a little more expensive than most places. But I guess that's the price to pay to live in a fantastic city like Helsinki.

I was lucky enough to know and stay with the wonderful Marikki, who showed me around and gave me a free meal when she had to work. I also was able to experience midsummer, the Finnish way. The cabin party was not too different than one you'd have back home, except for it was a shorter drive out, it never got dark, the cabin was complete with a smoke sauna and enough Finns to fill it and it was in Finland. The Finns seem to have a firm grasp on how to party. The first night was going good, the sangria and beer was flowing, everyone was enjoying the sun, and then we started playing Russian Roulette, with an iphone and a couple bottles of vodka. By the time the game finished I think about 2 L of vodka had been drunk. After that the party went from good to great!The smoke sauna came next, after it had been nicely smoked for 5 hours or so. After enjoying some more sangria, the sauna, swimming in the sea, finishing the sangria, and getting back to the beer, the rest of the morning seemed to go fairly uneventfully.

Apparently in Finland, midsummer isn't midsummer without a handful of Finns getting drunk and drowning. Not a tradition to be too proud of, but a tradition nonetheless. At the end of the weekend, or the next morning, if you happen to have internet at the cabin, it's also customary to browse the news headlines to find out how many people drowned that weekend. When checked Saturday afternoon, there had been 2 reported drownings, a small number compared the average I've been told. The next night, which really was just the fist night but continued after a 5 hour power nap, happened much like the first, but with a little less vodka. After cleaning the cabin the next morning, and making it back to Helsinki in time to catch my train, my adventure moved onto St Petersburg. Needless to say after the midsummer party in Finland, my nights spent in St Petersburg were fairly uneventful.

The city centre of St Petersburg is much like that of many European cities, old and beautiful, but with a few more palaces than most. Once you get outside the city centre, where tourist generally don't venture, it becomes more obvious that the city is indeed in Russia. There aren't really many houses, even as far out as I was couch surfing, but large cement Soviet era apartment blocks. Not the nicest looking things. In Moscow where I was staying, it was similar, but at least there were lots of trees in that neighbourhood. In my 2 days in St. Petersburg, I managed to see most of the sights, Peter and Paul's fortress, the two big churches (can't remember their names at the moment), the Winter Palace which now houses a large portion the State Hermitage museum, and a few others. The Winter Palace is a nice place, there were a large amount of art and artifacts housed in the many rooms, but unless you buy a ticket online, you wait for almost 2 hours to get in, or at least I did. After that it's for adults it's 400 roubles to get in, and there isn't a whole lot of signage, in English at least, so another 350 for an English audioguide to better appreciate some of the displays, and another 200 if you want to take pictures. Luckily I have an international youth card that seems to work like a student card, or at least it does in Russia, so I paid nothing to get in, didn't take pictures and didn't get an audioguide. For that price, it was definitely worth it to me. Not sure if it's because I've seen lots of art, and seen a few renaissance palaces already, but I had paid full price, it probably wouldn't have been worth the wait and paying almost 1000 Roubles, about £20, or $30 to see it. If you haven't seen many museums, or palaces, I'd recommend it, especially if you buy the ticket online and you're ok without taking pictures and or having an audioguide. I was hoping to go see Peterhof, Peter the Great's version of Versailles, but to enjoy the gardens I wanted some sun, the main palace was closed that day, and it's bloody expensive, maybe next time.

I did enjoy my time in St Petersburg. I stayed with a nice Russian girl, who helped decode my Russian cookbook so we were able to cook up some tasty Russian food, and the city centre is nice to wander. If you can only see one city in Russia, I'd say see St. Petersburg, but Moscow, I thought, was still definitely worth a visit. The centre is not as old or as nice, but with definitely worth a visit for a day or 2.

I am now gone from Russia, over the middle of Europe somewhere, not sure where, I see some houses, some trees a river and a large industrial complex below me, on my way to Barcelona to see Borja, and hopefully some running bulls. I was originally going to be working in a hostel for the whole festival, but those plans fell through. I would at least like to get up to Pamplona for a night or 2 to see what the Spaniards consider a party and maybe Madrid and/or Seville. I'm in Spain until July 15 so guess I'll figure it out when I get there. I am just sorry that the Catalonian's won't get to see Captain Canada on Thursday :-(

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