St. Petersburg & Helsinki

Last weekend was the UK's version of Labor day weekend - as we had monday off as a bank Holiday.  3 Day weekend - of course I'm going somewhere really cool!  I flew to Helsinki and met up with a long lost friend from HighSchool who is from there, Leena.  She was a foreign exchange student when I was a junior in HS.  She showed me the sights which was SO NICE of her.  Then Saturday night I took the overnight ferry to St. Petersburg from Helsinki.  This ferry was much nicer then I thought and was so convenient to go to Russia; in regards you don't need a VISA!  The Russians are very strict when it comes to needing a visa there - so of course I was game for this deal. I had one day just in St. Petersburg but it turned out to be lovely and just enough to get a taste of the Hermitage and the surrounding areas!   I walked very fast throughout the city trying to take in as much as I possibly could in the 7 or so hours I had in the USSR.  After that - I jumped back on the overnight ferry back to Helsinki and arrived Monday night and then flew back to London in the afternoon!  All in all it was a jam packed weekend (like all my trips) but it was well worth all the hype and turned out to have great weather and an amazing time!