Taking the shopping boat from Helsinki to St Petersburg sounded like such a great idea. A day trip to Russia with no passport, visa, or itinerary needed, just show up at six am and board the boat. All we had to do was be back at the dock at 8:00pm to catch the boat back, simple., or so it seemed. After wandering through the city for a few hours , beautiful churches and museums, we found ourselves three or four miles from the docks. And it was only five pm when we found a nice little restaurant to have a quick bite before we headed back to the boat. It started out great, the waiter spoke English, and his grandparents owed the restaurant, his mother was the cook, and his sister helped out with the service. When they found out we were Americans it turned into a family gathering. Cousins and further relations were called as our party grew larger and larger. When after some time of reveling and drinking had occurred someone went to the kitchen and came back with a bottle of gold flaked vodka. We didn’t know that this became something special, as they only drink the gold flaked vodka at family occasions, and now we were part of the family. Both of us being quite drunk and happy we never noticed the time so when I looked at my watch, low and behold it was after 8:00 and even a little after 9:00. Oh my God we missed the boat. More to come in my next blog Bill Tait