Living the Dream My travel journal to help keep friends and family up to date with where I am in the world.

Just arrived in Moscow this evening after a bumpy bus ride from St Petersburg. St Petersburg was an amazing city with many different coloured buildings and more Palaces than I have had cooked dinners. The Winter Palace in St Petersburg is absolutely stunning from the outside and just as amazing on the inside. Like Stockholm, it's a city built on many islands, both natural and man-made. It is connected by many bridges that go up between the hours of 1am and 5am so the big ships can sail through. I would put St Petersburg up there with the big cities of the world that you should definately visit in your life-time. We had the most knowledgable guide who told us over the course of three days about the history of St Peterburg and Russia and the Tsars. We saw a folk dancing/singing show which was really great and even went to the ballet to watch Swan Lake! (unlike most of the guys on tour I did stay to the end and didn't fall asleep but it took some effort). Have already been to the Red Square and have some interesting things to see in the next couple of days in Moscow. Overall Russia is different. Hard to explain but you must see it for yourself and not to mention the most beautiful girls in the world!

Helsinki was a small port city where we didn't get much time to look around but had a great night out.

So many stories to tell but not enough time to sit at a computer right now. I'll have to try and recount them once this tour is over.