Rushin' to Russia

From Riga a few hours on the bus, out of Latvia and into Estonia.
Tallinn old town is compact and full of historical buildings and a good portion of the city walls. I can thoroughly recommend the free walking tour and the prison tour both led by sardonic Estonians.

Tallin old town

City walls, Tallinn

2 nights in Tallinn before the short boat trip over to Helsinki.
Helsinki, much like Stockholm, comprises a number of islands including Seurasaari a fortified unesco world heritage site.

Seurasaari, Helsinki

The weather was pretty grey which didn't help my impression of the city and the next morning it was back on the train for the 3.5hr journey to St Petersburg. The Russian boarder officials were most efficient as we were stamped between stops.

3 days in St Petersburg was enough to see the main sights, take a sunset boat trip and visit the hermitage.

Lenin foreground, Railway station background, St Petersburg

Church of the spilled blood

Hermitage

sunset boat trip, St Petersburg

Rostral Column

Palace square

Inside the hermitage

St Isaac's Cathedral

This was also the starting point for my Trans-Mongolian trip, which started off badly with the hostel on the joining instructions having to direct us onto a different place. We met up with local Victor who took us on a walk of the sights & an excellent Ukrainian restaurant.
The group is the usual mix of Brits & Aussies with a couple of Kiwis & Yanks. 15 of us all the way to Beijing on the train.