Alberta Bound

Well after 25 days in Scandinavia, Estonia and Russia we are heading home tomorrow morning.

We had a great last night in Russia, great food, including caviar and vodka, and a fantastic time at the ballet; 200 year old ballet performed in a 200 year old building, great Saturday night. This morning in St. Petersburg we had a river and canal english boat cruise, nice to understand what was happening for a change in Russia.

Tonight we are at a Stockholm airport hotel, not very exciting, but it will be a short trip to catch our flight in morning. Great trip, sad to be heading home, but will be nice to actually have a large coffee for a change. And, it will be nice to understand what is going on.

We'll be back in Calgary late Monday afternoon. We hope to catch up with everyone over the next few weeks. For those of you interested in more photos, I'm sure that we can find a few more to bore you with.:)

Cheers,
Kevin and Karen

Peter and Paul Fortress and Peterhof

We had great weather the last two days so it has been perfect for sightseeing. Yesterday, we went on another 8 hour excursion starting at the Menshikov Palace, the house of St. Petersburg's first Governor. It was impressive and is one of St. Petersburg's oldest remaining buildings, which dates back to 1710s.

We went on to tour the Peter and Paul Cathedral and Fortress. The cathedral was quite ornate inside and is home to Peter the Great's crypt. The cathedral (tall yellow spire) is built within the Fortress which began construction in 1703, after the Russians defeated the Swedes and the Swedes retreated from the St. Petersburg area.

Today we took a hydrofoil water taxi out to Peterhof. Peterhof is a series of palaces and gardens, laid out on the orders of Peter the Great, in the early 1700s. The gardens and the palace are often referred to as the "Russian Versailles" as there are almost 150 fountains on the grounds. It took us nearly 4 hours to wonder through the lower gardens alone. Despite the large crowds, Peterhof was definitely a highlight of Russia.

Tomorrow is Russian Independence Day. It doesn't seem like there will be too many celebrations taking place, on top of all the regular events for White Nights, but the city is very busy with Russian tourists. In fact, we estimate that 90% of the tourists are Russian, maybe 3% French, 3% German, and 4% from other countries.

Tomorrow it is supposed to be rainy so we plan to visit the Russian Vodka Museum and possibly Yusupov, the palace where Rasputin was killed (thanks for the tip Cynthia!).

We have been cutting costs by buying dinner at the local market down the street. Tonight's dinner was some tasty chicken flavoured noodles, or so we think that is what we ate. We have included a photo so that you can see how difficult it is to interpret the language. Thank goodness for photos!

Tomorrow night is our last night in Russia, so we plan to do it up Russian-style. We are going out for a traditional Russian dinner, complete with caviar and vodka, before we head to the Russian ballet at the historic Mariinsky Theatre.

We leave Sunday night and fly back to Stockholm, before flying home on Monday morning. We would highly recommend Russia to anyone. It is well worth the hassle of applying for the Visa and the stress of the border crossing. There is so much history and beautiful architecture, you could easily spend two weeks in St. Petersburg alone.

Funny observations of Russian culture

We have been in Russia for four days now and have noticed a number of things that made us laugh. We thought you might enjoy these too. Here are our observations:

- everyone in Russia smokes. Some restaurants have non-smoking areas, but there is no point. It has been tough to get used to.
- the drivers here are crazy. Crossing a road is a death trap, even at a marked cross walk.
- parking is always available because parking on the sidewalk seems to be acceptable.
- Russians pose for their photos. It is hilarious even the young kids know how to stike a pose. It is like Russia's Next Top Model.
- Russians must be small. The bed in our hotel is way too short and the toilet is way too close to the bathtub. You have to sit down sideways.
- In the stores, all customers are treated as shoplifters until proven otherwise. You are watched like a hawk and followed in all stores, especially in food stores.
- Cops are not here to protect you. Rather, they are here to intimidate both Russians and tourists and look for any excuse to fine you.
- The military are everywhere.
- One in five Russian men look like Ryan Hall, seriously.
- You cannot access YouTube in Russia, we were trying to watch Boney M's Rasputin.
- Leopard print, mini-mini skirts, crop tops, 3 inch heels, bright pink lipstick and potent perfume are in style. Today we walked by a mother and daughter both in leopard print tops.
- The infrastructure is crumbling, literally. A brick fell off of our hotel yesterday and landed in our window.
- There is a wide range of cars on the roads (and sidewalks) that range from 1950s Russian cars to luxury European SUVs. We were surprised by how many of the old Russian cars are still on the streets.
- Russians look mean. Most are friendly when you speak to them, but we have discovered that the more that you smile at them, the more they scowl. It has become a bit of a game for us.
- English is not common here. We can get by with English only, but it sure attracts attention. Today we were sightseeing and were chatting to each other. A man walked by us, heard English, and turned around to stare at us. The funny part is that he tripped in a pothole and almost bailed.
- Oh, and did we mention that everyone smokes?

Cathedrals and the Hermitage

Yesterday was cold and rainy so it was a good day to stay inside and tour the large number of cathedrals in close proximity to our hotel. We started at the Karzan Cathedral, which looks like it has been transplanted from Rome. The outside was far more impressive than the interior.

We then moved on to the St. Isaac's Cathedral. St. Isaac's was the exact opposite of the Karzan, so-so on the outside, but stunning on the inside. The cathedral took over 40 years to construct, opening in 1848, and it is the largest guilded dome in the world. Alexander I commissioned the development of the cathedral, but typical of those days, he did not live to see its completion.

The Church our Saviour on the Spilt Blood (the one with the colourful onion domes) was constructed over the exact site where Alexander II was fatally wounded. Inside there is a memorial over the original cobble stone street where he was attacked. He was assassinated in 1881 and the church construction was initiated in 1887. The inside was entirely made of gold mosaics, which was quite impressive. During Soviet times, this church was used to store potatoes and at one point was going to be destroyed.

Today we spent 7 hours at the Hermitage. The collection was overwhelming. For those of you who have been to Italy, you'll know that sense of too many madonnas to mention. We were impressed by the Winter Palace itself, let alone the artwork it housed. The Hermitage has some impressive pieces by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Renoir, Monet, Picasso, Matisse and Van Gough. It was a long haul, but totally worth it. Tomorrow we will continue our tour of even more palaces and cathedrals.

Arrived in Russia

Just checked into the hotel Nevsky Grand in beautiful and busy downtown Saint Petersburg Russia. The train ride from Helsinki was interesting, but the views were only okay. Mostly forest in Finland and mostly old crappy industrial buildings in rural Russia. The border crossing was simple and easy. The parts we saw of suburban St. Petersburg were very high density with both old and brand new apartment buildings.

Our walk of a couple km to our hotel did provide some incredible views of some outstanding architecture. We are heading out for beer and maybe some Russia food!

More to follow soon. Cheers y'all.

Rest and Relaxation in Helsinki

The activities of the past two weeks finally caught up on us. We arrived in Helsinki early Saturday morning and by the time that we got to the hotel, we were exhausted. After a quick nap, we bounced back and set out sightseeing.

We spent the rest of Saturday walking around the city centre checking out the architectural highlights. Helsinki is beautiful, but it lacks the old world charm of Tallinn, and even Stockholm. Most of the buildings are from the late 1800s and early 1900s, with much of the development taking place since the 1920s (post independence from Russia).

Today we explored the Design District, which was definitely the highlight of the city. We went to the Design Museum to see the early works of Oiva Toikko and Alvo Altar, two of the most influential Scandinavian designers of our time. We then went up to the Olympic facilities from the 1952 olympic summer games. Very impressive given that the stadium and pool were complete in 1940, the year that Helsinki was supposed to host the games.

Touring around has been tough here. All the street names have at least 20 characters in them and they are written in both Finnish and Swedish, which isn't much help when our maps have only one or the other. We have completely given up on pronoucing anything. On the upside, Finland is the only country we are visiting that uses the Euro. This has made the currency conversion much easier. In Estonia we have to divide everything by 13, which is not always an easy task.

Tomorrow morning we travel to St. Petersburg, Russia. When we bought our train tickets, we were given yet another document to fill out for the border crossing. The ticket salesperson warned us that once we enter Russia, the train restaurant and bathrooms are closed. We understand the restaurant, but the bathrooms? It is still a 4.5 hour train ride once we cross the border!

We should have Internet tomorrow night, once we get to our hotel. We'll let you know how the border crossing goes, but if you don't hear anything until Tuesday, don't worry. We feel confident that we have ALL of our paperwork in order.

Tallinn

Well the vibrant cobble stone streets of Tallinn are a welcome change from the bleak landscape and weather of Vaeroy. Tallinn is alive with tourists, historic or even ancient buildings, chic european vibe, friendly and helpful staff and reasonable prices for restaurants.

Our first impressions got us a bit worried with many locations for cheap booze and many ads for clubs and the general party, party atomsphere at the ferry landings, but a walk through the old town, dating back to 1200's, along with friendly nature of the locals calmed our fears of a crazy booze fueled party zone. I guess we are gettiing old ;-)

Within the Medieval walls of old town Tallinn are many buildings dating back to 1200 and 1300's with the old walls and defence turrets providing a striking appearance. The tight and cobble stone streets and many churches create a true feeling of Medieval times. Just outside the old town is the growing modern commercial business area with many new office buildings containing the emerging high tech and financial corporations and many shopping centres. Tallinn has definately embraced the western attitude towards free entreprise since regaining freedom from the Soviets in 1991. It seems to working for them with a general sense of energy, vitality and growth.

Tomorrow we have another early morning and are catching the ferry to Helsinki, should be exciting!

Bye, bye Lofoten Islands. Hello Estonia.

It has been an action-packed week since we lasted posted a message. We'll try to give you the highlights, and won't dwell too much on the lowlights.

We continued our biking trip from Leknes to Ramberg, and then from Ramberg down to A (pronounced ahhhh). Leknes was the last "large" centre that we were in so we stocked up on groceries, including lots of Nugatti (Norweigan Nutella), and headed south. We figure that the trailor weighed close to 100 pounds, which was brutal given the hilly terrain. Kevin was a trooper and managed to pull the trailor for the 45+ km per day. The trailor drew a lot of attention from locals and other tourists. At one point a German tourist was giggling and taking photos of it. I guess baskets are more the thing over here.

The tunnel ended up being a breeze, although it was freaky to bike underneath the ocean. You could hear the waves above you. Thank goodness Norway is a bike friendly place, the tunnel was lit and there was a wide sidewalk so we didn't have to ride in the traffic. And, no trolls.

We arrived in Ramberg on Friday night and it was hot. We even went for a dip in the ocean - we made it up to our knees before our legs turned numb and we had to get out. We watched the sun near the horizon around 1:30am before it began it rise again. It is the only place either of us have been where there is as much activity at midnight as there is in the middle of the afternoon.

Our trip from Ramberg down to A was picturesque, probably the visual highlight of the Lofoten Islands. We would highly recommend this spot to anyone interested in the outdoors. Even though the weather turned and the arctic wind began to blow, it was still an enjoyable ride.

After a cold and rainy hiking day in A, we boarded the ferry to the penultimate island, Vaeroy. The ferry was a gong-show and should have taken this as a sign to not go, but the chance to see Puffins drove us to continue. Vaeroy is a desolute place, we're not sure why anyone would chose to live there. Our poor experience is likely linked to the miserable weather we had - we hiked for 7 hours in driving rain and sleet the one day. Karen was wearing 3 windproof jackets and two pairs of gloves and was still freezing. Thank goodness for the hand warmers.

There was nothing to do on the 18 km2 island. There was only one store, but it closed by 5 pm, and other than that there was nothing to do. We went on to do an 11 hour hike on our last day. It was OK, but it was still cold (maybe 5 degrees in the sun) and the arctic wind never stopped blowing. The kicker was, there were no Puffins. We did see a few sea eagles, but that was hardly worth the effort to get to the sea bird colony, which had no birds.

Needless to say, we were happy when it was time to get on the ferry and head back to Bodo, on the mainland. We caught the ferry at 10 pm and arrived in Bodo around 4 am, which gave us lots of time to catch our flight back to Stockholm. We had a nice afternoon of shopping in Stockholm and managed to stay awake, despite the very little sleep we had on the rough ferry ride.

We boarded the ferry to Tallinn, Estonia around 5pm. It was the first time that Kevin had been on a cruise-type ship, and the first for Karen since she worked on Princess Cruises. It was a bit surreal. The highlight was sailing out of Stockholm, enjoying the sun and the scenery, while listening to an Estonian sing Oasis "wonderwall." It doesn't get much better than that. :)

And for the stockfish, not only was it tolerable, it was good. It made a perfect snack on our long hikes.