Wham... bam... pow! Krakow!

Holding true to my desire to "be out of the country" on my birthday, Tom and I took a trip to Poland. We flew the Hungarian budget airline Wizz Air to Katowice (1 & 1/2 hour flight) and took a shuttle (1 &1/2 hour drive) to Krakow. We loved Krakow. We stayed near Stare Miasto, which I now know is more than just a delicious beer. Here are the visual highlights of our trip.

Anime eyes!

I know. It's creepy.

Enjoying Hell

Saint Petersberg, Russia

Tom and I met our friend, Joe, in Saint Petersberg over a long weekend. I returned to Kyiv on a Monday, and the boys went on to Moscow. Then, we all met up in Kyiv again for a couple of nights before Joe flew to Germany, and then back to Colorado. Here are some pictures of our adventures in Russia!

This is the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, (or the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, it's official name). It was built on the site where Tsar Alexander II was killed and was dedicated to his memory. We rented an apartment right up the street, which overlooked the canal that runs by the church.  

 Inside the church, the walls are covered with mosaics. There are no paintings here, only tiny tiles!

 The spot where the Tsar was murdered. The cobblestone from the road shows through the floor here.

 Joe and I sitting on a bench at SS Peter and Paul Fortress, which was founded by Peter the Great in 1703.

 Mobile toilet in the Fortress. They don't mess around!

 Joe, behind bars with a guard.... Right where he belongs!

 Fist bump!

 The line was out the door at Burger King!

 The boys on the metro escalator.

 Tom found this book in the English section of a book store. A very, very strange translation.... "It is an enjoyable comic romp through a retarded part of a backward country, a picturesque series of grotesque portraits, situations and conversations described with Gogolian humor based mainly on hyperbole." Whoa!

 The Hermitage.

 Canal tour of Saint Petersberg with the boys!

Bread.

Helsinki, Finland!

Tom and I rode across the Baltic Sea on this "ferry." It was more like a cruise ship, as Tom rightly pointed out. I mean, a basic cruise ship, but a cruise ship none the less. We hadn't expected to be sitting in a lounge, making the two-hour trip from Tallinn to Helsinki. It was great! Also, since both countries are a part of the Schengen Agreement, we didn't have to show our passports when entering Finland. That threw us for a loop a bit.
  

The evenings were so light there. It was 9:15 at night and this was the color of the sky in Helsinki.

 The Radisson Blu provided us a vitamin shot as a part of our morning fare. What a nice way to get your day started, even if it was just a sugary fruit drink.

 Thanks to Misha's research, we caught a round-one game of the World Hockey Championships. USA versus Sweden. USA killed it -- 5 to 3.

USA! USA! USA!

A very particular kind of dog was not welcome here.

Tom wanted to check out an old military fortress on Suomenlinna, an island near Helsinki. People live on the island today, but it's also a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was founded in 1748 when Finland was a part of the Kingdom of Sweden, and had been under Russian rule for a while as well.
 

Helsinki has Ben & Jerry's!

 This is the Kamppi Chapel. It's in the heart of Helsinki and is a "place where people can have a moment of silence and meet each other." It is made of wood and won the International Architecture Award in 2010 by the Chicado Athenaeum. It is very serene inside.

The main Helsinki train station.