A trip to Europe: Helsinki and Tallinn
Uih! What a week!!! I haven't had a free minute to update my blog, and actually I still don't have it... I simply decided to give myself a break from working! :-)
Hope you are all doing well! It is getting cold in Russia and my little adventure trip to Europe, well Helsinki and Tallinn, put me in a thoughtful mood once more: What on earth am I doing in RUSSIA??? Unable to answer that question, I will summarize the trip to Europe :-)
Mom and I set off for Helsinki on Wednesday evening by bus.. Helsinki is only about 350km away from St. Pete, but since Piter is in Russia and Helsinki is European Union... Those of you who have been to Russia know what this means... A trip that would take about 3 hours under normal circumstances, took us 8 hours... an adventure!
1. It is really cheap to travel from Piter to Helsinki and the travel companies exist for one reason: smuggling! Most of the people on the bus had their bags full of cigarettes and alcohol, which is both extremely expensive in Helsinki and costs close to nothing in Russia :-)
2. I was a little scared to leave Russia, lose my immigration card and go to an unknown country... it lasted for about 30 min :-)
Mom and I had to get off the bus at 5 am and wait in the train station till 9 am for the opening hour of the tourist office. We got to hear some fun stories from two fellow travellers and smugglers (two nice ladies in their late 60ies)!
3. I was afraid of crossing the streets on crosswalks! I freaked out every time, because mom would just start walking inspite of cars coming up with top speed. BUT: ALL the cars actually stopped!!! A forgotten and exciting experience! But for safety reasons I decided not to get used it... It could cost my lief in Russia!
However, we got a room in the EUROHOSTEL, and despite of being super tired we walked straight out again to enjoy the perfect weather and beauty of Helsinki!
Helsinki
Read more!
Helsinki
Helsinki: Market Square
The Cathedral in Helsinki and my mom
Anna in Helsinki
The port in Helsinki
All-you-can-eat in Helsinki after 30hours without sleep
Mirror princess :-)
Mom: after 34 hours finally in bed
Suomenlinna Maritime Fortress
Going to Tallinn on Friday was another adventure... at least the preparation! We had bought the tickets the previous day and the seller had asked us for a valid phone number, just in case. Fine!
So, Friday morning mom and I set off for Suomenlinna, an island reachable only by boat... Of course, half way through the sightseeing walk on the island, we receive a sms saying that the boat to Tallinn is cancelled :-)
At least one thing I have learned in Russia: to take sudden changes and suprises with calm, because I can't change it anyway and in the end everything will be all right! :-) And so it happened... we had no problem taking an earlier Catamaran to Helsinki!
Arrival in Tallinn...
Beautiful autumn in Estonia
Tallinn - the cutest city I have ever visited
St. Olav's Church
Climbing the tower of St. Olav's Church
View from St. Olav's Church: Tallinn
Tallinn: St. Olav's Church
Tallinn: at Kadriorg
Kadriorg
I'm back in Piter, working a whole lot, but that is great!
My appartment is warm since yesterday... 3 days around 0 degrees made the city turn on the heating :-)
Hope you are all doing well! It is getting cold in Russia and my little adventure trip to Europe, well Helsinki and Tallinn, put me in a thoughtful mood once more: What on earth am I doing in RUSSIA??? Unable to answer that question, I will summarize the trip to Europe :-)
Mom and I set off for Helsinki on Wednesday evening by bus.. Helsinki is only about 350km away from St. Pete, but since Piter is in Russia and Helsinki is European Union... Those of you who have been to Russia know what this means... A trip that would take about 3 hours under normal circumstances, took us 8 hours... an adventure!
1. It is really cheap to travel from Piter to Helsinki and the travel companies exist for one reason: smuggling! Most of the people on the bus had their bags full of cigarettes and alcohol, which is both extremely expensive in Helsinki and costs close to nothing in Russia :-)
2. I was a little scared to leave Russia, lose my immigration card and go to an unknown country... it lasted for about 30 min :-)
Mom and I had to get off the bus at 5 am and wait in the train station till 9 am for the opening hour of the tourist office. We got to hear some fun stories from two fellow travellers and smugglers (two nice ladies in their late 60ies)!
3. I was afraid of crossing the streets on crosswalks! I freaked out every time, because mom would just start walking inspite of cars coming up with top speed. BUT: ALL the cars actually stopped!!! A forgotten and exciting experience! But for safety reasons I decided not to get used it... It could cost my lief in Russia!
However, we got a room in the EUROHOSTEL, and despite of being super tired we walked straight out again to enjoy the perfect weather and beauty of Helsinki!
Helsinki
Read more!
Helsinki
Helsinki: Market Square
The Cathedral in Helsinki and my mom
Anna in Helsinki
The port in Helsinki
All-you-can-eat in Helsinki after 30hours without sleep
Mirror princess :-)
Mom: after 34 hours finally in bed
Suomenlinna Maritime Fortress
Going to Tallinn on Friday was another adventure... at least the preparation! We had bought the tickets the previous day and the seller had asked us for a valid phone number, just in case. Fine!
So, Friday morning mom and I set off for Suomenlinna, an island reachable only by boat... Of course, half way through the sightseeing walk on the island, we receive a sms saying that the boat to Tallinn is cancelled :-)
At least one thing I have learned in Russia: to take sudden changes and suprises with calm, because I can't change it anyway and in the end everything will be all right! :-) And so it happened... we had no problem taking an earlier Catamaran to Helsinki!
Arrival in Tallinn...
Beautiful autumn in Estonia
Tallinn - the cutest city I have ever visited
St. Olav's Church
Climbing the tower of St. Olav's Church
View from St. Olav's Church: Tallinn
Tallinn: St. Olav's Church
Tallinn: at Kadriorg
Kadriorg
I'm back in Piter, working a whole lot, but that is great!
My appartment is warm since yesterday... 3 days around 0 degrees made the city turn on the heating :-)
posted by Anna at
11:36 AM
3 Comments:
Neat! Tallinn must be are really cute place to be, youre not the first one to tell me that... i need to go there at some point when i get to europe... Here all the renaissance style buildings are basically fake - 'american neoclassicism'? Anyways, its amazing that russia and estonia really make that much of a cultural difference.
By
Anonymous, at 9:17 AM
What a blast!
That´s so funny! You stole MY pictures!!! Actually I have the same pics from Helsinki and Tallinn, just with other people on it. Even the point of view from where you took them is the same.
So glad you went there with your mom. Isn´t Tallinn freakin´cute? We stayed only 3 days but however I´m still impressed of this tiny town. Did you know that there are 200 wireless lan access points in Tallinn? And did you join the Old Hanse, the most famous restaurant in Tallinn, dressed in middle-age, where you are forced to eat with your fingers, besides honey-beer and live-Minne-Gesang?
I really wanna go there again, someday. But before, if I will manage by any chance, I have to come to Piter - but the chance is too small to mention. How long will you stay there, or will you ever come back is the better question? You know: life is quite boring here cause everything is working out in general. No schedule-mistakes, no passport-controlling, no smugglers. But - still nice.
Would love to see you again!
Keep friendly and kind!
JOJO
By
Anonymous, at 6:13 PM
@Dear Magnetball: Yes, Tallinn is such a cute place! I'm sure you read your ex-Mitbewohni's comment below and really want to go there now! ;-)
BUT: you have summer in CA while we are fighting the snow in Piter! It took me 1 hour to get to work this morning... GRRRR
@Dear Ex-boyfriend: Hehehehehe! Tallinn indeed is freakin' cute!!! Unfortunately we didn't go to the Old Hanse, but of course I know where it is and thought, "uh, looks like a cool place... NEXT time!"
I'm going/coming home for Christmas! I realized that I miss Europe and simple things like "Zebrastreifen" where cars actually stop! And no f... registrations, etc.!
Magnetball, when are you coming back from the "Governator state"? :-)
Take care you two! Hope to see you soon!
By
Anna, at 8:24 AM
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