Hello, Hello!
Welcome to St. Petersburg, Russia. We’ll be here for 2 days, then head over to Finland for a day and then end by going to Sweden for a day. The weather here in St. Petersburg looks like it will be in the 70’s. In Finland, it will be a bit rainy in the morning but sunny in the afternoon. Don’t let the weather in Finland discourage you because the sights and food will be amazing! Hope you all have a great week and I’ll talk to you soon.
Saint Petersburg
The two days spent in St. Petersburg were filled with sight-seeing. Our tour guide split up what we would be seeing between the two days. Each place we stopped at lasted about an hour or more. So every time we were on the bus to go somewhere else, I would be sound asleep. A lot of the sights are based off of previous rulers and let me tell you there’s a LOT of them. Ugh, I know. But I’ll try and keep it super brief.
History
St. Petersburg was founded in May of 1703 with Peter the Great in control. He had two wives and fourteen children. In February of 1725 Peter the Great died and was succeeded by his wife Catherine. Peter’s second wife Catherine I became Empress of Russia from 1725 until her death. Peter II was emperor from 1727 until his death. Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great and Catherine I, became Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death. In 1762 Peter III became emperor for six months. Catherine the Great was his successor and became the Empress of Russia until 1796. Congratulations on making it this far without a headache. Obviously there's a lot more rulers who I didn't mention, but the ones that I did mention have palaces or parks dedicated to them in St. Petersburg.
Sights
Sadly I wasn't able to see everything, but here's what I did see:
St. Isaac’s Cathedral
Church of the Resurrection
Grand Cascade
Russian Museum
Summer Garden
Winter Palace
Food
We went to a traditional Russian restaurant on the second day, and the food was very good. It was a lot different than American food. We ordered some meat and potato pies and some pancakes with caviar (I just ate the pancakes, which were amazing). I also tried a blueberry soda, which was really good.
Helsinki
Welcome to Helsinki, Finland! Today will be a shorter day since everyone is probably still exhausted from St. Petersburg. Everyone will be back on the ship at 6, so go out and start exploring!
Sights
Temppeliaukion Church
Helsinki Cathedral
Sibelius Monument
Market Square
Food
We went to the Market Square for lunch since there were a bunch of food stalls there. I tried a salmon dish, a moose burger, and reindeer meatballs. I send my deepest regards to these animals. We also bought a bunch of chocolate from a store.
Back on board
This week was definitely short but filled with places to see and eat at. Hopefully you enjoyed Russia and Finland. It will be a long journey to our next destination... definitely somewhere more familiar for some people!