We were up early and decided to purchase a Stockholm card and spend our last day with Sandy and Martin in the city. We went on line and received a discount for the Hop on Hop Off Bus and the Stockholm card. We travelled by shuttle bus to the airport and collected our tickets and then boarded Bus 583 to the nearest train station which would take us to Stockholm Central. The trip was about an hour. We hurried along to the nearest Hop On Hop Off stop. We did a f...

Today we had a city bus tour of the sights of Helsinki. We finished in The Senate Square and had the afternoon free to explore. Pete and I walked over to the Market and had lunch then we walked to a Food Festival near the Central Station. We then sat in a coffee shop and took some time out before our ferry trip to Stockholm. In the evening, we embarked on the Silja Line Ferry to Stockholm. Our room was really claustrophobic and we were lucky enough to mo...

This morning we packed our bags and headed off for Peter and Paul Fortress which stands on Hare Island and is one of the most historic parts of the area. This fortress was commissioned by Peter the Great and built in 1703 as a protection against the Swedes. The Fortress became a notorious prison for people such as Dostoevky, Trotsky and Lenin's oldest brother as well as many revolutionaries. In the centre of the complex is a beautiful Cathedral with a golden sp...

St Petersburg was created in 1703 by the iron will of Peter the Great. He made it the capital of Russia and ensured that it should rival any other European capital in spendour, beauty and distinction. We were all very happy to see our coach and driver outside our hotel this morning. Cosmos had to pay 2000 euros bribe money to release our driver and bus. No reason was given for the this other than " It is Russia and they can do what they want". We left our ho...

We left at 6.30am driving east today towards the border town of Narva. We arrived at the border at 10am. Passed through the Estonian border easily and drove onto the Russian Border. We had to take all our luggage from the coach and have it xrayed and then we repacked our coach and proceeded to another checkpoint on a hill where they checked our passports. After 90 minutes we continued on our coach with our luggage into Russia. About two or three kilometres f...