Today I was leaving Mother Russia and taking the train to Finland, back into the EU, Western Europe, and the real world. The train journey used to take six hours but has since been cut to 3.5 hours with modern high speed trains.

I had booked my ticket online beforehand but Finlandsky Station was confusing when I had gone previously to scout it out. The main station is all in Cyrillic and has local commuter and suburban trains. Someone in the hotel had told me to go the side entrance near the back for international departures.

The main plaza in front is Lenin Square as this is where he gave a speech when he returned from exile in Finland. I had the first train at 6.40am to make the most of my day in Helsinki rather than losing half the day on the next train which left at 10.30.

I had requested a window seat online. Fortunately I got one but it was the corner one, and the seats didn't recline so no catching up on sleep.

Despite being modern the train only travels at 120km, not upto 300km like other high speed trains, or this could have cut another hour or more off the journey. There wasn't much to see except for the tall needle like trees and some logging trains.

Regarding Passports I had come to Russia on my Canadian as that is how I was able to apply for my Russia visa living in Canada, but was now going to switch to my UK passport once in the EU since nobody looks at it and they just wave you by.

A young Russian border official came by and simply said "give me your passport"!. She then took out a micro scanner which fitted in her eye where she examined every page of my passport in tiny detail. I guess they have to be strict as this is an EU entry point.

Finland customs wanted to look in my bag but they and passport control were all smiles and said "enjoy your trip" in contrast to the Russian official.

There were also money changers on the train so I exchanged my last 150R for 2.50 Euros.

On arrival in Helsinki it was a very impressive art deco styled station hall. I looked everywhere for tourist info but couldn't find one to get a local map and directions to my hotel.

I had a map anyway so went to my hotel. There were wide cobbled boulevards with central tram tracks. The art deco architecture continued.

I found the hotel but it was keypad entry only. They had emailed me the code but it was valid from 4pm and it was only just 11am. There is no reception but a guest let me in the door so I could call from the phone in the hallway.

They said my code does not work till 4pm and there is no luggage storage area in the hotel. I can leave my bags in the central station, which I had just left, so didn't want to walk all the way back.

I decided to walk to the main harbour square and keep my bag with me till the afternoon so I can go straight back to the hotel when it opens.

The harbour area was very reminiscent of Bergen Norway with the trawlers, tourist boats, and fresh fish market and food stalls. The weather was also slightly warmer from St Petersburg as that was to be my coldest destination on this trip and each day was moving later into April and spring weather.