Denise:

Just a little, but vital thought...have you started your visa procedures yet? You do know that you will need a Rusian visa to enter St. Pete. There is a certain amount of red tape...get started as soon as you can.


stu t.

alyssabc - I was a bit concerned about defending myself against Mother Russia but think I can handle it. Handled the corrupt police in Montenegro it can't be worse than that.

stu t. I have received the hotel vouchers after a couple of mistakes on their part and then double charging me for their mistake. I realize I have to forward this apparently with an application for a visa to the Russian
Federation Embassy in Ottawa - it is supposed to take three weeks - I do have time - but it does fly.

Thanks for your help.

Denise - if you haven't applied for a Russian visa before you might want to read the info at www.waytorussia.net/RussianVisa/index.html - or check the posts on Lonely Planet's throntree.

I found Tallinn to be way more interesting than Helsinki. They are so close, though, that you can take the ferry back & forth, so if you have a good deal on a hotel in one place and want to go to the other city, it's not a big deal.

St Petesrburg is OK. Was there for 6 nights with a group, and I would have rather checked out Moscow some more. Just depends on what you want to get done/see there.

Hope you have a great trip!!!

Hi amp322:

I was thinking of taking a day away from Helsinki because I've had more positive responses to Tallinn however, we plan to leave Tallinn on the last ferry of the day. We also have to leave Helsinki very early for the train to St. Petersburg - so it looks like 2 1/2 days in each city.

Its about a month away and I'm excited.

Denise:

Curious...did you finally get the Visa? It took us nearly four weeks to get ours from Washington...and we leave October 12...also got a visa for Belarus at the same time.
The odd thing here is that we got visas within ten days back in 1985 (the USSR days), when the response for westerner visits was usually not that swift. Then again, the backlog was minimal.

Hope you get it in time for your departure. Better still, I hope you have it NOW.

stu t.

Hi Stu:

Send all documentation to the Russian Embassy in Ottawa via courier a week ago with return courier bag included, fee, pictures, application form, tourist voucher, fee paid to the hotel, shoe size (just kidding). They said it would take 15 business days, no short cuts. So 5 days down, 10 to go. I am assuming that I'll have it by the 29th of September. Beads of sweat are forming on my brow - 4 weeks is a long time! Where is your first stop Stu, I'm leaving on the 13th for Frankfurt.

Denise:


I'll be thinking good toughts for you, to get the visa on time. Many other visas we have gotten over the years could be handled by the L.A. consulate offices. Last year, it took about a half hour in line to get China here locally.

We are leaving Sunday, Oct. 12 for 8;:30pm flight,AA to Heathrow, five hour layover, then British Airways to Moscow, arriving at 5:00 am, Oct. 14th!! We're going FF so we had limited choices on flight connections. Moscow 3 days, on the Viking river cruise for 7, St. Pete for 3, then just the two of us going on to Belraus and Kiev (Ukraine) until Nov 3.

You'll love Berlin, which has become a world class city...we had been there in the 80's and then in '93...the changes two years ago were dramatic, to say the least.
Have a great trip!

Don't discount Helsinki, it can be interesting for you (here are some scanned pre-digital photos of a visit I made in conjunction with USSR in 1985).

http://tiny.cc/p1FCC

Bon Voyage, Denise.

Stu T.

Denise:

P.S. to see these old scanned shots more clearly, just click on the magnifying glass icon, and then click on the enlarged pic to drag it to the other pics on the same window (most of my scanned pix are two-three to a page).

stu

Thanks Stu:

I'll be interested in your impressions of Moscow and Kiev. They will be a future trip for us. Best wishes,

Denise