Helsinki High Point

Before I get on the train to St. Petersburg, a few more words about Helsinki.  My stay there, though I accomplished almost nothing I'd intended, was delightful.  When I returned after my Russian sojourn, I experienced the high point of being in this very pleasant city:  Hannah.  I'd "met" her on an online board I've frequented for several years, and somehow discovered she's Finnish.  I emailed her to ask for suggestions, and if we could get together.   O my goodness, what an enjoyable visit I had with her, over  Finnish beer that I would have risked smuggling home.  And she, in a generous gesture of hospitality, gifted me with two packages of chocolate, which I am even now doling out, sparingly, only to myself.  So Hannah, thank you for everything!  Now farewell to Helsinki....

Back in the day, getting from one place in the former Yugoslavia to another was a matter of going down to the bus station in whichever small village in which we found ourselves and asking around until someone said that he thought the bus to next small village left at suchandsuch a time, but it wouldn't leave if the driver didn't think it contained suffiicient passengers to make the trip worth his while.  And if we wanted to go to large town on the other side of next small village, we had to first go to next small village, and catch another bus to large town....maybe that day...maybe the next.  No such thing as a long distance Greyhound going from Riejka to Zadar...not that we would have chosen something so crass, as we wanted to be in the villages and travel locally.  Not so in my AARP years.  I wanted fast and clean....and a prepaid ticket bought from America from the VR/Allegro web site, paid for with my Amex card and printed on my own little printer.  Moving into my senior years isn't all about arthritis and memory loss.... Now where was I???

And that's what I got!  Except the seat faced backwards and I discovered that riding backwards is....unpleasant.  Fortunately, empty seats were available, so after official formalities, I moved.  Many thanks to the retired home economics teacher from Finland who took this photo.  She and several friends were on a tour to St. Petersburg.  In fact, her mother had been born in a part of Finland that is now part of Russia.   Tours run frequently between Helsinki and St. Petersburg, and if three days or less, do not require a Russian visa.  Speaking of which, I do need to explain the wretchedly expensive process of obtaining the required Russian visa....