As you can see, our last day in Helsinki (part 1) dawned sunny, with blue skies. We shed a tear or two and bid a fond farewell to the cinnamon rolls, and set off for the railway station, courtesy of a number 10 tram.
The station is well defended (see below) by four stone persons, but is actually - like most of Helsinki - incredibly welcoming and easy to navigate. We hadn't yet bought our tickets for Turku (that part of the trip comes later) so found the ticket office and, once we'd realised we had to take a number, were able to sort that last piece of travel organisation.
The ticket office is actually a large and beautiful hall, featuring the arched glass wall (below, below) and this winning representation of Alvar Aalto's work, plus magnetic trains.
Turned out there was no particular check-in time for the Allegro train to St Petersburg. We just had to make sure to be on the train before it left. Which we did.
For a relatively short trip (3 1/2 hours - at speeds of up to 200km/h) we spent a fair amount of time talking with Finnish and Russian immigration and customs folk. The man on the left (with the gun) was a very pleasant Finnish immigration official. The man on the right, with no gun, was a very pleasant - but inquisitive - Russian customs official. He wanted to know what was in our bags (personal items, clothing, etc) and how much cash of various kinds (roubles, euros) we were carrying. The guy behind us had his bag opened and inspected; happily, we did not. I wondered if that might happen when G insisted that (a) the bags above were not ours (they were); and (b) the bag was green (it was not). Anyway, after a clarifying conversation our friend from customs was satisfied and moved on. Our passports haven't seen so many stamps in a long time.
I was hoping that crossing the Russo-Finnish border might have a bit of ceremony attached. It did not. We did slow down. And I did observe a wire fence which, according to Beth and Kate, matches the grey line on google maps, but that was all. Shortly after crossing into Russia we stopped at Vyborg, where we saw this beautifully decorated train...
On arrival in St P we found a cab. No reliable red cabs to be found so we jumped in a dodgy one, didn't negotiate a fare, arrived at the hotel and had a wee discussion with our driver regarding price. Eventually we settled on a number that left everyone's honour intact and moved on to check-in (with promised drink). Rosey told us that Malcolm had selected vodka and received applause for downing it in one go - obviously we love a challenge so that was it. We both ordered vodka and skol-ed with great determination and style. Alas, no applause, but a fitting start to our sojourn in St Petersburg.
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