We left Finland, Helsinki via a Ferry by St. Peter Line which is the only way to visit Russia visa-free.  St. Peter Line offers an overnight ferry from Helsinki to St Petersburg (SPB) and for 72 hours you are allowed to roam around the city sans visa.  The only restrictions are that a passenger must book a 25 Euro shuttle bus into the city and then take the ferry back to Helsinki.  It’s a great way to see the city and get a taste of Russia without paying the expensive visa fees. Also, when we booked the ferry we were slightly confused on what a “ferry” would consist of, but this ferry was a full on cruise ship with casino, clubs, bars, multiples restaurants, entertainment – the whole nine yards. It was quite a show to watch all of the Russians dress up and go out and party the night away for a 12 hour boat ride.  Regardless, we are so happy we met fellow travelers who shared this loop hole with us.

SPB is in Russia; however it’s not really Russian.  Although we have never been to Austin (or god forbid the rest of Texas) we like to think that Austin is to Texas as SPB is to Russia – it doesn’t really belong.  By the architecture of the buildings in the city, SPB feels extremely European. Peter the Great modeled SPB after Amsterdam and Venice; with the most obvious similarity the city wide canals.  Beautiful three and four story buildings line the streets with intricate details, including Art Nouveau, Neo Classical and Baroque styles. We spent our 72 hours visiting a variety of churches, going on a walking tour, seeking out Russian food, taking a boat ride through the canals, and spending half a day at the Hermitage. The Hermitage alone is reason enough to visit SPB. Never mind the fact the you have the world’s most amazing collection of art at your fingertips, but you are also walking through the truly amazing Summer Palace of the Tsars with incredible gold studded rooms, high ceilings, and intricate details.  A few things to note about SPB; in general the food is expensive, served in small portions and relatively tasteless. The people are friendly enough but do not smile nor do they speak much English.  We lucked out with decent weather, but with its northern location and proximity to the Baltic Sea, it’s notorious for terrible weather.

After SPB we cruised back to Helsinki and flew to Copenhagen.  The second we got off the metro we were met by hundreds of bikers zipping by on their evening commute home.  Almost every major road in Copenhagen has a bike lane and the city is trying to further eliminate the use of cars.  Currently, about 30% of the population commutes by bicycle, but it seems like more. We stayed at an AirBnB apartment located in a neighborhood wiki describes as multicultural, although the only multicultural element was the variety of shawarma restaurants on every corner.  We immediately rented bikes to try to fit in with the locals but realized our biking skills were completely amateur and riding initially gave us more anxiety than pleasure. We soon learned the proper rules of the road and were able to get around relatively unharmed but do not dare to step on the bike lane without looking both ways … or else.  Our host, Mads, took us out for the night and we were able to see how a Copenhagen commune operates. This means that nine 30-somethings are living in one house with one bathroom and have daily scheduled dinners together. This sort of living seems to be quite common throughout Copenhagen and it was really neat to see such an organized living situation.

While cruising the city, we visited the infamous Christiana neighborhood. The neighborhood was once a Naval base, vacated and eventually settled by squatters in 1971. The story goes that some citizens of Copenhagen were upset about the rising costs of real estate and decided to occupy the vacated Naval base and create their own city within a city. The inhabitants (aka hippies) of this neighborhood have been squatting here for over 40 years and the neighborhood has become a full blown tourist attraction. The people have their own government, restaurants, schools, post etc. The houses in this neighborhood have very creative architecture as they are made out of recycled materials and there are no building codes. In addition, marijuana is sold right out in the open in the “Green Light District”. While marijuana is absolutely illegal in Denmark, the government looks the other way in Christiana. The neighborhood is certainly a unique and quirky place, but it’s still hard to comprehend that the Danish government lets it operate freely.

We are currently in Amsterdam and absolutely love our time biking around this fabulous city.  More to come later …