Been a while since I wrote down how things have gone. I've usually been too tired to do anything by the time we get back to our room, and the fact that Apple "improved" the iPad by limiting the max voltage on USB devices connected to it means the card reader that served me so well on our last vacation for getting pics off my camera isn't doing jack for me this time, so I'm less inclined to sit down and bang things out.

But, anyway, for those who are interested, here's how the past few days have gone. I warn you, it's a long one. The TL;DR version is we're having fun, and nobody's hurt. Speaking of hurt, anyone who knows us knows that Tisha can be... well, I don't want to say clumsy. Let's say she can fall down more often than most. On this particular trip, however, she is clearly winning. Not once has she fallen. Me, on the other hand? Once, while leaving a sushi restaurant in Moscow I tripped while walking up the stairs and faceplanted into the carpet. Then, in St. Petersburg while crossing the street I stepped into an open manhole(!), twisting my ankle, scuffing my knee, and landing on my little camera (which seems to have only suffered cosmetic damage). When leaving St. Petersburg, in the train station, I misjudged a step and went down with my suitcase on my back, scaring some poor woman in the process.

Surprisingly, I'm not actually that hurt. I have some bruises, and my ankle hurts if I twist it a certain way, but I'm in no way encumbered from enjoying the vacation. So, there's that.

Anyway, our arrival in Helsinki was accomplished without the visa and passport issues many of the guidebooks had me fearing. In fact, the process of leaving Russia and entering Finland (via the train) was terribly simple and painless. The train was fantastic (less than a year old), and a true pleasure to ride.

Upon arrival, we made our way to our wonderful hotel via the super awesome tram system in Helsinki, did a little orientation using the interwebs, and hit the city. Helsinki is simply blanketed with free WiFi, so we opted to keep using our Russian SIMs in our phones rather than buy new ones, as the Russian ones worked just fine for texting and calling. We did some walking around the city, took in the sights, and ended up checking out a bar recommendation I got off reddit.com.

It's called Kaisla, and it was a great recommendation! A wonderful draft list, an even better bottle list, and a terrific atmosphere. It was to become our home base away from the hotel, where we'd end the afternoon with some drinks while deciding on where to go for dinner.

Our first night's dinner was at a place called Mount Everest, claiming to be Nepalese cuisine. Pretty much the same as Indian food, and pretty tasty. Price-wise, on a par with what we'd ben experiencing -- which is expensive. Moscow, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, and Stockholm all have that in common.

Our second day was a Sunday, and we'd decided to take in some of the quirkier museums during our stay. So, we visited to Bank of Finland Museum, which was primarily about the history of money in Finland. I like those types of museums, and quite enjoyed the visit. We then made our way to a nice cafe next to the Senate Square to take in the views of the buildings, cathedrals, statue, and local population. It's called the Cafe Engel, and I recommend it highly.

We wandered the city some more, strolling the side streets and checking out the local shopping areas, and checked out one of the best sights in the city, the Church on the Rock. It's this modern Lutheran church that was basically dug into bedrock. It's quite striking; I'd love to take in a concert there. I'll post pics when I'm home, but check it out at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temppeliaukio_Church. We then headed to Kaisla for more wonderful beer and a great dinner at Cafe Belge.

Monday, we had intended to take the bus tour included with our Helsinki Card, but it was full, so we instead visited the Postal Museum (which I also found pretty interesting, though perhaps a bit lacking in English options for some of the displays). We then attempted to go to the City Museum, but it was apparently closed for a big installation that was opening in February(!) -- alas, the perils of traveling in the off season. Instead, we strolled the streets, sipped coffee (I so love the coffee over here), and made our way to Zetor to sample some Sahti (something I was told I must try here). I've never had the American attempts at the drink, so I'm not sure how to compare it. It's lightly carbonated, sweet and malty. Apparently, a rural beer-like drink that's one of the oldest types in existence. It's also very fragile -- it needs to be kept refrigerated and drunk while fresh, lest it go horribly bad. I enjoyed it, certainly, though I'm not sure it's deserving of the hype.

We eventually made our way to Kaisla again to plan the evening and next day, rounding out with a dinner at Kolme Sepää (not bad, not great).

Tuesday, our last time in Helsinki for this trip, we took the morning bus tour around the city, had some lunch, then made our way to the Finnish Photography Museum. Turns out this place is part of a complex of tiny museums, including the Theater Museum, and the Hotel and Restaurant Museum. On the whole, the museum I went to see was the least impressive, whereas the Hotel and Restaurant, as well as the Theater museums provided great entertainment.

Finally it was off to the boat for our 19 hour overnight crossing to Stockholm. The boat was quite nice, our cabin was lovely, and the bar was open! We enjoyed a beer or three before wandering the boat and checking out the options. On deck wasn't terribly appealing due to the weather, and otherwise it's just the bar, restaurants, and shopping. The duty free shopping was quite popular, though we didn't find a lot appealing to us since we have to fly home and don't want to check bags (so no liquor).

After a nice smorgasbord for dinner, we retired to our cabin. Unfortunately, the seas were pretty rough, and while I was okay with it, it hit Tisha pretty hard. We eventually got her to where she was able to sleep, but by then the boat was rocking pretty heavily. These boats are *huge* (we were on the MS Mariella http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Mariella ), but it was tossing like it was a much smaller ship. I can hardly imagine how rough the seas were -- we could hear the water splashing our window on the 6th deck from each time the bow crashed into another wave.

Eventually, things settled down enough where I could relax (I kept having to get up and fix/pick up things that fell/broke) and get some sleep, but it was not a restful sleep. When the alarm went off, we opted to simply sleep through breakfast (I was sure Tisha wouldn't want to eat anything more as long as we were on the boat, anyway). We docked at 9:45 Stockholm time (an hour earlier than Helsinki time, which is an hour earlier than Moscow time), and we decided to just head to the hotel and get freshened up there (rather than using the cramped shower in the cabin).

We topped up our transit cards from our last visit, and had a trouble-free transit adventure to our fantastic hotel (Biz Gärdet Apartments). They happily let us check in early, and we made our way to our little extended-stay-like room. This place is great -- everything is shiny and new, the staff is wonderful, and internet is the fastest we've had. They don't have wifi in the rooms, but they do have wired net; knowing this ahead of time I packed my Airport Express so the iPads and phones would work.

After getting showered and changed, we decided to run the one errand we wanted to run -- get a SIM with data for one of our phones, since Stockholm's wifi offerings aren't as prevalent and Helsinki's, and my Boingo account has been a *huge* letdown -- it hasn't connected my anywhere that isn't an airport.

I shouldn't rely so heavily on the net, but when you're trying to get around an unfamiliar city, having google maps with accurate transit directions in your pocket makes life soooo much easier. So we wandered the main shopping district, hit a mall, and went to pick up a SIM for my phone.

The SIM experience in Russia was so easy, I guess I expected an even more seamless adventure here. Alas, no. We'd already discovered in Russia that USSD codes don't work on our phones (ie, to check balance, dial *135#, etc.), and the Swedish SIM required USSD to activate the SIM. However, the helpful folks at the Phone House were happy to call it in and activate it for me. Unfortunately, we could not get the data to work on the phone. Voice and SMS, no problem. But no matter which APN we used, it would *not* get a data signal. On either my rooted, customized Droid 2 Global, or Tisha's stock D2G.

Since the SIM was nonrefundable (the codes were used, and the problem was with my phone, not the SIM), the guy was trying *really* hard to make it work for me. But after over an hour, we still got nowhere -- he felt bad I was stuck there so long, and I felt bad I was taking up so much of his time.

Ultimately, I decided I'd bite the bullet and just buy the cheapest smartphone they had -- a Samsung Galaxy Mini for around $120. The SIM worked, the guy bumped me up to 30 days of unlimited data (which I certainly don't need), and 200 SEK worth of voice or SMS. I now have a working unlocked phone with data, and we called it a success. I'm sure I'll find something to do with this phone -- either sell it or turn it into a travel phone.

We did a quick supper at the restaurant attached to our hotel (BallBreakers -- kind of like a Dave & Busters style place), and called it a night.

That brings us to this morning. We were *tired*, so we slept right through breakfast and called it a late start to a day. We caught brunch at the weirdest (but nicest) little cafe near the hotel, inside a place called Mekonomen. The only way I could describe it is to imagine a Canadian Tire or Pep Boys, but crossed with the visual aesthetic of an Apple Store or an Ikea. It was the nicest, cleanest auto parts store I'd ever been in. And in the very nice cafe, you could sit and watch the mechanics work on cars in service bays through glass windows in the store. And everything was spotless. It was pretty surreal.

After that delightful lunch, we hit Skansen, a place we did not visit on our last stop here since it was raining all the time, and this place is mostly outdoors. We had a great crisp sunny day for most of the day today, though, so it was good weather to visit. We saw a glassmaking demonstration, furniture making, other historical tool exhibits, and a little zoo of Scandinavian animals. Following that, we hopped on over to a recommended beer bar/restaurant called Akkurat. They have a wonderful tap selection (including a number of real ales), a great bottle selection, and a Single Malt selection to die for -- there was a whiskey available from 1897 for a mere 1795 SEK per 10ml. That's around $270. We did not partake.

The food was great, we made it back to the hotel in time to take advantage of the free laundry facilities and wash some necessities to get us through these last couple of days.

Tomorrow morning, we'll be taking an archipelago cruise, followed by a visit to the Nordic Museum. Then Saturday, it's off to the airport to make our way home.

It's been a full two weeks, that's for sure. I'm looking forward to the decompression time -- I plan to spend birthday number 41 plopped into my recliner watching the Packers do horrible things to the Vikings. It'll be a good day.

* Instead of using a single large napkin when eating, it's far more common to use a bunch of small cocktail napkins. There's typically a supply at the table. Wait staff will scoop up any they think have been used already.

* Breakfast sausage is a fat hot dog-like thing. I'm gonna miss that, oddly.

Well, I must say, I really enjoyed our (far too brief) stay in Saint Petersburg. It was easier to get by without knowing Russian, but it still helps a lot to be able to read Cyrillic -- if you sound it out it often makes sense. For example, the title of this post. If you know С is S, н is n, П is P, р is r, б is b, у is u, and г is g, you can tell it's Saint Petersburg. If you don't, it's Kahkt Netepbeiper, and who wants to go there?

The first day we spent the whole day at the Hermitage, a former palace turned into a museum to rival the Louvre or the British Museum. Saw an actual Michelangelo sculpture, a Leonardo Da Vinci painting, many Van Goghs, and some very ancient things, including mummies. It's easy to lose a day there. Our second day, we wandered the main drag of the Nevsky Prospect, took a bus tour, and had dinner at a fantastic brewery/restaurant called "Puberty". They may claim it's a portmanteau of pub and liberty, but it doesn't make it any less weird asking Google for directions to Puberty. Seriously, though, delicious German and Czech beers, good pizza, good atmosphere. Apparently the sushi is good, too (sushi is quite trendy in Moscow and SPb these days), but we weren't in a mood for that.

While I was generally cool on Moscow, I really liked SPb and can't wait to come back.

Now, we sit on the Allegro train, which will take us to Helsinki in 3.5 hours at a speed of around 230 km/h. Very nice, brand new, practically. I love traveling by train, especially nice ones.

Onward!

Monday was our first real full day in Moscow. It started early enough -- after a much needed sleep we both found ourselves pretty much wide awake around 6:30 AM. We figured an early start to the day meant that much more stuff to be able to do.

Well, perhaps not. After a mediocre (but included, thankfully) breakfast at the hotel, we walked to the Metro station and rode the train into Red Square, getting there around 9. Thing is, nothing's open that early. Also, it was raining. So yay. :)

We wandered around Red Square a bit, stood and stared at St. Basil's Cathedral (you know, the one with the colorful onion domes), and the Kremlin wall (with Lenin's Mausoleum, and were generally soggy tourists.

At 10, the giant mall GUM (ГУМ) opened, and we wandered in there to dry off, catch a coffee, and get our bearings. We also wandered the mall, which is enormous. Mostly clothes, as with most malls, but on the third floor we accomplished some needed errands including some pre-paid SIMS (with data!) at a Megafon store.

After our mall wanderings, we decided to wander around Alexander Gardens outside the Kremlin wall on our way to check out the Armoury museum inside the Kremlin. Today, however, was to be the day of aborted and delayed sightseeing, as the next entrance time was 2:30, and tickets didn't go on sale until 1:45 for that. We decided it was lunch time, since it actually was, and hit a neat little food court in a different nearby mall. For those keeping score at home, Sbarro in Russian is Сбарро. Our hunger sated, it was time to buy some tickets and go see the Armoury.

It was pretty good. The included audio guide helped a lot, and we ended up spending a little over 90 minutes checking out various treasures, suits of armor, swords, carriages, dresses, and Faberge eggs. Not too bad for 700 rubles each. (Oh, it's a little over 30 rubles to the dollar.)

We spent the rest of the afternoon escaping the worsening rain by riding the Metro around and looking at some of the stations -- there are some really ornate ones. Finally, after a nice sushi supper, we made our way back to the hotel, since we were pretty much beat at that point. I managed to get the mobile data set up on our phones, which is a good thing, since the near ubiquitous wi-fi experience I was expecting based on Boingo's map of hotspots has yet to materialize. In fact, I don't think Boingo has yet successfully connected to any networks while I've been in Moscow (worked dandy in Sweden and Chicago, though).

Tomorrow looks to be not rainy, thankfully. We'll be checking out one of the major art museums (not sure which yet), walking around the Arbat if the weather's holding up, revisiting Red Square after dark to see it all lit up. I'll snag some photos then.

Thus far, though, Moscow is rainy, wet, and under construction. :)

Until tomorrow!

Our flight out of Chicago left O'Hare terminal 5 at around 4:30 Central time, and arrived at Arlanda Airport outside of Stockholm a little after 7. For reasons that are not clear to me, we couldn't check ourselves in for the second leg of the trip (Stockholm to Moscow on Aeroflot) at the same time as the first leg, even though it's a codeshare.

Which meant we had to clear immigrations and customs in Sweden (a breeze, really), then check in at the Aeroflot counter. Alas, it didn't open until 9:30, so we had a couple of hours to kill in the airport (outside of security, as we had no boarding pass yet). We went outside and watched our breath in the cold morning air -- it felt so good.

Eventually, we got ourselves checked in, past security, and into the waiting area to kill another 90 minutes before we would board. Lots of waiting today. I slept through the entire ARN - SVO flight (about 2.5 hours) since I got no sleep on the long haul portion.

After arriving at Moscow and clearing immigrations and customs, we bought some rubles at the currency exchange, fended off aggressively insistent taxi drivers, and made our way to the train that would take us into the city. Just in time to miss it, which mean a half hour of waiting for the next one. :)

A 35 minute train ride later, we're at the train station a few blocks from the hotel. We made a stab at walking, but a pedestrian path was not evident, and I was tired of lugging my luggage, so we took an overpriced cab to the hotel.

A quick recharge (both for us and our electronics), and we headed out to pick up some metro passes to cover us the next couple of days, and a quick meal at the hotel.

This hotel, BTW, is quite the sight to see. The Historical Sovietsky. I'll snag pics to post tomorrow. But now, it's 9:30PM Moscow time, 12:30PM Chicago time, and we've been up since the previous day. Sleepy time now.

(This post won't make it up until the next morning, as we have no network in the room -- only the lobby.)

Yay, Russia! Tomorrow, we head into Red Square and see all the things Tisha wants to see.

It's Thursday night. As I sip on a Dogfish Head Punkin' Ale at my favorite beer bar, I soak in the fact that I'm two sleeps and one work day away from a most awesome vacation. On Saturday, in celebration of Tisha's (mumble)th birthday, we're fulfilling a lifelong dream of hers and heading to Russia. Specifically, we're going to visit Russia, Finland, and Sweden for two weeks!

Even more specifically, we're going to be spending a few days in Moscow, hopping a train to Saint Petersburg, spending a few days (including Tisha's birthday) there, hopping another train to Helsinki and exploring that fine city for a few days before hopping a ferry for a nice leisurely overnight cruise to Stockholm and revisit a city we enjoyed so much we had to go back.

I can't speak Russian worth a damn save for "Yes", "No", and "Thank you" (Da, Nyet, SpasEEbo), so I'm relying heavily on our phrase book and half of Tisha's college major. In Finland? Well, we're both just floating out there, as with Stockholm. Thankfully, English should be easy to come by in the cities we're visiting.

Russia's crazy. For the first time ever, we had to obtain entry (and exit) visas before going there. We have to register at our hotel when we get there. We can't overstay our visa, even by a minute, without incurring a fine. It's wacky!

I'm really stoked about this trip. It feels a lot like it did before our very first venture to a foreign overseas land 5 years ago. This will be our 5th time visiting Europe, and I'm almost as giddy and excited as I was our first time going. We've got a long layover in Stockholm for our connecting flight to Moscow (on the order of 4 hours), so our first "day" is pretty much entirely a travel day. By the time we hit our hotel in Moscow, we'll have been traveling for a little over 12 hours (our initial flight leaves around 4:30 Chicago time), and we'll be at around 5:30AM by our internal clocks. But, if the past is any indicator, we'll be stoked and excited enough to at least make it past dinner before crashing into our beds and having the sleep to end all sleeps.

I've been researching beer and beer bar destinations in the cities we'll visit, natch. I've got some good ones to try. I must say, our first visit to Stockholm produced some happy memories of good beer bars, including an awesome Irish pub enjoying a session. On this trip, we won't be in high tourist season (our first trip like that since 2007). We'll be escaping 75-80 degree Chicago Indian summer to 60s, 50s, even 40s where we'll be going. At Helsinki (probably even Saint Petersburg), we will be as far north as we've ever been. We like north. North is good.

So, yeah. We're both pretty stoked about this. Yay!

Nothing to see here.