Left St Petersburg early in the morning (again tired and hungover) and headed fro Helsinki. We weren't looking forward to the drive, as it was a decent lengthed trip. We had also been warned of the horror stories experienced by tour groups crossing the Russian-Finland border. Apparently the Russian border police are very thorough and particular about anybody entering and exiting the country. As such Stu and Neil told us to expect a 3 hour wait at the border while our visas and papers are checked, as well as the tours papers/clearances, and our bags and the coach are searched.

However, we got to the border, and Neil was able to drive the bus around the queue of buses and cars waiting to cross (a massive push in but we didn't care), then we got through Immigration relatively quickly. They did a quick search of the bus and sent us on our way! So instead of the normal 3 ours we got through in 1 hour (apparently the next group doin the tour got stuck at the border entering Russia from Latvia and were there for 9 hours and were lucky to be let into the country!).

Anyway were all very pleased and we headed onward to Helsinki. We arrved and did a quick drive around the city, stopping off to see the Olympic Stadium, and a couple of churches and monuments. The city itself is a really beautiful city, one of the nicest we encountered on our travels. And then there is the people... we met so many nice and friendly fins. What's even better is they speak perfect English as they are made to learn it in school!

We checked into our hotel, a 4 star hotel, which was awesome, especially in comparison to the old communist buildings we were staying in in Russia!!!!! We had dinner at the hotel, before being taken out to experience the night life of Helsinki. We hit a few bars and had a really good night out.

The next day Ryan and myself had a free day as we decided not join the rest of the group who caught a ferry to Estonia for the day (a wise decision as it pissed down with rain, and we saved money as the ferry ride wasnt included in the tour costs). Instead we walked down to the markets at the harbour (which was only a short walk) and had a traditional Finnish lunch (reindeer and roast vegies!! yum!!) before taking the rare chance to have some relaxation time. It was nice to relax at the hotel after the past week or so which was so packed full of sightseeing and always being on the go. The rest of the group arrived back from Estonia early in the evening, and a few of us again hit the town.

We woke up the next day, packed our bags, checked out and headed for the port where we were to board the giant cruise ship (or "love boat" as Stu called it) for the 17 hour overnight ride to Stockholm, our last day of the Contiki tour, and our last day in Europe!