Travelling to St Petersburg

The journey actually started the night before when we made sure that the train station we arrived at from the airport was the one we would use on May 1st to travel to Russia.
We found the VR office and I promptly upset all the workers by not taking a number. When my number was called, 30 seconds later, I asked the clerk if we were in the proper area for tomorrow's trip which would arrive in St Petersburg around 2:30 pm. I was succinctly advised that this was the station and the train would arrive at the destination at 2:27 pm!! So in a matter of moments I had committed several errors in Russian procedure.

However it would improve from then on. May Day, dawned bright and sunny. We used an Uber to get to the train station and off we went, right on time!

The train was comfortable and hit speeds of 205 kilometers during our trip. We sat opposite 4 American veterans who were trying to visit most of the Cold War sites in Europe and seemed to be enjoying their stays in hostels along the way.

We knew that we were close to the Russian border when two uniformed Finnish men came through the train inspecting passports. We knew that we were in Russia when eight uniformed people came through looking at passports and visa paperwork very closely and very slowing. We were relieved when all our documentation was in order and we had gained entry to Russia.