Bob, what a wonderful trip~~~ I will look forward to photos and on the spot tales. sorry the GTG is not in Cambridge to have a small GTG at my place in pAST YEARS.

already i have made one big ommission......we are participating in the first, to my knowledge, rolling GTG. one SAian fodorite, who also happens to be an award winning tour guide in SA, is conducting a GTG on wheels where 8 or so of us will make a GTG tour of some areas around capetown....the description of where we will visit will make this the most memorable GTG held to date i think... details are on the africa board..

sorry selwyn for this ommission..

mimi---not to say that it still can't happen at chez mimi....we expect you to come to newton too!!!! what else does a birthday girl have to do??

Bob/Karen:
You did well with the Marriott in St. P..perfect location. Hopefully your guide will take you to the old "Aurora", a historic Russian naval ship permanently anchored close to your hotel. It's a good visit. A restaurant in the vicinity that is a good lunch spot with old Russian ambience is The "Akademia"...One of the most outstanding photo ops in St. P is the famous Church of the Spilled Blood...exceptionally colorful and gaudy at the same time. It is the site where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated in 1881 (a cannister of dynamite tossed between his legs...ouch!), and plays a significant role in the prologue of one of my books.

In Helsinki, be sure to visit the Jan Sibelius monument in a city park only a few minute trolley ride from the center of town...it is rather unusual...as well as the underground church..here are some Finnish pix (all pre-digital, so they're scanned) ...simply click on the magnfiying-glass icon to split and enlarge them....)

http://picasaweb.google.com/stuarttower/Finland#

Guys, have a great time and do nothing to embarrass the lofty reputation of Needham (where the needy live!)..

Best, Stu Tower

p.s......I know it's blasphemy herein to mention Mc Donalds...but in downtown Helsinki, reindeer burger is on the menu (do you want fries with that?)...
stu

Bob, as always, I wish safe and wonderful travels to you and Karen. Sounds like the two of you did some great, thorough, careful planning. I have a British friend who enjoyed Tallin very much when she & her husband went, and some former neighbors who're Finnish-American who went to visit relatives in Helsinki. And of course the thought of the Hermitage makes me drool. Looking forwarding to reading more and hearing more about this trip (the latter in person in October), and to seeing the photos.

BC

I can't wait to read more of your report! All three of these are on my "I would love to visit" list and I don't see mention of them very often on Fodors. I wish you safe and happy travels.

Tracy

Have a wonderful trip! I'm looking forward to hearing about it at the Boston GTG in October.

Safe travels.
TR

Bob, your travel schedule this year is something I can only aspire to do someday.
Bon Voyage and be safe!

Have a great trip! Looking forward to your interesting report, as usual.

You will have a fabulous time - I just returned from a Baltic trip and hope to return sometime soon.

The fresh berry stands at Market Square in Helsinki sell an array of incredibly ripe and sweet berries. I bought several bags from various vendors and they were so good.

Old town Tallinn is fun to just wander about, and if you're looking to buy amber as souvenirs, I found it to be less expensive in Tallinn than in St. Petersburg. There are stands all over the old town where they sell these sugared/spiced nuts - I really liked them.

St. Petersburg is incredible and a bit of sensory overload if you only have a short time there. One thing I really enjoyed was trying blini at the Teremok street kiosks. There is another company that has kiosks, but didn't try those. Had the red caviar blini, which is salmon roe (ikura for sushi fans). Another day tried the salmon w/cream - both very delicious. Also tried a drink made with bread - kind of like a sweet beer, but with very low alcohol content.

Have a wonderful time.

bon Voyage, my friends. See you in october!

Isn't this sort of a long way around to get to Asia?

Interested in hearing more about the great Thai place in Queens also.

Also tried a drink made with bread - kind of like a sweet beer, but with very low alcohol content.

Chepar:
most llkely kvass...talk about an acquired taste! Doing a stint with the Soviets in late 60's, I was introduced to it...now thay have kvass vending machines everywhere. Taste hasn't changed a bit.

stu

Bob...try it, knowing you you'll love it and want to take some home just as a conversation drink! Would go well at the Boston GTG...Panda would gulp a whole tank of it!
stu

The good news is that he will be out of our region for these two weeks. Boston is preparing a celebration. It looks like early winter in Finland, Russia and Estonia. They may change their visa requirements after this trip.

stop picking on Bob or I'll post your picture in your speedo

>most llkely kvass...talk about an acquired taste!<

Yes, that's what it was. I didn't find it bad, but I only cared to drink about half of the bottle.

What I did find delicious was fresh made cranberry juice - very little resemblance to the processed stuff from the grocery store.

Can't wait to read your trip report. Have a great time. I visited Helsinki/Tallinn/St. Petersburg/Moscow last year and have a fabulous time. Took the Eurolines bus to St. Petersburg from Tallinn. Immigration into Russia from Estonia was quite interesting!

Helsinki is easy to manage. The #3 tram is the way to go if you want to get around. Tallinn is a fantastic town, great to explore, especially around the town square (Raekoja plats). Museum of Occupation is a can't miss.

Don't even get me started on St. Petersburg! It's hand down, my most favorite city.

I hope to see your photos!

thank you all....i posted this really early so as not to waste time this weekend when i throw my clothes into the suitcase.

i will be taking tons of pics of course and they will be posted by mid-september i hope...

stu---karen has that restaurant on her list already, so we will be sure to go there and thanks for the pics....roz was even more attractive then.... how's your neighbor??

nikki---SRI is SriPraPhai Restaurant; 64-13 39th avenue, Woodside 718-899-9599.... fantastic says it all in one word.

ask andy about the other one we visited in july nearby....i can't find the name...

Ayada is the name of the great Thai restaurant in Queens. It's much smaller than SRI, but very good. It was enjoyed by all. You have to get beer across the street.

You have a fabulous trip ahead of you...and I will join the bandwagon of posters asking for a trip report with pictures upon your return. No doubt you'll be planning your next adventury while still on this trip.

We visited both Tallinn and Helsinki in June. Stayed at the Baltic Imperial Hotel in Tallinn - the city wall literally runs thru it! Room on the small side, but with a comfortable bed. Big breakfast room and plenty to pick from. You'll be about a 5 minute or less walk to the medieval town square, and the hotel is at the base of Toompea Hill. Toompea is definitely a great place for a leisurly stroll - at one point, there's a overlook where you'll get a fabulous view of old town, including the hotel. Can recommend both Kuldse Notsu Korts (The Golden Pig), Durkri 8, as a great place to eat-they have both patio and inside dining and/or Vanaema Jures (Grandma's Place), Rataskaevu 10/12, (inside dining only-in fact, it's literally in a cellar). There's a place right next door to Vanaema Jures that has outside dining, but it's a different restaurant. Can't remember the name of the place, but in old town (across from the Russian Embassy) is a delightful cafe where you'll be hard pressed to pick just one dessert to share with your coffee. This place was worth a repeat visit to us!

Still speaking of desserts, but moving north to Helsinki - definitely try something (again, hard pressed to pick just one thing) at Cafe Esplanad, Pohjoisesplanadi 37. To quote Rachael Ray ...'yummo'! You will also enjoy both Kauppatori (fish market)and kauppahalli (Old Market Hall), right at the water's edge. Both places smell wonderful as the food is being prepared. Be careful of the seagulls lurking at the outdoor market - they are not shy! There are plenty of signs around warning you about them. I was getting ready to try a baltic sea herring and unbeknownst to me, a seagull had set sight of that same small fish - and got to it first! I got another one, but turned to face the food stall so it wouldn't get a second shot at that fish! (they are delicious by the way). Inside the Old Market Hall, you'll find everything imaginable, and then some. My husband and I ate our lunch there-reindeer kabob! That's definitely not something found on the menu's of the restaurants in my hometown!

Can't comment about your Helsinki hotel, as we stayed at Hotelli Helka during our visit. The city of Helsinki is a good 30-40 minutes from the airport. We took the Finnair Bus into the city upon our arrival and also back to the airport when leaving. It's a very reasonable 8 Euros/each way/per person. It drops off and departs from the train/bus station (now that makes sense, doesn't it)! Purchase your tickets on the bus and credit cards are accepted. Much less expensive than a taxi.

We visited both St Petersburg and Moscow a few years ago. If you have the opportunity to go to the ballet in St Petersburg, by all means do so. You could spend your entire visit at The Hermitage and still have not scratched its surface. Hopefully a visit to Peterhof and/or Catherine's Palace are included on your agenda. St Petersburg is a spectacular city and you'll run out of time long before you run out of things to see in that beautiful city.

ENJOY!

debs---there will be a trip report and pics right on this thread....

thanks for those suggestions and i am delighted to read that you like the imperial...it sounds quaint and the e mails from them have been very friendly...

did you fly in by finn air?

yes and yes to st pete....we have a driver lined up for catherine's and peteroff plus a short city aquaintance tour after arrival... we have our one day tickets to heritage, which will have to surfice for this visit...

don't even get me started on those desserts...we are not holding out much for the food on this trip but your report is encouraging....we do like fish...

rhkkmk-The staff at the Imperial was very nice-very professional-and make you feel welcome. Everyone spoke English (thankfully, as our Estonian is *very* rusty)! On a side table near the entrance is a big bowl of candy - it's the best! Have a couple of pieces for me!! (lol). About a block up from & on the same side of the street as the hotel (as you're heading towards Old Town) is Kalev Chocolates - a must stop if you love (or remotely like) chocolate. Won't spoil the surprise of how delightful this stop is-and chocolate travels well, so it's easy to bring back home. (now, how would I know that)!

We flew to Estonia from Vilnius, Lithuania (via Riga, Latvia) on Baltic Air, then flew to Helsinki from Tallinn via Finnair. With the exception of myself and my husband, everyone on that short flight was connecting onward thru Helinki-it took quite a while for our 2 pieces of luggage to finally make its way to the baggage claim area. I was getting nervous that it wouldn't show up at all.

The Hermitage will be overwhelming, so be prepared for that. The Grand Staircase is simply amazing! The Faberge Eggs are more amazing! I would overuse amazing to describe the works of art, and that wouldn't do them justice. As we waited in line to enter, there was a small 3 piece band playing Lara's Theme from my favorite movie, Dr Zhivago ... and one of the band members was wearing a Cleveland Indians (my hometown) baseball cap. What's the saying about a small world!

Don't shortchange yourself in thinking you won't enjoy the food-it's substance vs presentation in Tallinn and St Petersburg. Chicken Kiev, Beef Stroganoff, Pork this or that are all staples on these menus, along with fish. Numerous fast food places are in St Petersburg, but hopefully you didn't come all this way for that dining experience.


As you travel from St Petersburg to Peterhoff and Catherine's Palace, you'll see numerous enormous city block plus sized concrete apartment complexes. You have to see these first hand to believe just how big these complexes are. Cannot imagine how many families call these buildings home.

You have a fabulous and adventurous trip ahead of you - ENJOY!

Debs ... are the Faberge eggs in the gold room? If so which one? I tried to locate them on the Hermatige site and never found them...I could have looked in the wrong place. Karen

I thought the Faberge eggs, specifically the ones given to Empress Maria Feodorovna and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, were in the Kremlin Armoury?

According to this site, there are currently no Imperial Faberge eggs in the Hermitage.

http://www.mieks.com/faberge-en/whereabouts.htm

trsny-You are absolutely correct. Am getting my Russian museums mixed up. Maybe our next trip should be back to Russia to revisit these wonderful museums-that wouldn't be an arm twisting decision either!

Karen - We enjoy flying Finnair. We flew them when we went to Russia, then again on our latest trip earlier this year from JFK to Vilnius, via Helsinki. Our trip was in late May and the plane we were on was only in service since April. Needless to say, the plane was sparkling clean. Our return flight was on the same plane. We find the service to be good and actually the leg room (in coach) not that bad.

Hope you're finished packing about now ...

No problem Debs! Those eggs are drop dead gorgeous no matter where they are. I used to visit one of the collections frequently when they were at the Forbes Gallery in NYC back before they were sold. Also, my arm could never be twisted on going back to Russia either, especially St. Petersburg!

I concur with you on Finnair. I too was impressed with the service and cleanliness of the plane.

Thanks for clearing up where the eggs are. I love the Faberge eggs and looked thru the hermatige info looking for ANY reference to them. Glad to hear my research modes are still up to date. All packed ..awaiting the AM. More form the road Karen

omg...not more eggs....we have seen so many in so many different places....i prefer scrambled...

good to hear about the food...and the CHOCOLATES!!!!

we are quite looking forward to finn air....we meet up with the crew often at the marriott in bangkok so now we will get to experience them first hand at work... maybe karen will even find her slacks that one of them got from our bangkok tailor....its a long story...

so i guess we are all ready....we will miss our daily fodors reading (obsession), but hopefully the new notebook and wi-fi will be available free most days...

price for the hyatt has been reduced to $119. so it helps to recheck things before you leave...rebooked...

i called the helsinki hilton on another matter and they confirmed my res for tuesday nite....thank you Turkey...

here is the first installment:

Monday, Aug 24, 2009 + Tuesday


Left the dreaded Needham about 10AM for the 3.5 hour drive to JFK….. Traffic was fantastic until one slowdown around Bridgeport, CT… Even with that we were into NY state in almost record time…Followed the signs for Whitestone Bridge and before we knew it we were at JFK…. Less than 4 hours. Note to gpanda---we need to allow more time…

We had planned to have a big meal before we arrived at the airport so we headed on past JFK to a fantastic Greek restaurant we had visited in 2001 (9-11)…its called Venus Restaurant and is in West Hemste

ad (546 Hemstead Av)…. Unfortunately portions are huge and all is delicious… I had the greek combo (mousaka and spinach pie, served with a greek salad and soup); Karen had chicken souvillaki (sp)…. That accomplished we headed to our long term parking…Smart Park on South Conduit Ave, almost next door to the crowne plaza hotel…..$173 for 13 days with a 5 hour grace period…..they were quick and swift and we were at the airport 10 minutes after dropping off the car….

Finn Air is in Terminal 8. The place was almost deserted. We arrived almost 3 hours prior to our flight…perfect.. I had checked in on line so check in was swift….we were 2nd in line. We did check in plus security in less than ½ hour..

JFK is such a comfortable airport in comparison to logan….but then most airports are superior to logan… time passed quickly and we were boarding by 5PM for the 5:40 flight.. the airbus was brand new and it looked it. The leg room was very good in coach but I could have used another couple of inches in width---but I am large… the flight left exactly on time…..we were about 20th in line…. Dinner was served followed by drinks within one hour of take off…..we were near the front making that easy… the smallest piece of chicken was the only entrée, but honestly it was quite good…there was one floweret of broccoli and two circles of pots…. Thank god we ate earlier…..wine and beer were free but drinks were $8……

The staff were strikingly beautiful and kind. The service was top notch… The 7 hours passed quickly… We arrived at Helsinki about 15 minutes early… Immigration and customs were swift and baggage delivery was also fast…..there are no documents to fill out btw on arrival….

Even though it was 8:30 or so in the AM, the airport was almost deserted… we had decided to take a taxi to the hotel…. We found a taxi kiosk near the customs exit….
Fixed price for two persons was 25 euro…. Less per person for more people….

Our driver was pleasant and spoke English. The taxi was actually a van that we shared with two men from chile----dentists who were attending a conference in Helsinki….they were very pleasant…

Our hotel, the Hilton Strand Hotel, was the first stop. The hotel is a non descript 8 story modern structure surrounded on 2 sides by water inlets. The lobby is an atrium. Our room on the 6th floor looks out on some business blocks just across a small water inlet. The room is comfortable but nothing special when you are used to asian hotels…. I would rate it 3.5* although it is considered a solid 4* by locals. The neighborhood is basically business orientated, but there is a distinct lack of restaurants and shops….there is a large grocery store next door however… We are content here…

After check-in we took a nap for about 2 hours….
When we got up we went for a walk around the area, admiring the water inlets. In the next block we were pleased to find a marketplace fully in swing…..the fruits---berries—were magnificent…

The hotel had suggested a restaurant about 2 blocks away…..it is a two sided place with a fine restaurant on one side and a bar/family restaurant on the other side. Ravintola Graniittilinna, Saastopankinranta 6 is the more formal ones name and address…. Lunch was good but very expensive….salmon chowder for karen and a ceasar salad with tiny shrimp for me, plus 2 sodas was about $30…

After lunch we took a tram ride. Karen had found two trams that circle the city so we took one (tram 3B)… it took just one hour. We enjoyed the ride and people watching…

That did it for the afternoon and we returned to the room and I took another nap….we decided to return to the ravintola again for dinner…..we were not sure when we entered about 7:30… there was only one other group in the restaurant….never a good sign… the waiter told us that it was Helsinki Week and the restaurant had been full earlier and now the people had gone onto the theatre and the music performance which we could hear across the water…

We both selected the crawfish menu….a specialty at this time of year… We chose one tiny crawfish each (priced separately at 3.5 E each) plus the main part of the menu which was a delicious roasted pork/ham served over a creamed chantilly mushroom dish. The most delicious black sweet bread was also served…..for dessert there was a medley of blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and currents with cracked meringues over the top… a rich caramel sauce was served in a shot glass on the side….THE MEAL WAS SIMPLY DELICIOUS….. the crawfish were tiny and a real pain to open and eat….i would judge that each one contained less than one average shrimp would contain… for lobster eaters this was way too much work never mind how delicate the taste is…
Dinner was 71 euros plus tip. Expensive but delicious…

Back to the hotel to write this and off to bed…





Wednesday


Decent sleep but not fabulous….. Bed is a large double but not queen…. We had requested a king…
Our rate included breakfast. About 8:30 we went downstairs for breakfast. There was a nice buffet, but not fabulous….wet eggs, breads, meats, limited cheese, salmon (no onion etc), juices, coffee, cereals, fruits, yogurts… Alice, this ain’t wonderland or Bangkok…

Took a taxi into market Square, the main area of central Helsinki, 7,8 euros---less than a mile…stalls were already set up with fantastic veggies, fruits and even a woman in a boat selling fresh fish…..the market is adjacent to the main area of the harbor… its very colorful and the Presidential Palace is there also and other attractive buildings plus some very large ferries and cruise boats…. There are many craft stalls here as well. Prices were very high as we expected… We sat on the quay for a long time people watching and harbor watching…. We then decided to take a cruise in the harbor for about 1.75 hours. 15 euro each.

The cruise was very pleasant taking us by uninhabited islands as well as military outposts, plus lovely settings with tiny weekend houses and frequently an even smaller house right on the shore for their saunas---remember finns take hot saunas and then jump into the cold sea…. BTW, our waiter last nite told us that Helsinki has gotten very little snow the last few years and it is less cold….

After the very enjoyable cruise we walked along the quay to the Kauppatori market place, a very distinctive two color brick building right on the quay….Inside are individual stalls selling crafts, cheese, wine, veggies, and there are a number of restaurants. We inspected the whole scene. Quality was very high on all accounts….We had an ice cream cone and then decided to walk up one of the main streets where there are many designer shops like merrimeko and international favorites. We also came across the Kamp Hotel where we will stay on our return in a week or so… There is a lovely park in the middle of the road and many folks were out enjoying the sunny day…. Great people watching…. It was very refreshing too that in that area we only saw two “bums” unlike parks in other parts of the world….I’m sure one was Gpanda…. I think he was the one doing all the yelling and had all the tattoos…

Our final stop was the Stockman’s Department Store…. Karen had a look around and then we went into their basement grocery store and bought some supplies to take on our 7 hour train ride tomorrow to St. Petersburg….

We are taking cheese, salami, ham, bread, Pringles and pastries for breakfast as we have to leave the hotel before breakfast is served in the AM….. The train is 7AM… The hotel will not provide a free breakfast for us to take away.

We took the 3D tram back to the hotel (5 euros for 2 persons, and tickets are good for 1 hour, if you want to switch trams or get off for a few minutes)…. Daily tourist tram passes are about 6 Euros each. You cannot buy them from the driver however…

A note about the train tickets. There is one main train per day to St. Pete… its called the Sibelius train and leaves Helsinki daily at 7AM… We booked our tickets on line through the Finnsov tour agency…. Price for two 96.80 euros including prep charge and delivery charge of 10 E each and seat costs. The tickets were delivered to us at the hotel. The agent, Samma, sent me emails very efficiently and even sent one a few weeks ago when she was charging my credit card…. The train is run by the Finnish National Railroad….

I’m typing this in our room on the 6th floor in front of a huge window looking out on the sea inlet and several older buildings in this neighborhood. I have one section of the window open and am enjoying the fresh air…

Speaking of weather, its cloudy to sunny here. Temp is probably in the high 60’s. We have needed our sweaters all day basically. It is cooler than we anticipated… In the evening and early AM one could use a polar fleece…

Tonight we plan to have a simple dinner like pizza, perhaps at the bar/restaurant where we ate our first lunch. There is very limited eating in the area of the Hilton….That is a disappointment.

As it turned out it was raining hard when we wanted to eat so we decided to eat in the hotel. We were one of three parties in the dining room…. There is a limited menu so we decided on hambys…. Let me just say that at $28 they were the most expensive we have ever had…..small burger, huge roll, good fries---karen had a beer and I just had water… it was good but…..

Early to bed and early to rise….


Thursday


Our wake-up call was 5AM….we spent the next hour getting ourselves awake, eating the pastry we had purchased at the grocery store and I showered….

Check out was quick (prepaid-- $218 for two nites) and the cab came immediately after being called—don’t keep them waiting as the meter was running when we got in and at 10+ euros already….5 minute ride to the station----16+ euros.

The Sibelius train (#35) was to leave from track 10 at 7AM… We were the first there… The train arrived about 6:40. Our car was #2 and we had seats 31/32 which were easy to find…. There is a luggage rack for about 10 big bags as you enter the car so we put ours there and I kept my rollie carry-on and put it on the rack above our seats along with K’s leather carry on … The seats were standard airline type seats….i was disappointed in that I thought the large windows could have been cleaner.

The train left exactly at 7 and was only 20% full…. The conductors checked our tickets against their list…. We made several stops and the last one at the border another 75% of the car was filled… Mostly by a large Finnish group…

Shortly the Finnish border agents checked all of our passports…

When we reached the border the train wheels were changed to comply with Russian standards. Then the Russians boarded and took all our passports for about an hour… they were brusque…

We ate our brown bread, salami and ham sandwiches along with Pringles at noon….just right…

After 7 hours we arrived at St Petersburg…

The scenery along the way was of golden fields (Finland), dense birch and pine forests and in Russia run down houses and farms. It was a slow ride…. There is no longer a boat option from Helsinki to st pete, which would be preferable.

Alex was on the platform to meet us holding a sign with our name on it…. He took us out a side exit to his waiting car, a very comfortable Opel wagon with tons of room and a/c…. it was raining slightly….. The drive to the hotel (Courtyard by Marriott) took 20+ minutes…. Traffic is fairly heavy at 2:30PM… We checked in and freshened up and met Alex in the bar. We discussed our program with him and agreed on times etc.
His English is excellent and he has a great sense of humor so we knew immediately that he would be perfect for us…

After that we did a driving tour of historic St Pete….WOW…. WOW!!! I had underestimated it. Building after building, even the non-named ones, are just fabulous traditional designs…. The “sights” are colorful and interesting…. You must spend a min. of 5 days here…. The tour took about 2.5 hours and traffic was heavy…..

It continued to rain so we went next door to a small Chinese place for dinner… It was quite good, but we are back in smoking country….. There were tons of young guys in there eating and drinking prior to the cup “football” game tonight, just across the river…1082 rp for: veggie fried rice (ugh); delicious friend spicy and sweet eggplant (excellent), chicken with tart lemmon sauce (excellent), cashews, tiny shrimp and celery fried in the wok (good)--- too much food…two large beers…

Hope to proof read and post this tonight…

Good start, Bob - sounds like SE Asia has spoiled you...

Enjoy the rest of your trip and keep it coming. Hopefully the weather will improve for you.

Bob-

Great report...keep it coming. Funny...I grew up right around the corner from Venus Restaurant in West Hempstead! Never thought of it as a destination restaurant, but glad you enjoyed.

Cruisinred

Great start Bob, loving all the details.....especially about the prices,lol

Aloha!

Sounds like you and Karen are off to an interesting start. Would love to visit St Petersburg someday. It's on our list of places to see before we die...

Have a good time. Looking forward to more.

Carol

Nice report Bob! Try the baby sturgeon fish dishes in St. Petersburg - they're delicious. Also, if you have time go see a ballet there.

Keep having fun and don't forget to take lots of photo!

sounds like you are having a great time. Love the report

How was the bus from St. Petersburg to Estonia? 7 hours on a bus (even a luxury bus) seems a very long time. If you had it to do over again, would you still take the bus?

joyce the bus is not till 3 days from now..

in general prices are outrageous...today a taxi driver ripped me off for $30.

more report tomorrow...

hermitage is all it is supposed to be and more

your report is again spendid! but at this time any true massachusettsite would have blown off the remainder of your trip and returned to boston to mourn EMK. even kerry shuffled in with his cane and Mamma T. was resplendant in her lane bryant designer black sack. unending hail mary's from you!

While we all mourn the passing of EMK, somehow I don't think bob would fit in with that bunch...

Bob - Loving your report so far! When you're back in Helsinki and looking for a pizza place, try Iguana - it's across the street from Stockman's.

The Hermitage will overwhelm you -

ENJOY!

thanks deb....will try... a pizza should not be more than $100.

here is the next two days,,,,


Friday----#1 top day for Karen


Slept well for the first time---we both took an aide..

Downstairs for the hotel breakfast buffet---700 rp ($23 each)…worth about $12…

Taxi to Hermitage…For those not knowing it, it’s the former home of the Tsars in SP.. It’s a massive place and a world class museum… It is the sole reason why some come to SP…

We bought our entrance tickets on line from home…about $36 for the two of us…. This is an open ticket in that you need not use it on a specific day but, YOU DO NEED TO BRING AN ID FOR THE PERSON WHOSE NAME IS ON THE TICKET… The reason you would want to do this is that it essentially allows you to avoid lines…www.shop.hermitagemuseum.org

Here is what you do: buy on line and you receive documents a few days later…on the day you want to visit go to the museum….enter through the central door…this puts you into an inner courtyard…proceed forward and you will see a long line---Don’t panic….go to the left of the entrance to the EXIT ramp…show your papers to the guard…he will let you in… proceed inside…go past the first ticket window and into the central hall and turn right….in front of a huge green urn you will find another desk, they will help you and also get you any special exhibit tickets you may want, i.e. diamond room and gold room (300 rp each room per person). YOU’RE IN WITH MINIMUM EFFORT!!!

Special tours above: we took both…. Each is an hour long and in “English”… I personally had difficulty hearing both guides and one guide’s English was very difficult to understand… I would only consider taking the diamond tour again, but would not rush to take either….. groups were only 15…
The collections were neither what we expected… The gold room was mostly a collection of ancient gold items---few if any were Russian… same for the diamond room….most things seemed to have been made in Germany….There were a few Russian things, but not that many---NO CROWN JEWELS---THEY ARE IN MOSCOW…. Limited Faberge…
So if you took these tours you (2 of you ) have spent about $75 to visit this museum…
Personally I would spend all my time seeing the main exhibits and rooms only…

We spent 5 hours there and were content with what we saw….could have spent perhaps one more hour but did not…left the museum at 4PM… The palace opens about 10:30..

We walked around and observed so many wonderful buildings….one minute you are in venice, another minute italy, another germany, another paris, architecturally…

We headed for the most famous church….church of the spilled blood…its amazing…we did not go in just marveled at the exterior… We then relaxed for a while in an adjacent park…. Make sure you walk around in back of the church as it is even more beautiful….so is the whole area back there… a renovated area lining a lovely canal…a walking street is over the other side of the canal plus one block…

We ate there in an outside raised tented room of mama roma….a chain place one step below pizzeria uno…. It was ok….the waitress by mistake tripped and threw a whole glass of beer at Karen. She apologized but that was all. The manager was standing there and said nothing….they did not charge us for that beer…

We walked along Nevskiy Prospekt, the main street of SP, for a ways eventually getting back to the hermitage where there were two cabs, so we took one…. I asked him how much and he said no problem, its all on the meter….YEA THE RIGGED METER…. His charge was 924 rp (over $30)….the exact same trip we had taken that AM for 300 rp, no meter….RIP OFF STUPID….

Thus ends one of our most important travel days…

Tomorrow, Alex will come for us at 9AM and we head to Catherine’s Palace, outside the city…



Saturday


We had some pastry in the room along with some juice and coffee…..

Alex was downstairs when we went down at 9. So we were off to Puskin, the suburban town where Catherine’s Palace is located…Note: individuals who go here can only enter from 12-2 and 4-5….. For this you queue up at the back of the palace and wait to be let in…Often only 200 tickets per day are given out…. All others entering are with tour groups…. This is where someone like Alex makes his money… He knows who to contact by telephone to get you in out front without being in a group… So he paid for the tickets, about 740 rp ($ 23)…. I must remember to pay him for that tomorrow.

Speaking of alex, he has been doing tour related activities for 25 years… He is very family orientated and he tells you lots of stories about his family which helps make sense of the whole soviet era and then the beginnings of the republic era and today. Again, his English is excellent… He has a number of people who work for him and 7 vehicles, so he has his own small company… He prefers to do small groups like us… WE LOVE HIM!!!

So after a nice ride of perhaps 40 minutes we arrive at Puskin and the gates to the palace…Along the way we saw a huge Stalin era building which he had built trying to move people away from the center city and create a new “city”.. We also saw a WWII memorial to the siege of St Petersburg in which 1 million people died over 900 days…

The Palace was very poorly treated during the war and major reconstructions were begun in the 1960’s. They continue today. Alex escorted us inside and left us at the ticket gate. We walked miles it seemed within the palace… The rooms are very elaborate and some are very large…They are well furnished… The tour groups are a pain, but you learn how to get around them… Karen’s main reason for visiting was to view the Amber Room, where the walls are lined with pieces of amber and much of the decoration is amber…. It was quite amazing… No pics are allowed in that room, but the shutter on my camera would not shut off and I have the only pictures ever taken in that room… See my pics… I may go to jail… The gardens are vast but we only walked briefly within them… We met alex back at the car and we were off for lunch.

Alex selected a traditional Russian restaurant for lunch-- Podborye, in Pavlovsk, which was not far from the palace….On the way we passed the first railroad station in Russia which was opened by a concert by J. Strauss…

The restaurant was totally made of wooden logs and wood decoration… It is very attractive. Outside there is a winter ice slide which kids can enjoy.. We had our first borsch which is a delicious soup made from beets with meat and some veggies. Into it you put a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream.. We also had a variety of piroshki’s which are a sort of warm turnover (sandwich)….We had cabbage, fish, mushroom and potato.. These were washed down with Russian beer… 925 rp…

From there we headed to Pavlovsk Palace, the palace of the son of Catherine the Great, later Tsar Paul. The semi circular building has been partially restored but more is being done… The rooms are again elaborate and many have a military theme… 500 rp each plus 200 rp for cameras.

Btw, most all of the places allow cameras without flash, with limited exceptions like the diamond room and the amber room…There is usually a fee, often 200 rp.

We were quite tired at this point so headed back toward the city. Along the way we stopped at a “government” shop to look at amber. The shop was very nice, but I doubt it has anything to do with the government… The man who helped us was Egyptian…Karen did buy a necklace, and a large amber piece set in sterling to be worn on a chain necklace.. discount for cash…

Following this we returned to the hotel…

Tonight we plan to go to a Baltic restaurant. It was quite good…we had two large beers, a plate of ratatouille, and 2 orders of chicken kabob with mint couscous… They also served a pitcher of iced mint water, made from mineral water…. You cannot drink the water here.

i did watch some of the funeral today... sorry he died but its time for a change for MA.... 'too much of a bad thing is a bad thing'

Bob - yep, those crown jewels, along with the Faberge eggs, are in the Kremlin's Armoury - in Moscow.

Karen will be happy to know that there are several shops in Tallinn selling Amber ...

About that pizza in Helsinki - $100 ... lol! The good news is that's not per slice!

Anxious to read your next installment -

Hi Bob!! you are missing heavy rain here, and chilly!

B and K....have Alex take you into the famous old Europa Hotel on Nevsky Prospekt. It had been quite rundown during a prior visit in 1985,...and I was amazed at the re-design and renovation..it's world clas now...a real treat would be lunch there, but it's probably out of sight. We once had great lunch there during SSR days...all you could eat(some good, some less than good!) for about equivalent of $5 each..them there days in Russia are sure as hell gone forever.

Hopefully Alex will take you to golden-domed St.Isaacs with its huge malachite columns..famous statue of Peter the Great on horseback is just behind the church.

You're doing great..keep us all informed...love the way you cover it..not a bad command of English for an ex banker.


stu

Bob, I'm most interested in your report since we'll be following your footsteps next month. How's the weather? Lots of rain? You are scaring me about the prices. I'll probably just eat fruit and ice cream. Do the Russians still smoke like the proverbial chimneys?

Don't post the amber room picture until you leave Russia!

Sounds like you had a fabulous day in Pushkin (or Tsarskoe Selo to us Romanov purists!).

I'm surprised you didn't visit the Alexander Palace as well. It's the most historically intact palace in the town. Since it was the residence of the last Tsar there is a wonderful museum inside which features tons of items from the imperial family.

Can't wait to read more...

we were told alexander is currently closed...

it poured today, but yesterday was fabulous...


Sunday—Peterhof day


Alex came for us at 9 AM…..It looks like rain…. We went to a coffee shop for some breakfast.. The shop was spotless and the staff were friendly (which we are finding unusual).. K and alex had coffee and I had a small water. We chose from several kinds of stuffed pastry dough… We chose raspberry and current filled pastry. They were very flakey and stuffed with semi-tart berries. They were warm and delicious…. Other choices were mushroom, cabbage of course, fish and others. Pieces were cut from larger pieces---the servings must have been 5 X 5 inches…. K couldn’t finish hers. 445 rp.

From there we proceeded through the city .. Alex pointed out several special buildings and continued his descriptions of Russian life. He also answered some of our questions..
We made a couple of stops along the way… one quick stop was across from a large arched monument commemorating a Russian victory in 1812… Next to it was the first subway station in St Pete-- a very formidable building…

We saw along the way many apartment buildings.. some from many different eras of Russian recent history. At one point we came upon a huge development of new buildings, a joint Russian/Chinese venture---a mini city really..

We passed by many dachets, Russian weekend houses… some were tiny and many newer ones were very substantial—guess capitalism is at work here… The Finnish sea was very close..

Then it was raining quite hard… We arrived at Peterhof, a very lovely town with Peter the Great’s massive palace… We had intended to spend most of the day there and then return to town via hydrofoil, but we changed our mind and decided to keep alex and have him take us back to town… GOOD DECISION!!!

The palace and its grounds are substantial. The special item here is the fountains… They are quite spectacular when you consider that they have been running since Peter’s time… There were lots of people there as this is one of the top attractions… Admission fees are multi-leveled… there is one admission to the grounds-- 300 rp….there is another for the palace—540 rp… there is another for the grotto—110 rp (shows the workings of the fountains—we did not do this), and a couple of other smaller venues…

Toilet hint: go into the small café to the right of the ticket office….have a drink…they will give you a ticket to a private bathroom---well worth the price of a coke (80 rp)..

We walked around some of the grounds, but the rain made it uncomfortable---thank goodness we had umbrellas… We toured the palace… Many of the rooms are newly restored…. Did I say gold----you’ve never seen so much gold…I thought Catherine’s and Hermitage had tons of gold, but this seems like twice as much.. There is on going restoration, like in all of these st pete venues….During the siege in WWII all of these buildings were plummeted, vandalized, burned, and bombed…. Many of the art works were stored in the country for safety…many were also stolen by the axis powers….

After the visit we drove back to town, maybe a 45 minute ride. We made one stop at a huge shop featuring wooden stacking dolls, plus amber, furs and all the other souvenir items tourist might want….K bought a few things for the grandchildren…

Back to the hotel by 3:30…

Its still raining so we will have Chinese again for dinner tonight, just about 3 doors up the street…

My tolerance for the Russian “attitude” is starting to slip… On average I find the people rude, unfriendly, COLD, un-gracious, impolite and a bit confrontational… They do not yield on sidewalks, they don’t yield to let you pass, they never say thank you…


THANK GOD FOR ALEX, he puts the best face on the Russian people for me. He has humor, a smile, courtesy, etc… he’s the best… We feel lucky to be able to enjoy his services.


We will be leaving St Pete at 1:15 tomorrow by lux bus heading to Tallinn, Estonia--- 7 hour ride. Alex will come for us in the morning and we will make a couple of stops and then he will leave us at the bus station

What kind of cl;own would put his trip report on a thread that speaks of a future trip? Is he purposely seeking confusion?

"rude, unfriendly, COLD, un-gracious, impolite and a bit confrontational…" sounds like Needham!

Bob and Karen,
Your trip report is interesting. Can't wait to hear more about it in Boston in October. (how's the shopping for K?)
Carol

carol, as you know from germany and switzerland it is very expensive, just add 50% to that... no MBK's here...

too tired to report tonight as we spent 7+ hours on a bus with annoying people just like gpanda...in fact they were even worse...almost an hour in russian customs followed 5 minutes later by an hour in estonian customs...ugh!!

Bob - Hope that Tallinn is more to your liking. As much as I've been enjoying your reports so far, you don't sound all that thrilled with your trip. Those bus rides are almost as long as your flight to get to Helsinki! At least they're behind you now, with only the ferry ride back to Helsinki after leaving Tallinn between you and flying home. Don't leave Tallinn without any Kalev chocolate tucked into your suitcase!

Looking forward to your next installment.

You are hitting on all the reasons we have never traveled, nor have any interest in traveling too where you are right now. Get out now while the getting is good,lol

Aloha!

"They do not yield on sidewalks, they don’t yield to let you pass, they never say thank you…" - I asked my home stay hostess in St. P's whether Russians passed on the right or left on sidewalks. She totally didn't understand the question! After I explained, she said there was no system...

I noticed that people never seemed to smile, either, but I think that's a public face - Russians will be friendlier in private.

"almost an hour in russian customs followed 5 minutes later by an hour in estonian customs" - be thankful! On the Trans-Mongolian it took three hours to get out of Russia, and another three to get into Mongolia.

Thanks for this trip report. I studied Russian in school and dream to go to St Petersburg one day. Your raodmap is great.

"almost an hour in russian customs followed 5 minutes later by an hour in estonian customs...ugh!!"

A carbon copy of my bus ride from Estonia to Russia (I did the trip in reverse). Did you go inside of that green monster of an immigration center in Ivangorod, Russia? Enough shades of the color green for you? Narva, Estonia is no picnic either, sitting there in your seat waiting for them to process your passport.

You'll love Tallinn. It will make your forget all that waiting.

we are in fact loving the trip, just not the prices which seem extrodinary high, and the russian attitude...its totally different here in estonia...

perhaps later today when i catch up on the report i can be more clear about our observations, likes and dislikes...

Bob - looking forward to hearing more. Am interested to hear if its super $$$ compared to the USA or on a par with the UK?

You traveled all that way to spend 7 hours on a bus with people like Panda???? OMG! Well, at least Alex seems to have counter-balanced that experience. Looking forward to hearing more, and wishing you and Karen the best.

BC

Crayfish in August is an old Scandinavian tradition. I just celebrated my birthday here in NYC with a crayfish party, 14 people and 7 kilos of delicious crayfish. Lots of singing with each Aquavit, definitively an acquired habit.

Am enjoying your trip report, looking forward to your next segment.

bob...hope you'll have an oppotunity to berate a plainclothes, former KGB'er...you'll love winter in the Gulag.
stu
Great report thus far....

i'm trying to keep my mouth shut....karen keeps poking me...

Hi Bob, you must tell us more that's unprintable at the Boston GTG

This is karen...I warned Bob that there would be no warm and fuzzy people in Russia...Alex being the exception. We really did have a great time in SPB. Words can not describe how beautiful the Palaces are. Their elaborate decoration is some what lost on Bob. The craftmanship that was needed to reproduce the amber room at Tsarskoe Selo is not even fathomable to me who has some artistic skill. So far he dose have MOST of the facts right.

here are two more days


Monday


Breakfast downstairs after a bit of a sleep in….

I forgot to mention that a few days earlier K was in the lobby when a group of young adults from USA were checking in…many had Babson insignias on luggage, etc….We later learned that they are from Babson college in wellesley ma, the next town to us….small world….so at breakfast I introduced myself to their leader, who also happens to live in the dreaded needham…. We met no one from exalted Cambridge however, they have stayed in a place where communism is still the rule of law… The Babson leader introduced me to his breakfast companion who happened to be the general manager of this courtyard hotel and also the st pete renaissance… I did not want you to think I have given up my search for managers…

Alex came for us at 10:15… He drove us over to the peter and paul fortress, one of the major sights…. It’s located on a small island just across the river from the Hermitage…
It was interesting to be in a huge fort, complete with an impressive church where all but 2 of the post Peter the great Tsars are buried… In 1993, the remains of the last royal family were moved here from Siberia where they were murdered… K was very interested in seeing this site…Let me say that the ‘tour groups’ here were oppressive… we could not wait to get outside…

From there we drove to the bus station for our 1:15 bus to Estonia…. I had booked the express lux link bus on line---64 euros…
The bus was comfortable, but was not express as we made about 6 stops. The ride was 7.5 hours… Exit and entrance from Russia to Estonia was time consuming and annoying… We made a stop at duty free in Estonia and I bought K some wine, and some chips and candy to hold us over… On arrival in Tallinn, we jumped into a cab and in 10 minutes were at our hotel, the Baltic Imperial Hotel, in old town---90 eec (~$9.)..
Part of the city wall runs through this hotel and one wall of our bathroom is this wall…The room is decent and comfortable (80 E incl. breakfast—senior rate—50% off)… We are very happy here… The town square is about a 10 minute or less walk…

As we arrived about 8:45 we were hungry for a decent meal… We checked out the neighborhood and chose an attractive restaurant--- In Vino Veritas; Lai tn 6---www.invinoveritas.ee
I had a fresh raviolis, which looked like tortellinis, stuffed with tomato mousse and were surrounded with fresh pesto…K has a penne carbonnaro…both were delicious…we shared a wonderful green salad…we each had a large beer and a Crème Brule---570 EEK…. 11.1 EEK = $1…. A very delicious meal!!

We walked back to the hotel, did internet in our room and fell into our twin beds…



Tuesday Sept. 1


Up a bit late… downstairs to a very lovely buffet in a charming dining room..
We lazed around the room until after 11…We then started a stroll around the town… it reminds us of rottenburg in germany with a touch of cesky krumlov…. Its very german… lots of nooks and crannies… passageways… lovely shops… many churches, plus all the government buildings to be found in any capital, but they are housed in lovely old style buildings… Tons of restaurants too… inside and outside dining….

We had lunch in a charming courtyard---delicious beef and barley soup with tomatoes and a plate of the delicious black bread…YUM!!... Revalia, Rafkoja 8…

We had beers at about 3 in the town square watching all the local and tourist movement… We ran into a young couple we had met in st pete who were nearing the end of a CA to asia, then overland Russia thru Mongolia to st pete and ending in Prague trip… they had lots of tales so we talked travel for more than an hour…
After a return to the hotel we did internet and skype with my sister in italy and grandchildren in Ma… Downstairs for a simple dinner in the café: Delicious chicken parm with a side of fried mushrooms for me and a pork, baked apple and sauerkraut plate for Karen….yummy chocolate dipped cookie each in the room afterwards…

And now this..

goodnite

Bob - Had forgotten about how delicious that black bread was! We sat on the patio (if you can call it that) when we stayed at the Imperial-it washes down nicely with beer. Other than breakfast, we didn't eat any other meals at the hotel - good to hear their dinners are good!

If you have time, check out the 2 bakeries across from the Imperial - we had a treat at the one on the right hand side (when you're directly facing them) - oh yeah, it was good!

Thanks for posting a wonderful report

This is a really fun report. My neice was in Russia a few years ago and had much the same impression regarding the Russians as you do. I think they are much better one on one. My parents had some Russian friends when I was growing up and they were lovely people with great sense of humor. I just think Russia is still a difficult place to live.

I was interested in this because there aren't many in depth reports about these cities and I enjoy your reports on the Asia Board. I tend to lurk there, I'm quite curious but Asia still doesn't "call to me" like it does you, so love to get your point of view and who knows, the day may come that off I go to Thailand, or Japan, or China, ya never know.

Bob and Karen...
DH and I were enthralled last night with a fantastic History Channel program on Russia and the Tsars. Wow... we have GOT to get to St Petersburg sometime. We were both in awe. I was not very much aware of the history... DH likes history much more than I do...

Enjoying your report.

Carol

Oh, and crefloors, I'm headed to Bangkok for my 18th time in October!!! Do give it a try sometime.

Have a wonderful trip simpson....not to hijack the thread, but Bankok is hot and sticky and I get all sweaty. LOL My next to last trip abroad was Copenhagen and Stockholm at the end of Dec. first part of Jan., the highs were a blistering 20 degrees F. Heaven!!!

Hi Bob and Karen-
Still following along. You guys always seem to have a knack for picking the good guides. Alex sounds like a gem.

It's Karen again...One thing BOB did not touch on was the process of going thru customs on the bus. At the Russian check point you have to get off the bus with ALL of your luggage. Go up about 4 steps and wait in line like you do at the airport. While you are doing that they are going over the bus, so on the far side of customs there is a small area where everone is crowded into with all the luggage. There is 1 toilet-unusex-that leaves alot to be desired. bACK ON THE BUS AND THEN THE 15 MIN DUTYFREE STOP. aFTER A 2 MIN DRIVE YOU ARE AT THE eSTONIAN BORDER. tHE GUARD COME ON, TAKES ALL THE passport after checking pictures and faces and goes off with them for 30 min. In the maen time the drug dog comes thru the bus. It took 45min to 1 hr on this side.

My point of all of this is ...the lighter you can travel the better. It was an expierence, but then that is what travel is all about. k

oh i see karen's spelling is about as good as mine.......it's those schools in the 1950's...

Wednesday

Breakfast downstairs and today they added fresh crepes so we had honey and apricot jam on them….YUM !!

Did some skype

K mapped out a walking route for us. Among other things it took us both inside and outside the fantastic thick wall….The wall towers are very medieval and are connected by walkways… We really like this town/city… We do still however notice a certain coldness in the locals…. Few smiles and even fewer thank yous or hellos-- in any language.. shop owners do not even look up when you enter..

We had a lovely walk around, all of it new… We stopped in a passageway (supposedly the most picturesque in town) for some lunch at an Italian place, where we ate outside—today was warm and sunny, maybe 75 F..….Minestrone soup freshly made served with rolls and butter (my request, as its rarely served with breads) and two large beers… just perfect—220 EEK…. Around $20..

We ended up at a shop K had liked on the first day… she bought a number of linen household items and a shawl for herself… linen is the big thing here along with cold weather gear---mittens, hats, and bulky sweaters …

We also revisited a wrought iron shop--- still thinking about items from there--- very heavy…

A stop at the bakery across from the hotel for bedtime snacks--- Deb’s suggestion… still need to visit the chocolate place--- maybe tonight on the way to dinner…

It’s a toss up between where we had lunch today or where we had dinner our first nite for dinner tonight… the salad from the first nite may win out…

A note about this hotel--- Baltic Imperial Hotel… We think it’s just fantastic… The location is perfect, the breakfast is excellent, the staff are friendly and more than helpful... The rooms are modern, the beds are decent, the bathrooms are good and modern…. After walking around we have decided that this is the perfect place, plus it’s quiet… There is an elevator also if that is important to you… English is no problem here or in old town Tallinn for that matter… For me Tallinn is the #1 place on this trip overall… For K St Pete is still #1…

Tomorrow we return to Helsinki, via ferry, and some lux accommodations at the Hotel Kamp.. Then Sunday it’s home..

I continue to follow your travels. Sounds like Tallinn is lovely. Have a good time on the rest of your trip.
Carol

thanks carol... enjoy bkk in OCTOBER.... november is nicer

you guys need a condo there

oh i see karen's spelling is about as good as mine.......it's those schools in the 1950's...

Bob...don't be knocking the Massachusetts public schools in the 1950's...I taught/coached in both West Bridgwater and Wellesley in the early 50's...could it be the students? Or can we narrow it down to rhkkmk...hmmmm. PANDA, chime in!!

stu

But...
Happy you liked Estonia...you wouldn't have as much during SSR days when I was last there.Ugh.

I just have to admit, the report is excellent....don't neglect a visit to the very unusual Jan Sibelius monument in the beautiful park on the tram line going north. The Taviola suburb is also worth a short ride..

I am still enjoying this report!

Hi Bob and Karen,
If you walk down to where the ferry arrives and leaves there is a very large duty free shop, plus a market. The boat passengers from Sweden stock up like crazy on booze and wine.

Estonia was occupied for so long by Russia that they are still in the Russian mode, of not being overly friendly.

Ah, Catherine's Passage - that's truly a picture post card stop! We walked thru there a few times, but never hungry, so didn't stop to eat-sounds like we missed some good food!

We saw several 'booze buses' (as I called them) from Finland at Tallinn's port. The market stalls/duty free shops were quite crowded when we visited - but then again, you can always pick up another suitcase there to bring your purchases home! ha! If not a suitcase, then a can of moose or reindeer.

Sounds like you have worn out your walking shoes!! Enjoy the ferry crossing ... remember Iguana for pizza in Helsinki - it'll be under $100!

And don't forget about that candy bowl by the door at Hotel Imperial - it's good ....

Debs..We tried the candy. It is different, and good. You obvviously have been in this part of the world several times. Do you live over here? Thank you for all the suggestions. Karen

>>> Enjoy the ferry crossing ... remember Iguana for pizza in Helsinki - it'll be under $100<<<

I have not tried Iguana pizza, but I live next to a pizzeria. Pizza costs 5,50 €, family size 7 €. Where does this 100 € come from?

Karen - Along with other areas in Europe, we've been fortunate to have explored the former Soviet bloc countries and are really drawn to that area. We definitely need to expand our horizons and venture beyond Europe, but we keep gravating back to it.

Lakewood, OH (Cleveland suburb on the shores of Lake Erie) is home. Not an exotic destination by any means, but home nonetheless.

Anxious to read your next installment and see your pictures!

Elina - Joking with Bob about the high prices of just about everything in Helsinki, that's all...

Also enjoying your report, it's a part of the world that is toward the top of places we wish to explore!

Hi Bob and Karen,

Thanks for a great trip report.

Terrific report.
We expect some black bread and little blinis at the next GTG.
See you soon. Tengo

PS
We had thought of posting live from Greece and Italy last week but, even had we done so, I fear our trip report would not match this one. Will give a summary soon.

black bread in usa never matches these here,,,, see you sunday nite about 6:30 robert....

here is the last meet of the report:

Thursday


A note about last nite… we did return to In Vino Veritas for dinner last nite… its about 3 blocks from the Imperial… We should have observed one of K’s rules---never return…

But we did and largely on the fantastic salad we had had…. This time it was only so so… but the rest of the meal was just fine…. The beers were cold, very cold and we both had the lasagna a la vino veritas… A note about that… WOW…It is a lasagna with red meat sauce, but with no ricotta, just a rich cream sauce, some normal cheese, meat and tomato sauce… but the wow is that each of us had a full bread loaf pan about 2/3rds full… The two pans was enough for two families… The service was also not as attentive as the earlier visit--- different waitress.. It was a pleasant meal, just not as nice as our first visit.. It was misting out when we left so we were glad we had stayed local…. We had bought some pastry earlier in the day (deb—from the right hand shop) so we had that for dessert in our room…

We packed a bit for our departure the next day and watched BBC…

Up and downstairs for breakfast… We lazed around the room, finished our packing and checked out about 11:30… A taxi was called to drive us to the dock for our ship back to Helsinki--- $9….The ship was the Baltic Princess operated by Tallink. The ship is very lux and takes passengers and vehicles. Fare: 48 Euros for the two of us… there are bars, shops, a supermarket, etc on board…. A cafeteria, where we had a sandwich/salad, a gourmet restaurant, a russian restaurant, a grill and a couple of others…. Passengers were buying huge quantities of beers, wines and booze in the supermarket… It was not uncommon to see a cart with 3-7 cases of booze…. We were later told prices in Helsinki are many times more expensive… Private cabins are available if you wish also.. We bought a bottle of Mateuse (remember it) to drink in Helsinki.. 6.9 Euros for 1 litre…
\
A very pleasant voyage… The sky was grey so it was a good day to travel…

We arrived in Helsinki at 4:30… We had to wait 30 minutes for a taxi--- 14 Euros to our hotel. We are at the Hotel Kamp, a lovely old hotel right in the center… We were told it’s the best hotel in Finland--- It’s part of the lux collection of starwoods---cash and points---4800 + $90 per nite…

Check in was speedy but room selection took 3 tries….the first one was a 30 minute walk from the elevator…the 2nd was not smoke free, so my appeal to the supervisor yielded an upgrade to an executive room… The room is very lovely and over looks the park across from the hotel-- a major promenade and park area down the center of the street…

When we left the hotel for dinner we thanked the supervisor. On our ride from the pier, we had seen an Indian restaurant just up the road… BINGO… Samrat Indian Cuisine; Etelaesplanadi 22…. We headed there..
For the first time on this trip, we were welcomed upon our entrance… This attitude continued through our delicious meal… We had drank ½ the bottle of matteuse at the hotel, so cocktails were not necessary. We chose a menu for two: pappadon (sp) wafers; battered (graham flour) and fried spicy shrimp with a small salad with a spicy dressing; spicy chicken tandori in a curry sauce; sweet shrimp in a rich coconut sauce; and kulfi for dessert…. An excellent meal---our best of the trip—59.9 Euros…. A pitcher of ice water was on the table…

We returned to the room…. The streets were very busy… We learned that a huge fireworks display was to commence at 9:30, over the harbour, with 7 companies participating… They are still going on now, even though it has begun to rain…

Upon our return to the room we found a bottle of Italian red wine and two bottles of mineral water on our coffee table, plus wine and water glasses--- a bit of an apology I guess… This is a quality outfit… Gpanda will have a ball with this…

Good night..



Friday



Up late as we had the best bed of the trip… Finally got dressed and wandered up the street a couple of doors to Strindberg Café, as earlier suggested on fodors. We each had two pastry, K had a small cappuccino and I had water from the tap with lemon… a steal at 17.50 euros…. It was, however, good, but not fabulous… I think the price got to me and my first pastry was a bit stale, but the 2nd was excellent…

We returned to the room and I read the international tribune and the financial times, took a shower and was then ready for a walk.. K wanted to explore the neighborhood, the kamp galleria next door and find places for lunch and dinner… K had the name of a soup place in the mall, but it seems to be gone, but we settled on a sushi place with tons of people inside… we each had an 8 piece plate, some tea and water----perfect and very good… the restaurant is on the top floor of kamp galleria… 17.80 E--- perfect..

After lunch we wandered some more, window shopping and admiring the fantastic building facades… Some are really fantastic and unusual… We wandered down to the market square at the waterfront, where we sat for quite some time watching the people and the harbor traffic…K had also hoped to find an old Russian woman who was knitting there on our last two visits, and had lovely things for sale, but alas they stayed away today because the weather was not that sunny and in fact it sprinkled on and off…. We wandered our way back up the central park between roads stopping to sit here and there, watching the passerby’s and just generally relaxing…. It finally started to drizzle again so we headed back to the hotel and a couple of glasses of our rose…

We have been discussing what to do tomorrow… maybe take a boat to porvoo, a quiet seaside town or maybe rent a car and drive there, or just hang-out some more and head to our airport hotel in the late afternoon…

Pizza seems to be on the menu for tonight… One fodorite suggested Iguana, but the hotel tells us it is closed for renovation, so we will go instead to Carlito’s Gourmet Pizza, Kluuvikatu 4, just down the street in the kamp palace building….

We each had a large local draft beer and we split a small Caesar salad (delicious)… K had a meatball and red onion pizza, which she could not finish, and I had a pepperoni and balsamic soaked pearl onion pizza…both were delicious… we split an outrageous chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and fresh cherries---OUTRAGEOUS… 55 Euros…
The restaurant is on the 2nd floor of the Glo Hotel, which looks like a pretty hip place.. This is an ideal location for tourists, both the kamp and the glo…

Back to the room to relax and pack up a bit…




Saturday--- our last full day


Not up until about 8:30…. Mad as hell because the oral surgeon has kept me waiting all day for my procedure, so its now 4PM and I am just going to tell him that he is too tired to operate on me now----my dream… Would Jeane do this to me??


Have just requested a late check-out for today and it is granted for 3PM….. We will move to the Holiday Inn at the airport later this afternoon… Not just sure why I did this as our flight isn’t until 2PM on Sunday….. Maybe to save points with starwoods and to use some old holiday inn points (15000)----remember K calls me mr cheap…

We bought some cheese dannish at the waterfront market yesterday (4 for 5 euros) so we will have that in the room for our breakfast….. There is no coffee machine in the room so we requested one, but they brought only tea, so Karen will have to be satisfied with that….

We are totally lazy today… We never left the room until almost noon… We walked down to the waterfront (5 min walk) in hope to find the knitters today. Bingo, they were there, but not the lady we wanted…. We found a better one… We bought a lovely hand knit cap for the folks who live across the road from us who had their first baby three weeks ago….12 euros… Very cute cap of white and navy blue with a point on the top… I had previously identified the women as Russians, but in fact I think most of them are Finnish…
We bought ourselves a table runner woven out of cotton rag fabric…. It’s a unique Finnish process called a poppana weaving… Ours is wide sections of navy blue and hunter green… It’s washable and will soften almost to a velvet with repeat washings…

Just as were were leaving the market, K saw a guy put his hand on my rear pants pocket…She grabbed his hand and he stepped back but did not run… He had unbuttoned the pocket, but that is all…. Very lucky as I had some cash and about 7 credit cards inside… I yelled at him and said NYET- NYET a couple of times and he just stared at me… In retrospect we think he and his friend were gypsies from their looks, small and swami… haha have a ball with this… Actually maybe they were Cambridge attorneys…

We returned to the room and decided then to go back for another sushi lunch…. This time we shared a 24 piece plate--- 38 Euros… A better selection than the lunch special yesterday, but at twice the price… Delicious and just right..

Returning again to the room, we decided to check out and head to the airport… So about 2:30 we left the hotel… Our only bill was the approximately $180 for the two nites stay in addition to 9600 starwood points… On line our room for those nites was 286 euros per nite, so cash and points is a fantastic deal when traveling…

We took a taxi to the airport holiday inn--- 43 euros…

We have been upgraded to an executive room, but it seems a bit normal to us, except for the small dressing room off of the closet area---it has a make-up table and 2 chairs in it…
The bathroom is small and comes complete with a floor squeegee as the shower floor and bath floor are all one, and I suspect the water must run into the bathroom-- very odd in- deed…

There is free internet here and I have heard from gpanda already, and did skype with one of our kids…

We will have dinner downstairs tonight I guess—reception gave us a 20% coupon…

Perfect ending to a good trip… I will add some general comments after I return home on Monday or Tuesday…

Bob
Enjoyed your report. Rest up now... you've still got lots of places to go, people to see, and GTGs to oversee!! See you in about a month in BOS.
Carol

It has been a good trip...as much as I hate to say it Bob's planning has been right on. It has been interesting doing the plane, train, bus, boat, car thing. They added another dimention to each part of the trip. Saint Petersburg has been at the top of my "bucket"list, so now I have done it. Having Alex to get us from point a to point b and a brief explanation of what door to go to was the best thing of the trip. Now on to South Africa. k

Let's see. Einstein goes to Finland and has Indian, Sushi, pizza and Sushi. You can take the Asia forum guy out of Asia...but he remains ours over there.

Oh, Panda, your jealousy never fails to surface. Beautiful report, K&B! Thank you.

BC

Great trip report and lovely to speak with you both Thursday (ahh the wonders of Skype!) safe journey and speak soon.

next thing is that fodors needs a tie into skype

Totally.... just missed your call, have a safe journey!

Fun reading and welcome back

Welcome Back! Rest up for your next adventure! Lovely report.

Interesting to read that Iguana was closed for renovations - guess the price of their pizzas will go up!

deb, i'm thinking a simple pizza will be 25E???

Good nites sleep...!!!

Dinner last nite was medallions of pork tendeloin served with french fries (oddly), sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms, and zucchini, all accented with a very rich bernaise wine sauce. very very delicious.... 19,8 E each... Really the first meal that i did not think was overpriced... good and friendly service....who'da thunk at an airport holiday inn...

We had purchased a large pan apricot cheese danish for our breakfast at the waterfront market, which we enjoyed with coffee/hot chocolate in our room this morning....

K is trying the shower now and water is flowing all over the bathroom--- very odd... She says it is not that bad..

We will leave for the airport about 11:30...

One note, while processing our check-in last nite I found that finn air had changed our seats and given us horrible seats in the last row with no recline seats... I was able to find one window (K) and one aisle seat in the same row, but on opposite sides of the plane... hopefully someone will change with us... or the person sitting next to me will be sorry---i am large and a hog of space...

So that's it from here.... I will have a short recap and retrospective overview once we are home. Thanks for reading.. bob

Safe flight Bob. See you and Karen soon. Loved your report.

See you soon. Have a safe flight home.
Carol

>>> In retrospect we think he and his friend were gypsies from their looks

Most likely gypsies from Romania, not Finnish gypsies, they are tall, some VERY tall, and they wear their own kind of clothing that is easily recognizible. Romanian Roma have been swarming all over the place since Romania joined EU. Most are beggars, some are pickpockets and shop lifters, and some are real low-lifes who attack old women. Unfortunately this summer there has been such a hike in numbers that about a month ago polica had to take action and stop aggressive begging. They also caught several pickpocket gangs. So you were lucky, usually they are very skilful.

elina, they did look similar to the romanian ones we saw when we visited there.....they should go to italy like all the others and get decent jobs...

So the holiday inn turned out to be a very good choice for us....very excellent room and bed and fantastic restaurant....plus the airport shuttle comes every 20 minutes and its free...it must be the only thing in finland not marked up 300%...

There was a small issue with our assigned seats for the flight which i found when i checked in on line..... they had taken away our seats assigned when we purchased the tickets months before and reassigned us to seats in the center section at the back with seats with no recline... I was able to find some one line with asile and window in the same row, but at opposite sides of the plane....For this reason we headed to the airport early...

Checkin was fairly swift, even though there was a long line---another flight was going before ours...The clerk found us better seats but still not in the same row...she said trade with someone when you get on and that is what we did...

The Finn Air airbus was again brand new and very comfortable...We left right on time and arrived early to JFK, but precisely on the minute that captain had announced when we took off---over 8 hours... The meal was again quite excellent and the sandwich searved before landing was a very tasty grilled veggie on a sort of italian style bread...

Immigration/customs at JFK was very speedy and suitcases were on the turnaround when we came out, so we only had to wait a few minutes for ours...

We called for a pickup from the parking place and called Tengombre to update our arrival at the Thai restaurant in Woodside, Queens....

We both arrived at the restaurant at exactly the same time so that was great....We had brought them some black bread from Finland and they had brought us some Thai red curry... We both will enjoy each...

The thai restaurant is SriPraPhai, 64-13 39th Avenue, Woodside: 718-899-9599... It is simply the best Thai restaurant in NYC and perhaps the east coast and maybe the whole USA!!!!

Robert ordered with two requests from me: Steamed buns, green papaya salad, pork laab salad, chicken satay, soft shell crabs, fried shrimp in rice dough, mee grob (vermicelli with sweet palm sugar), and maybe another or two that we forget....Then the main courses: yellow chicken curry, red curried pork, another curry, phad thai and various rices including coconut rice... There were six of us, and maybe we were 10 by the time we finished eating....oh yes, singha beer too and tons of ice water.... As always it was simply delicious...

We said our good-byes and were on our way to Greenwich, CT by about 7:30... We were staying at the Hyatt in Greenwich for the nite....This is a very nice hotel btw, if you are in the area....

We got home today about noon...

I will work on pictures for the next couple of days and then post the sites here...I also plan to have some final comments about the trip and the area later in the week...

South Africa is right around the corner on Oct 14, wo we are gearing up for that, but first the Boston GTG on Oct. 10...All are welcome...

ttt

Fabulous report Bob and Karen, sounds like you had a great time.

Bob and Karen, a most enjoyable report. We are on our way to the Baltics in a couple of days. Thanks for sharing.

treesa---just bring lots of money....its a very enjoyable area...tallinn is fabulous

here is the first section of the pictures--Helsinki

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=BauXDJw2aqO2Q

here we go again...its wrong....i think the 3rd to the last letter should be a zero


share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=BauXDJw2aq02Q

i just jumped off the roof....its wrong too

Delightful report...just don't let "his nibs" see the comment:

<<It is simply the best Thai restaurant in NYC and perhaps the east coast and maybe the whole USA!!!!>>

You know how he feels about The Similans...he reads anything that even hints at disagreement with that assessment and we'll never hear the end of it, plus we'll be subjected to watching the bicep trick again....

Looking foward to reading more and seeing the photos.

BC

i think i have it now:

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BauXDJw2aqO2Q

ok, lets try the 2nd group....part of st petersburg

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BauXDJw2aqO4o

this is all my eyes can handle tonight...

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BauXDJw2aqO6g

Take 2 on this response - the 1st is somewhere out there!

Your pictures are lovely! Glad to know I'm not the only one to take pictures of train signs or hotel bathrooms! I was able to retrace our trips to both cities through your pictures ... Loved the one of the Baltic Sea Herring being fried up at the outdoor market stall in Helsinki - oh, those are so good! And the awesome beauty of The Hermitage from both inside and out.

Anxiously awaiting your pictures from beautiful Tallinn -

wonderful photos, thanks,Bob!

here is an unusual group of pics: some doors of tallinn


share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BauXDJw2aqO84

Bob, those were great photos, thank you! I think I most enjoyed the Overdressed #1 & #2, and the sculpture of your grandfather! The upgraded room at the Kamp Hotel in Helsinki looked very comfy indeed. All the photos taken in The Hermitage were terrific, too, what a great treat to see the treasures there.

Bravo!

BC

a few more st pete pics


share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BauXDJw2aqO-w

Great pictures. Had no idea there was graffiti in tiny Estonia. Loved those doors.

here are the pics of Catherine's Palace:


share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BauXDJw2aqPBQ

some more pics of around SP plus a visit to Tsar Paul's palace and a lunch outside the city


share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BauXDJw2aqPDY

here is Peterhof and other pics


share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BauXDJw2aqPFA

we are getting near to the end...


share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BauXDJw2aqPHI

That's it folks....

just some thoughts:

Karen had St Petersburg on her wish list like for ever....when Tengombre mailed me the Finn Air offer I could not stay home....Over all we liked the trip very much but the dour look on most locals faces, plus an apparent rudeness made the trip a bit tideous at times.. This added to the huge expense of almost everything from bottled water to a pizza made my budget strain....In spite of all of this we loved what we saw, especially everything associated with tallinn and the sights of st pete....

finn air was comfortable and pleasant---food was even good
the helsinki hilton was perfectly fine, but not in the best location....the st petersburg marriott courtyard was also very nice, about a year old, but limited for local restaurants---price was right however....the imperial in tallinn was in a perfect location, was a very nice hotel and we would stay there again in a heartbeat.....the kamp hotel in helsinki is a lux hotel that needs some attention to some details...our room was fantastic and comfortable.....the holiday inn at the helsinki airport has the best beds of our trip, is well located, has the best food we had on the trip and is affordable and includes a free shuttle to the airport every 20 minutes...

We did not have a bad meal on the trip....prices as noted were very high...if there is a budget option we could not find it... we did not have a fantastic meal the whole trip really, nor did we have a single not good meal...

Tour guide---Alex was a god-send for us....he was very affordable, very very pleasant and his information was just at the right level for what we wanted....he was on time or early and was totally flexible... we did not have another guide for the entire trip save the very bad ones we had in the gold and diamond rooms at the hermitage...

if my time were limited in st petersburg, i would simply spend as much time as i could at the Hermitage....it tells the whole story....i would not pay extra for either the gold or diamond rooms....neither contains much of anything russian.. there are no crown jewels in SP, they are all in moscow... Un like many "art" museums, this place incorporates art in with the rooms being visited so you cannot become bored with it, unless you hate grand interiors...its not like a great city museum in that regard..

Peterhor and Catherine's Palaces are also worth a visit...

a drive or two around the city to admire the fantastic buildings is well worthwhile...

Would we repeat the trip...probably not, although i could spend more time in tallin and maybe parts of estonia... the finnish coastline might hold some interest too... are we glad we did it---OF COURSE...

next up South Africa followed quickly by our 13th trip to Bangkok...

Bob and Karen...excellent photography..but so many of your shots were dup's of mine...I could've sold you those for a fair price...AND, Bob-o, you're a fraud...the sculpture is not YOUR grandfather, it's MINE!......could it be we're cousins??? Oy, vay!...never mind!!

stu T. (Panda, take note of your friends's transgressions!)

(Waiting for your South African report).

stu...maybe we are kissing cousins??

how do you think i found those shots....you sent me your pics, and i spent most of my trip trying to find the places....you ruined my trip!!

i need roz to help me navigate things....

ttt

back to the top for billT

Great pics- interesting places! Are you going on Safari in South Africa?

Yes, we leave Oct 13 for cape Town. Looking forward to another adventure..k

the more i read other reports the better our trip was...

Bob, based on your trip can you confirm that visas for Estonia are no longer required for US citizens? The Estonia embassy and consulate websites have news items about talks going on late last year to make a mutual waiver but they don't come right out and say "visa no longer required". (Some commercial visa sites do say "US Citizens do not require visas for Estonia but I would not necessarily trust those.)

laurie_ann - not to highjack this, but we were not required to have visas when we visited Estonia in June of this year.

Believe Bob & Karen left for South Africa today and won't be able to respond for awhile.

laurie_ann - yes, we are US citizens. forgot to mention that in my earlier post.

Who is this "tengombre" who gets people all these airfare deals? Planning a Thai trip in January. Thanks!

He is another Fodorite from NYC , most often found on the Asia board. He has some fare watcher site on his computer and forwards to us anything he thinks we could use. Had a fabulous time in Thailand for our 13th trip on our "budget" trip. Go to the Asia site for lots of Thai info.

You probably had enjoyed your trip more had you understand that most people weren´t being moody/rude to you, our culture is just different compared to what you´re used to.

I can only speak for Finnish people, but generally here people tend to be quite reserved and like to have their own space. Behavior that's consider quite normal and even polite in some countries is here often seen as being annoying/fake (like smiling all the time for no logical reason, being extra-friendly with strangers, standing very close to someone when speaking to them etc.) This reflects in customer service, no-one will be constantly asking if you need anything, is everything ok and so on because that would be seen as being over-the-top by local customers.

Regards from snowy Finland

Babelic, I am trying to organise an itinerary to Sweden, Finland, St Petersburg and now possibly Tallinn. I am a reserved Irish Brit and your Finland is just what I am looking for. I have been to Norway and loved it - felt like home. I am hoping other Scandinavian countries and St Petersburg will be similar.


Thank you

ttt

ttt for karin

Bob...this was absolutely wonderful to read and very helpful! I'll let you know what Gil and I decide to do. When Gil said he wanted us to do a side trip in addition to our trip to Stockholm I told him I had to contact the BEST Trip Advisor to see if he had been to St. Petersburg, etc. You are the best!!!! Thanks!

missed this great TR the first time round, and found it whilst researching a trip to Tallinn, perhaps next spring [2011] when it'll be the european city of Culture.

any ideas what the temperature is like in late March/April?

Reread this since am now planning for Helsinki and Tallinn at the start of a long trip in the fall. Definitely sounds like I shouldn't skip Tallinn, but maybe limit Helsinki to keep costs down. I'll be going on to Riga, which seems to have lots of Art Nouveau, my fave. I just checked the Imperial in Tallinn - three nights in July and one near the end of August are already full!

One day to walk the city (look at Katajanokka neighbourhood for Art Nouveau buildings), half-day for Suomenlinna Fortress. That's it.
I believe one can explore Helsinki in two days easily.

Great review! I just happened to run into your review on these three cities, as I am planning a very similar trip in October. I had thought of taking the bus from St. Petersburg to Tallinn, but after reading your review I think i will skip that. Right now, I am looking at spending 4 days in Helsinki, 4 days in SPB, and 3 days in Tallinn. I may decide to take an overnight trip to Riga, but I haven't made up my mind on that yet. A lot of the info you posted will be helpful when I start making more detailed plans on my trip.

Dear Bob and Karen, My wife and I will be leaving in a couple of months for St. Petersburg, Russia, where we will be staying for 6 nights. We have found your blogs of inestimable value. For example, we have arranged for Alex to be our guide, starting off with our arrival at the airport on June 25. Although it's almost impossible in St. P we are exploring ways of doing things within a budget, yet with maximum enjoyment. We have high hopes of seeing the Marinskii ballet in its great hall, but their ticket prices for programs with their stars are stratospheric, to put it mildly, at least those we've seen on the web. Naturally, we'd appreciate any suggestions you may offer for finding a strategy for booking seats at minimum cost and maximum enjoyment. For example, are you aware of such a thing as a same day kiosk that sells heavily discounted tickets as we find in many of our cities? Or?? After St. P on to Lahti, Finland to meet with two good old friends, then Helsinki, and Tallinn for five nights. Should be a great trip! Thanks again for your help and happy travels in the future, Norm

Hello Bob and Karen,

I've only just picked up on this trip report and I would like to say 'thank you' for posting such a wonderfully written report. I've have been playing around with the idea of visiting Scandanavia/Estonia and now I can't wait to research Helsinki and Tallinn further.
Happy travels!
Sandy

sandy--give tallinn plenty of time....

ttt for joyce c

Russian nationals pay a totally different fee to see the ballet. If you are willing to accept their tickets you can sometimes get them on the street outside the theater as they do re-sell them. We saw one small group of tourists do that. Not sure of any other way. We paid the full price but even so was WELL worth it . I do not suggest seeing the ballet at the Hermitage if you are going to Marinsky.

Is this Alex the same as Alex Travel and Tours?

here is the Alex Travel and Tours website:
http://stpetersburg-guide.com/about/about.shtml

I am confused because I went to tripadvisor and realized they might be talking of two different Alex tour guide. The Alex you mentioned here has last name as Lubynov, the other one is Alex P.

I am looking for tour guide for our trip this July to St. Petersburg.

Just wanted to add here that we used the guide Alex Lyubimov based on the recommendation of rhkkmk and found him to be wonderful. We had one extra day to fill after a tour ended in SPb and Alex was available.
He was great company, very fun, very friendly - and the price was amazingly reasonable.

In case anyone is interested, to save from scrolling up to find it, here is his contact info as Bob has it above:
Alex Lyubimov (Tel: 8-921-945-4126)...E-mail: alex-lyubim@mail.ru

He said he also does transfers to/from airport etc - wish we'd known that ahead of time or thought to ask. I'm sure his rate would've been better than the taxi the hotel arranged for us.

this has been great information - thanks bob for the great report!

thanks others for chiming in... now if I could convince everyone else to write TR's... I find them incredibly helpful in planning.

hook---no that is not the same alex

glad the report helped....

Bookmarking. Bob what a great report. My husband gets to choose the holiday this year as I just came back from Laos on my own, he stayed home this year. He has put Russia and/or Turkey on the top of the list. I really want Burma but that can wait I guess. Your report with all the details and prices, although prices will be outdated, is wonderful. Thanks very much for posting this.

don't miss tallinn!!!!!!