St Petersburg and The Winter Palace

St Petersburg and The Winter Palace

By roychinnorNo Comments
It has been a while since I crossed a border with all the officialdom of Customs and Immigration and that is my only excuse for making a minor mistake on entering Russia. With stories of long delays and Bridget’s possibly embarrassing registration number uppermost in my mind, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the process was both straightforward and efficient at the border and I was 40 miles inside Russia before realising that I had completely forgotten to purchase insurance. In Russia, like most countries, car insurance is compulsory and the police are reportedly enthusiastic in stopping cars with foreign plates and checking their papers. I had plenty of fuel for the journey, but the road conditions for the first forty miles were poor and the standard of driving a little erratic. Just when I thought I would have to get used to the road surface it improved considerably even though the driving didn’t. A condition of my visa was...
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Farewell Finland

Farewell Finland

By roychinnorNo Comments
One of the joys of having no set route on these adventures is that just occasionally you stumble across a gem of a place about which you have never heard. Hamina, in Finland, was just one such example of this as far as I am concerned. I had never heard of it, although I am sure due to its place in history it is somewhat better known to both the Fins and the Russians, oh and possibly the Swedes. It appears to have been fought over at one time or another by both the Swedes and the Russians, fighting each other as far as I can make out, so I assume the locals just kept their heads down. Hamina was originally named Vehkalahti which was founded in 1653, but was completely destroyed in 1712 by, you’ve guessed it, fire; albeit the fire this time was deliberately set by the retreating army of Sweden. This was the time of Peter the Great, unusual...
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To Russia With Love or В Россию с любовью

To Russia With Love or В Россию с любовью

By roychinnor2 Comments
We spent four enjoyable days in Helsinki, either watching and photographing the Tall Ships, or doing the normal tourist thing. Much of Helsinki was destroyed by fire in 1808. This appears to be a recurring theme in Finland (see blog on Oulu), so if you have any Finnish friends by all means be hospitable, but I suggest you confiscate the matches. Helsinki was made the capital of Finland whilst the country was ruled by Czar Alexander 1 of Russia, until then Turku had been the capital. The Royal Academy of Turku, now the modern University of Helsinki, was moved in 1827 following, guess what, the Great Fire of Turku! Finland fought a civil war during 1917 and 1918 with the White Guards clashing with the Red Guards, not dissimilar to the Russian revolution. The war from 1941 to 1944 is not referred to as the Second World War but as the War of Continuation. No matter what it was called I bet there...
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The Tall Ships

The Tall Ships

By roychinnorNo Comments
From Oulu we travelled south to Jyvaskyla in central Finland. Bridget is running very smoothly. The town of Jyvaskyla is not really a tourist centre and although pleasant enough I couldn’t in all honesty recommend it as a place to visit. The following morning we continued south to Helsinki, the Capital City of Finland. As Capital Cities go Helsinki is definitely one of the better ones, with cleaner air than usual, wide boulevards and relatively little traffic. The architecture, on first glance, looks interesting. Bridget and I arrived to a tumultuous welcome, but unfortunately it was not for us, but for the participants of the Tall Ships Racing. Helsinki is 2013 host for this annual event which is organised by the Sail Training International. As we have several days in Helsinki, I have decided to give Bridget a good rest. As we arrived I couldn’t help noticing the oil pressure was fairly low. So much so that I checked that we hadn’t lost...
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