Onwards into Russia today. We left Helsinki in the early afternoon and flew the 184 miles to St. Petersburg in completely perfect flying weather.





Overtaken on the inside by a car with a bath on the roof. "The driving is a bit Dodge City" as Mark commented in the car today, the fact that there are practically no road markings on highways that are sometimes 6 lanes wide means that it's a bit of a free for all. Our normal team of drivers didn't make it into Russia so we used local cars to and from airports who were asked to drive slowly.



The New Ice arena is the same venue we played last time.



The show itself was great and the most noticeable thing about the audience was the average age must have been about 17, 90% guys and all playing air guitar and mouthing the lyrics with a clear Russian slant. Quite reminiscent of an 80's DS crowd. With the early shows here we are out of the gig and at the airport before it gets dark. The VIP Terminal at St. Petersburg is where we spent some time waiting for passport examination both on arrival and on our return after-show en-route to Moscow. That's the plane out there...they still have to send a bus though.



Leaving St. Petersburg for Moscow.



We arrive in Moscow and the GA terminal is almost unrecognizable, with all new access roads and new buildings. One thing I have noticed today is in the 3 years since our last visit, Russia has grown immeasurably with new airport terminals, roads and more cars of foreign origin. It seems to be much busier. The crew have a 12 hour + drive after-show to Moscow, I only hope their roads have improved too.