Cruising from St. Petersburg (Russia) to Moscow

Early in the morning on Thursday, August 4.our group of 13 couples plus me entered the new fast train "Allegro" from Helsinki to St. Petersburg. After 3,5 hours we stepped out at Finland station into beautiful sunshine. We then had a bus sightseeing tour in this very attractive old capital of Russia. Definitely this city, which was built just over 300 years ago by zar Peter the Great, is one of the most beautiful cities in the
world. After the bus tour we had a couple of hours to enjoy the life in surroundings of the famous main street " Newski Prospekt" before boarding our luxory cruiser 5-star m/s "Volga Dream".
I'll have to discontinue untill tomorrow.

Visiting Savonlinna Opera Festival

On July 12. my longtime friend and godfather of my younger son Tomas, Mr.Peter Gloystein arrived from Duesseldorf , Germany to Helsinki. He had been a year earlier my
host at Bayreuth Wagner festival, so it was my turn to invite him to Savonlinna. This small east Finnish town hosts nowadays annually a famous opera festival since 1912 for two weeks time in a beautiful medieval fortress. We enjoyed the operas "Tosca" of Puccini and "Don Giovanni" of Mozart, which performances we both liked very much.
During the day between operas we sailed on fantastic lake Saimaa with a more than 100 years old steamer having a most wonderful Finnish Summer weather and some nice drinks.