It is 10.30pm on our second day in St Petersburg. We have just got back to our hotel after dinner, the sun is dimming, it is about 23degrees, and we have had a busy day sight seeing.

Steven was in awe to visit the St Peters cathedral and see the tombs of the tsars through the ages. The cathedral was elaborately painted inside with immense chandeliers.

Ian enjoyed his beef stroganoff, which was developed by Mr Stroganoff in this city. The ice cream and fresh berries was nice too!

Raewyn enjoyed visiting St Isaacs cathedral which has 3rd largest dome in Europe and an impressive amount of gold statues. It was built with 18 different granites.

We had a boat cruise around the canals, in the city they call the Venice of the north. It gave a different perspective of the city and places we had visited.

We will visit the Hermitage museum tomorrow, where Steven wants to see the gold room. And then we head back to Helsinki on the train on Wednesday.

The roads are full of insane drivers, which makes crossing roads interesting. It is best to follow the locals at the crossings.

The train from Helsinki was the Allegro, which is a ne fast train on a purpose built track. It has only been running since November, and it travels at up to 220 km/hour.