“The Bear”, Sat 4 Jul

One of the reasons we came to Lappeenranta was a chance to visit Russia. Marji-Liisa was telling us that we could take a cruise down the Saimaa Canal from Lake Saimaa at Lappeenranta to Выборг (Vyborg), Russia. After her offer, I read the official US State Department website about travel to Russia and about fainted. We then consulted our published-in-April-2009 tour guide of Finland and did faint. Both talked about required visas, lengthy detentions if you try to enter the country without one, yadda, yadda, yadda. The Finns, however, were adamant that the rules had changed and visas were no longer required. We would be fine. So, at 7:10 in the morning we found ourselves in the queue for the boat. They asked if there were any foreigners and we were the only 3 to raise our hands. They checked our names against the photocopies of our passports we had sent a week ago, got stamped by the customs agent, and boarded the Carelia, along with about 150 Finns. Soon we were on the way for our 5 hour, 43 km trip. We passed through 8 locks, dropping about 80 meters in elevation along the way. About half way, we passed into Russia with thoughts about visas and detentions and gulags running through my head.

We pulled into Выборг and could see Marji-Liisa and Eero waiting for us outside the customs area. They had traveled by bus instead. It took us nearly 30 minutes to get off the boat and through passport control. We discovered the 2 women customs agents were three times as fast as the man… too bad we were in the man’s line. Out the door we went, with just 2 hours available to see the sights. We headed toward the city center. Before World War II, Vyborg was the Finnish city Viipurin, the name the Finnish still use. It has some of the best surviving Finnish architecture, mostly because the Russians have never spent any money updating the structures, which are looking very tired. Most of the buildings we saw in Vyborg looked old and deteriorating. Our first stop was a three-story, round, fortress-like structure. This building looked very good, considering it was 700 years old. We went to the restaurant on the top floor and Eero surprised us with a bottle Champaign to celebrate the Fourth of July. Then to the main market. Oh my. People were selling candy, cigarettes, herbs, fresh fish, fresh meat, clothing, crystal, what were probably boot-legged CDs and DVDs, linens, clothing, and assorted stuff. The butchers were pretty interesting. They had large logs on end. The top had a piece of cardboard on top. Put the meat on the cardboard. Whack the meat with a large knife. I guess at the end of the day you toss that piece of cardboard and get a new one for the next day (at least that’s what I hope they do).

We visited Lenin’s statue, walked past the Lutheran church, and then back to the boat. The Juntunen’s road the boat back with us. We took the early dinner in the restaurant, and spent most of the rest of the trip on the aft deck, trying to stay out of the rain. The photo is a relieved Dumroese family having just crossed back into Finland. The boatload of Finns had spent most of the trip to Vyborg drinking, and picked up where they left off on the way home. They had a guy with a guitar and microphone and proceeded to have a good old fashion sing-along. He was assisted by very drunk women in a sort of karaoke-like style. A few folks were dancing as well. We pulled back into Lappeenranta about 21:45. A long, good, fascinating day.

Bird of the day: Common Sandpiper.