GULF OF FINLAND

A Cold Day Trip!

It was about an hour on a very, very slow train to reach the Gulf of Finland. I was desperate for the loo but it was locked. I was assured by Mike that this was probably a good thing as the the loos on the Russian trains consist of a very nasty hole in the floor where people seem to have trouble hitting the target. I preferred to be uncomfortable until arriving at a cafe at our destination.

It always surprises me that in a cold, fairly miserable climate that the owners of many cafes would choose to paint and decorate their entire premises in a rather dull shade of blue with matching nets and drapes. The plastic flowers in a jam jar and a more than once used blue tablecloth complete the picture. It took some imagination to see that this place was the venue where all the local people congregate for celebrations of all types. No wonder they like vodka so much.

It was a short walk to the sea from the train station and I was delighted to pass the beautiful green dacha, seen in the above picture, which, as you can see, I enjoyed painting! I suppose all of the houses by the seaside used to look like this but nowadays they have been replaced with very modern abodes, owned only by the seriously rich.

We were amazed to see that the sea was completely frozen and that the weekenders enjoy skating and skiing out for miles on the ice landscape. It looks worrying but I presume they know what they are doing. Although it was reported that somebody disappeared in the Gulf last weekend. He was on some sort of snowmobile and just went through the ice. Well.......

There were hundreds of figures to be seen such a long way from the shore line that they looked like tiny dots until they would ski towards us.

It was a strangely beautiful place and very quiet.