Airport in Moscow.
The dual carriageway to the airport ends in front of the terminal.
View from my apartment in Rovinj.
Nice, but I prefer the one upstairs that I had last year.
Month: June 2017
Day 10 – Moscow
Entrance to Lenin’s Tomb. (One hour wait, 20 seconds walking past him.)
Ministry of Defence.
Moscow nightclubs.
Olympic Stadium
Russian academy of Sciences.
Yesterday, the queue for the Cathedral (small dome on the right) started by the blue porta-loos). Today it started from just after the bridge.
Hovercrafts.
I can”t believe how mad this statue is.
The cathedral they are queueing for.
Kremlin.
Kotelnicheskaya Embankment building.
British ambassadors residence.
The queue.
I don’t think that they should be up there.
The London themed end of the shopping centre.
Museum of Soviet Arcade machines.
One last look at Red Square.
Station by the hotel. (The extra line was for extra trains during the Olympics.)
Day 9 – Moscow
Red Square.
Vodootvodny Canal.
Children Are the Victims of Adult Vices – sculpture.
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The question for this goes on for about a mile.
Kremlin, St. Basils and the spot where the leader of the opposition was shot.
The golden constructions on top are meant to be solar collectors.
Druzhba Multipurpose Arena.
Olympic stadium.
Kiev station.
Royal hotel Moscow.
White House – Russian Parliament in the 1990’s
Roof in the Central children’s store.
Crib designed to look like a boat.
Lenin’s Rolls Royce.
Day 8 – Moscow
I’ve no idea why the road was closed and a convoy of street cleaners was trundling along.
A look around Izmailovsky Market (next to the hotel).
I had to change hotels (same building). My new hotel room (room 911).
View from the room.
Museum of Cosmonautics
At this point I was caught using a camera without a permit. But cameras on mobile phones are allowed (and better quality).
The dogs that survived, were stuffed.
Inside Sputnik.
Model of Laika’s capsule.
I’ve got a camera like that.
Inside a Soyuz capsule.
Day 7 – Moscow
Looking at the Metro stations.
First – Komsomolskaya.
Novoslobodskaya
Belorusskaya
Kurskaya
Outside the secret Nuclear bunker.
65 meters down (I took the stairs).
Behind the door is the metro station.
The Kremlin and Moskva river.
The British ambassadors residence. (Other side of the river to the Kremlin.)
Christ the Saviour.
Monument to Peter the Great. Only 20 years old and 98 meters tall. (Rumoured to be Columbus originally, but the Americans didn’t want it.)
Muzeon Sculpture Gardens.
Gorky Park.
Model of a proposed lighthouse.
Bridge over the river linking Gorky park with a park on the other side of the river.
Dancing in the park.
One for the ladies.
Aleksandrovsky Sad.
What do you mean you have no bread.
I once caught a fish that was this big.
Tomb of the unknown soldier.
Restaurant outside the hotel.
Strange place next to the hotel. It’s called Izmailovsky Market, and has souvenir stalls, a flea market and what looks like a film backlot. (More photo’s of it tomorrow.)
After a week I need to do my laundry.
And find out what this beer tastes like.
Day 6 – Moscow
First view of Moscow.
The station.
Hotel lobby.
My room.
With a view from the 12th floor.
The hotel (one of four) was built to house athletes during the 1980 Olympics.
Going underground.
The Bolshoi Theatre.
Russian Parliament.
State Historical Museum.
First view of (dark) Red Square.
St. Basils and the Kremlin wall.
I was there.
Lenin’s tomb.
Other side of Red Square is the GUM department store.
Moskva river.
Place where Boris Nemtsov (leader of the opposition) was assassinated. (Equivalent to a shooting on Westminster Bridge just before Big Ben.)
Inside GUM department store.
FSB (KGB).
Next year – the world cup.
GUM is a very big department store.
Going into the Kremlin.
State Kremlin Palace.
Trinity tower.
Saviour Gate Tower.
Putin’s office.
Tsar bell.
On the Metro.
Moscow State University.
Olympic Stadium.
Moscow by Night.
Novodevichy Convent.
Red square was closed.
Day 5 – St. Petersburg
2:29 am. Almost sunrise.
Fontanka River
Peterhof
On flag duty.
The Grand Cascade.
Completely restored after the second world war, to show the people how decadent the Tsars were.
Russia vs Sweden.
Trick benches.
Formally used to house monkeys.
Gulf of Finland.
Looking up the Marine Canal. Formally used to take boats up to the palace.
Trip back to St. Petersburg on a hydrofoil.
St. Isaac’s Cathedral.
The Hermitage.
St. Isaac’s Cathedral.
Astoria Hotel. (Hitler was going to celebrate his capture of Leningrad there.)
Church on Spilled Blood. (Marks the place where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated.)
The images represent Jesus at various ages.
Jesus as an alien?
The spot where the assassination took place.
You can just see the cobble stones.
Kanal Griboedova.
Boat trip.
Our hotel.
City Hall.
Under St. Isaac’s Square.
At the railway station.
Our train.
Our room for the night.
Day 4 – St. Petersburg
Theatre (left turquoise building), The Hermitage (beige) and the Pavilion hall (right turquoise building).
Continuing along. The Winter Palace.
Rostral Columns (used for navigation).
Winter palace and a hydrofoil.
The Mint.
Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul.
Inside.
Tomb of Nicholas II, the last Tsar.
The Alexander column in Palace square.
The winter palace.
General staff building at the other side of Palace square.
Inside the winter palace.
Small Throne room.
1812 gallery.
Throne room.
Peacock clock.
Large vase.
Day 3 – St. Petersburg
One last look out of my Helsinki apartment.
Next stop St. Petersburg
On the Allegro.
Heading out of Helsinki.
The land between Helsinki and St. Petersburg is pretty much what you’d expect.
Crossing the border.
Vyborg.
My room in St. Petersburg.
With a view of the Fontana.
Bridge over the Fontana.
Neva River
Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul.
Football fan zone.
Church on Spilled Blood.
Singer House on Nevskiy Prospekt.
The Duma Tower
Passazh Arcade
Yeliseev’s.
Day 2 – Helsinki
My first bike of the day. 
Setting of on the boat trip from the market square.
In the background, the Helsinki City hall, Swedish Embassy, supreme court and the Presidents office (yellow building).
Ravintola NJK restaurant, on an island.
Someone has a seaplane. (I want to more one outside my house.)
Another seaplane.
Artificial beach.
Kulosaaren Casino (left) and the hotel behind.
Helsinki zoo.
Icebreakers right ahead.
The Finnish icebreaker fleet.
The ferry from Stockholm.
Probably best not to go on the ferris wheel when a cruise ship is moored next to it.
Old dock buildings.
Icebreaker.
The Finnish navy.
Fish (salmon) and chips. To make up for the reindeer burger and reindeer hot dog I had last night.
Eläintarha Athletic Field, in the Olympic park.
Helsinki Ice Hall, with a Pringle shaped roof.
The Olympic stadium is been restored.
Will the London Olympic park look like this in 60 years time?
Toolonlahti.
Baana bike highway.
Stairs in my apartment block.
tim sewell 