Stockholm - Helsinki - Moscow - St Petersburg - Riga - Stockholm

We had a one-day stop in Helsinki, real quick but honestly, quite sufficient. The highlight was going to naval fortress, Suomenlinna. The rest of city was pretty small, but rather interesting.

Our boat - the Gabriella!

Where we got off at the habour

Captain Haddock day??

Nej! It was May Day! :) A good excuse for a big party.

At the Market Square where a carnival was going on.

Fun with dog-doo! heh

L: For reasons I did not know, people dressed up in real weird racing-like costumes

R: The streets were littered with confetti! 

The palace - where something was going on, but we couldn't see what as we were too short to peer inside! :(

On the boat on the way to Suomenlinna

A nice couple picture! :)

All of us 'cept for Jiamin got off the boat - he felt like bumming around, so decided not to join us for our day chiong-ing around Helsinki! 

View from the boat. 

(people actually live on that small island??)

Suomenlinna

Otherwise known as Castle of Finland - a sea fortress

It was this naval fortress that helped Finland develop its major city status in the 16th century period.

L2R: Carol, Ansen, Yocksong & David

Suomenlinna Church

Suomenlinna Church was built during the Russian regime, by order of Czar Nikolay I, to function as a military church in 1854. Its church bell is the largest in Finland - cast in Moscow in 1855 weighing 6,683kg! The following text, in Slavic and inspired by the Psalms, is cast on the church bell of Suomenlinna:

"Praise the Lord upon the loud cymbals.

Shew forth His salvation from day to day.

Give unto the Lord glory and strength.

Fear before Him, all the earth.

Let the sea roar and the fullness thereof.

All the earth shall worship Him."

Too bad we didn't get to go to the bell tower because of the construction.

How it looked like then - with 5 onion domes

How it looks like now

The interior is really modern and stylish!

Many picturesques views of the fortress 

Cannon and the mounds

HUGE anchor-ring.

David & I being touristy

I was sooo freaked out on climbing the cannon! It IS actually really way above the ground okay.

Haha I really like this shot.

AHOY!

Afterwards I went back to the boat to see what Jiamin was up to while the rest headed to the stadium (that held the 1952 olympics). After dragging his bum outta the bunk bed, we walked around the city area with our bags for a short while before heading off to the train station to meet the rest of the group.

Uspenskin Katedraali (Upenski Cathedral)

Eastern Orthodox cathedral in Helsinki

with people picnic-ing at the base!

Helsingin Tuomiokirkko (Helsinki Cathedral) in the distance.

Built, in neoclassical style, in tribute to Grand Duke Nicholas I, Tsar of Russia.

A little peek into the inside - while a choir was singing during service.

On the steps outside of Helsinki Cathedral.

I was pretty curious as to why Helsinki had so many connections with Russia, regarding their architecture and history. Whilst reading up found out that Russia had defeated Sweden whilst Finland was part of Sweden in the 1800s. And in order to reduce Swedish influence in Finland, Tsar Alexander I moved the capital from Turku to Helsinki, and the city was rebuilt in neoclassical style to resemble St Petersburg. It was really awesome to take in so much of their rich and long history, and make the connections to the other places we were headed off to :)

Goodbye Helsinki!

Hello Russia! :)

i had the most interesting conversation with ben...

deb: www.degghead.blogspot.com 
hey ben, how have u been

12:47

Benjamin 
I am currently idle.

Hiatus

I'll be back to do some hardcore blogging...after my paper tomorrow!

Stay tuned.

And here's what's been keeping me busy.

Stockholm -[cruise]- Helsinki - Moscow - St Petersburg - Riga - Stockholm

View of Stockholm from Gabriella

A little while afterwards, still in the archipelago.

Yocksong randomly waving to someone on shore!

After deciding we had enough of the cold on the deck, we decided to explore the ship!

It's a real party boat, with lots of booze and places to party. Although the disco floor had only 3 people at night...but it was entertaining, to see them flailing their arms while trying to keep upright :p (not because of the boat, but because they were intoxicated :p)

An elderly couple dancing away to the live music in the lounge...awww.

Karoke - Finnish style!

Hea hea hea!

Lots of tax-free alcohol.

Our highlight of the boat - dinner buffet!

They had at least 8 different kinds of herring! Been wanting to try that...heard it's the fish of the scandinavian area. Well, turns out - it's really too rich for my palette :/

Finland is one hour behind

First sight of Helsinki, Finland!

30 April - Stockholm, Sweden

My journey:

Stockholm - Helsinki - Moscow - St Petersburg - Riga - Stockholm

I'm just gonna start blogging about the most recent trip I took - RUSSIA! :D

Never in my life did I think I would be able to see Russia...the 'closest' I've every gotten to it was through my godbro's cousin - celyn, who studies there. I remember when she first told me she was going to Russia to study...my first thought was the harsh winter cold, trans-siberian railway and Anastasia. And of course, my secondary school history lessons. Although Russia was the highlight, the other cities we (literally) sailed through were pretty sights too.

This was a kinda-school trip arranged by an external organization, open to students from all Scandinavian schools. So naturally, us exchange students (with our priorities all mixed up :p) took the opportunity to travel!! It was over 30 students in our group in all.

King and Queen of Sweden

Shopping street in Stockholm

Sweden - land of the moose

(having the highest density of moose in the world!)

Bridge leading to the Old Town; Gamla Stan

We stumbled upon a group of soldiers preparing their way up to the castle. We merely followed the crowd to see what was going on...

A whole of lot of people!! But we were still left wondering what was going on...

Until much later we realised that we were expecting the king! :D

Soldiers all lined up outside the entrance in anticipation.

The military band that was performing was fantastic! They sang too...and really well :) 

For more of their talent...ABBA Medley!

A little girl waving her Swedish flag

Different colour/unit

King Carl XVI Gustav!

After all that excitement, we met up with the rest of the Singaporeans and Taiwanese to walk around Gamla Stan before boarding the cruise ship to Helsinki.

The narrow, pretty streets of Sweden's Old Town.

The guys busy finding their way around while Carol and I were slacking and clowning around.

Ahh...alfresco dining in the warm weather :)

Inside Storkrykan, the Cathedral of Stockholm, 

where all the royal coronations and weddings took place.

Also where we saw St George and the Dragon statue (it didn't quite turn out well in my picture), a statue known its age and symbol. It's made out of oak and elk horn in the 15th century, and many believe that it represents Sweden's need to struggle against evil. 

View of Stockholm

Public buses with Swedish flags attached to the front.

Our stay for the night! - Gabriella