After walking around well past 2:00 AM, it was a lazy morning. There was complimentary tea and coffee at the hostel pantry. After getting ready we checked out of the room and left our bags at the front desk. The original plan was to try and visit the Peterhof Palace or the Catherine Palace at Pushkin. But the rain and overall weather were not encouraging and also we didn’t have all day. So we decided to skip that and spend more time at the places we had seen yesterday. We walked along Nevsky Avenue to the Kazan Cathedral and then along the Griboyedov Canal and the Italian Bridge to the Savior on the Spilled Blood.
We walked around the Mikhailovsky Garden right beside it which was looking spectacular bathed in yellow.
After that we headed back to the Palace Square to see the Winter Palace, the Alexander Column and the General Staff Building.
Then we shopped for some souvenirs and went to Pechki Lavochki on Nevsky Avenue for lunch. I wasn’t sure whether to order the small or medium pizza but eventually decided to go for the medium. It didn’t look very big but was quite heavy, and I couldn’t finish it, so I asked for a box and left the rest of it in the fridge at the hostel with a note on it that said “Free” hoping that someone would have it. We then picked up our bags from the front desk and took the Line 5 southbound from Admiralteyskaya to Obvodnyy kanal and reached St. Petersburg Coach Station. We had booked Lux Express from St. Petersburg to Helsinki at 3:00 PM. On boarding the bus the driver checked the ticket and the Schengen visa for entry into Finland.
We drove along the Neva River before crossing over and heading north. The bus was not crowded at all so all of us got 2 seats each. There was also free Wi-Fi and a machine for complimentary tea and coffee. The ride back was nice as we drove through the Russian countryside.
About halfway through the journey we reached the border crossing at Torfyanovka. We got down off the bus and completed the exit formalities on the Russian side and then stood in line at Vaalimaa for entry in Finland and Europe. The immigration officer asked me a few questions, more than I had been asked on entry at various airports in the Schengen region recently. This was probably because it was a land crossing and I was coming in from Russia. Back in Finland, it was already dark. Overall the ride back seemed to be much faster. We were back at Kamppi at around 9:00 PM and walked back to the hotel.
๐ฝ๏ธ Pechki Lavochki
๐ Admiralteyskaya to Obvodnyy kanal
๐ Lux Express to Helsinki