My trip to Helsinki in pictures

1. Salmon farm, 2. Breakfast @ salmon farm, 3. Kaisaniemenlahti, 4. Helsinki from the Torni hotel, 5. Helsinki from the Torni hotel, 6. Having a fantastic view on Helsinki while taking a sh**, 7. The dark side of Helsinki, 8. The Uspenski Cathedral, 9. Helsinki cathedral, 10. The Uspenski Cathedral, 11. Inside the Uspenski Cathedral, 12. The Johanneksenpuisto Kirkko, 13. Inside the Johanneksenpuisto Kirkko, 14. Inside the Johanneksenpuisto Kirkko, 15. Savoy bar, 16. Helsinki cathedral by night, 17. Helsinki through a trash bin, 18. The Uspenski Cathedral by night, 19. Finnish street art, 20. In Kaivopuisto - view on Harakka, 21. In Kaivopuisto, 22. In Kaivopuisto, 23. Helsinki through a trash bin, 24. Fantastic Finnish anti-smoking advertising, 25. Shopping in Helsinki

My girlfriend in Pieter

Last week I spend a romantic week in Pieter with my girlfriend... we did plenty of stuff I have not done before! Highlights were:

• Concert at the Yussupow Palace: the palace orchestra played and danced in the various rooms of the palace... it was just great and I had my second tour through the palace (again in Russian...)
• Madame Butterfly @ the Mariinsky: opera performance with a simple but very impressive set.
• like 5 times Indian food at the two only Indian restaurants in Pieter: Tandoor and Tandoori Nights. Located next to each other and like 300m from my home... we just could not get enough ot their great choice of food.
• Romantic DVD evenings... you can get DVD's for like 2 EUR in Saint-Petersburg! The challenge is to pick the ones that really are in English.

Big kisses to my lady...

First snow in Pieter

I was preparing my statistics exam (yeah I know the same shit again...) as Nico, my flatmate came home and convinced me to go out and see the first snow:

It was breathtaking: we were all alone on the square in front of the Hermitage and it snowed like hell! Now I need to get proper winter clothes :-). We wanted to celebrate this event the Russian way: Vodka and Blini with red caviar. Problem: no caviar, no blini and even no vodka as Mr. Putin established a new law that prohibits shops to sell hard stuff from 11pm to 6am... in Russia, can you believe that?