The border was pretty straightforward - for a Russian border.

Leaving Estonia and thereby the European Union was easy. The border follows the Narva River and you cross it via this bridge (Russia being on the right bank):


(Image source: Wiki Commons)

On the other side of the bridge, there was a closed barrier - a шлагбаум ('shlagbaum') in Russian, though it's an exact copy of the German word Schlagbaum.

The barrier was closed and so we waited on the bridge for a while. Behind us was a serious looking guy. Suit, shades and the typical Slavic serious face. For the whole 20 minutes he waited behind us he let the engine run. When he finished reading his newspaper he got out, shouted a few words at the guards and they began letting people through.

That was the first "Only in Russia" moment of many to come.

After the usual bureaucratic forms, tactical wait times and fetching stamps here and there we entered Russia on our three months visa.



First, we wanted to take a look at the old Krasnaya Gorka fort, a coastal artillery fortress 70km west of St. Petersburg. It was used to defend Petrograd during Russian Civil War and Leningrad during WW2, which is now known as St. Petersburg.

The most important piece of machinery is this huge railroad gun.



Of course we had to climb it!













View of the Gulf of Finland





Somewhere in the woods we found a small hut with an old Stalin (?) bust. The cats liked him, especially as their place of urination.