Who put the lights out? We awoke at 5:00 am for an early start and the apartment's lights had all blown - packing at speed in the pitch black is a major problem but feeding from the "Dennis Scott book of Boy Scout tips" we had brought a head torch - Bizarre but it did the job. The station was a challenge all over again, our lack of Russian being a major problem - Finally we reached the "correct" platform but were all alone except for a sleeping drunk. The dru...

We arrived at Leningrad station, swarming with people, none speaking English, no idea where the Metro station was and a very confusing Metro map in Cyrillic to navigate with - Major trauma but we survived. We joined Kim, Carol and Carole in the apartment and spent the Saturday on a walking tour around the major sights - The Kremlin, Red Square, St Basils, The Bolshoi theatre, Tomb of the unknown soldier etc. ( Culture) In the evening we went to see Swan Lake pe...

We arrived in Russia by sea and were met by a massive queue at border control. The guards seemed very intimidating as they scrutinised our documents but with a final gruff "Da" we were through. The smiling, super friendly Scandinavians with their perfect English were replaced by harsh sounding Russians who spoke their mother tongue and all the signs were in Cyrillic script (fair enough really) but things had just got a whole lot tougher for us. The city itsel...

We were met in Helsinki by representatives of Earlsdon's resident committee, led by Al, Sari and Joan and accompanied by the Finnish cultural Attaché to Earlsdon - Keijo. The sights of Helsinki were visited at an intense pace and covered two cathedrals, a Fortress, an open air "Finland through the ages" reconstruction, as well as an excellent market and superior Shopping outlets. The nightlife was equally intense beginning with an excellent meal and wine in a...

We parted from Norway and Adam at Stavanger airport, Adam had been a brilliant travelling companion and we will miss him a lot. In Stockholm we got our first real experience of a double room in a hostel - Nelson Mandela's cell in Robben Island was three paces long by two paces wide, co-incidentally so was our room, but the hostel was exceptionally clean and the people friendly. On the second night we, along with a group of aspiring Swedish Chefs, all with lopsi...