Estonia and St Petersburg

Sunshine in Estonia and a bus ride to Rakevere and a lovely fairly intact medieval fortress above the small town. We got to dress up and play with swords, bows and arrows ( ask me about the bruise ), climb the walls, torture some prisoners and have a feast in the great hall.







Estonia is a small country with lots of trees and a population of only about 2 million who are very happy to be part of the EU and not Russia any more. The capital city, Tallin has cobblestones and you can walk up to the Presidents door step. It survived the wars fairly intact and had quaint streets and dressed up well for the hoards from the ship with a market in the square and folk dancing.





St Petersburg on the other hand is quite enormous. Our guide didn't at all about Russia today but was well versed in the history of the Emperors. The outskirts of the city were grimy and old time industrial but the canals and river with many bridges surrounded by 18th century buildings in various states of repair and more churches than you'd think was fascinating. The churches were impressive and resored to their former glory with tombs of the Emperors Peter and Catherine the Great down to the bones of the last Tsar and family interred in the chuch after being discovered much later after the revolution. The most beautiful was the church built over the assignation site of Alexander the II ( I think ) It was covered with mosaic tiles in Orthodox style and had high domes to heaven.






From churches to a canal ride and then folk show in the evening complete with Cossacks and maids dancing as well as the star Graeme Ross who got to kiss the girl ( twice !!! )





Graeme and Wendy ( if he gets to come home )

Location:Baltic Sea