Helsinki, Finland

Helsinki, located on the southern part of Finland, is the capital and the largest city in Finland. Due to the latitude, city enjoy daylight for almost 6 hours during the winter solstice, and 19 hours during summer solstice.

After a night cruise from StPetersburg, we safety disembark from StPeterline early in the morning, at 8:30am.

We manage to visit some of the attractions while waiting for the cruise to StPetersburg. However, I decided to gather everything into 1 post for easy future reference. Moving around in Helsinki is convenience, we travel around in the tram, where you can get the ticket onboard. EUR 3.20 per pax. There are those 1 day pass for tourist, and that depend how much you plan to utilize the tram. We prefer to travel by foots within a reasonable distance.

Market Square (Kauppatori) - is an open-market, located beside the harbor.

Right: have a taste of local warm wine...

Uspenski Cathedral - is an Eastern Orthodox cathedral in Helsinki, built on a hilltop with an ornate exterior & lavish interior decoration. Admission free entry.

The National Library of Finland (Kansalliskirjasto) - Historic National Library housing book collections making up Finland's literary heritage.

My first impression is like entering the movie; "Night at the Museum".

This series of book is really eye-catching

Helsinki Cathedral - A grand neoclassical cathedral, topped with an iconic green dome. It is so prominent from a distance.

Jump... Jump... Jump...

City Museum - Exhibiting Helsinki's history & culture, with art & photography. Free Entry.

Suomenlinna Island - UNESCO World Heritage site, accessible by ferry from Market Square (Kauppatori). A long history on the ownership of the island between Swedish, Russian and Finnish.

Soumenlinna ferry point. Backdrop with a row of restaurants.

Left: Tower clock, as a entry gate for us to commence our excursion.
Right: Suomenlinna Church, the only church on the island.

Right: A standard fortress view...

King's Gate, the furthest part of the island. About 30 mins hike.

Temppeliaukion Church - a.k.a. Rock Church. Unique church popular as a concert venue, with a copper-lined dome & rock/rubble interior walls.

Last night in Helsinki, Queen and Princess decided to go for ice skiing...

St Petersburg, Russia

St. Petersburg is a port city on the Baltic Sea. An imperial capital for 2 centuries provides sheer grandeur and fascinating history. Majestic building such as Saint Isaac's Cathedral, Admiralteystvo, Hermitage Museum, Palace Square, Alexander Column, and many more...

Russia adopt a strict visa policy, only 49 countries are entitled visa-free entry, with a limited period within 180 days. China can only enter as a tour group, without visa for up to 15 days. 

Somehow, there are alternative to visa-free entry to St Petersburg, but there are certain terms and conditions. Tourists are granted 72 hours visa-free entry if enter by cruise from Tallinn or Helsinki. Sounded like a give-away, but there is a catch. The next cruise departing from St Petersburg is more than 72 hours. So, the only way is to leave St Petersburg on the same cruise that you arrived. As per schedule, you will be given 10 hours to roam around in the city, logically should be sufficient.

Just like what we are advised, we boarded the overnight cruise (St Peter Line) from Helsinki. We had experienced on overnight cruise when we travel from Stockholm to Turku, have to tolerate with slow network. (Its free, so what do you expect.) In St Peter Line, the network is chargeable. Feeling the agony to browse facebook and surf web.

So excited! We are reaching St Petersburg in a few minutes... Bad news: ice formed on the ocean. The harbor are obstructed. The cruise has to move forward and backward to crash the ice its propeller. We are scheduled to alight the cruise by 9am, everybody are standing anxiously at deck 6 where the exit located. Forward... Backward... Captain on-board announced that we will be a few minutes late due to the situation.

After a few announcements of "we will be a few minutes late", finally a different announcement came in. We can start to disembark the cruise. Have a look at the time, 12pm... we were short-changed by 3 hours, and we are left with 7 hours to roam the city... omg!!!

Photo on the right are the crashed ice propelled out by the cruise.

Immigration counter at St Petersburg port is quite a decent size, around 8 counters. However, the process are slow. The officer literally examine your look and even ask "are you the person in the photo"... You can feel the frustration from the people in the queue... Later we found out that there was a terrorist attack the day before in the convenience store. That news seem like calmed everybody down and encouraged the detail check by the officers... lol

It took 1 hour to clear the immigration, and we are left with 6 hours. St Peter Line provides a free shuttle service from the terminal to the main town. That is a time-saver. Quickly board the shuttle service and do what we can within that 6 hours. Feeling a bit turn-off...

St Isaac's Cathedral - You really cannot feel the grandness of the building in the photo. Visitors are allowed to enter the observatory area, which is almost the highest point of the building, to admire the city. Too bad, we were constrained by time, so only can 到此一游!

Day and night view... Which is better?

Admiralteystvo - This grand historical building & headquarters of the Russian Navy features notable architecture.

The building resemble of temple in Thailand

State Hermitage Museum - Colonnaded, waterfront, former residence of Russian emperors, with extravagant state rooms. Its is also the second largest museum of art and culture in the world. 

Alexander Column - Iconic monolith in the center of a square is the focal point of Palace Square in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The monument was raised after the Russian victory in the war with Napoleon's France.

So many street artists cluster around Palace Square looking for easy money
Asking for 10 EUR for posting in the photo, we just give 2 EUR.

So fast, we had to head back to the cruise.

Artistic painting on the cruise

Warm welcome by the crew

To ease the agony to have network, queen decided to pay USD6 for an hour. Main purpose is to download the Hongkong Drama... lol... So sad, the network speed is only 56kbps... only manage to download 25% of the drama for the precious hour... No much to do, we just fill ourselves while travelling back to Helsinki.

Stay tune for Helsinki... Last city to go...