St Petersberg to the Baltics

This will be another one of those I-promise-to-give-a-proper-update-later posts, as my time is limited and this computer is so slow it is infuriating.

After Moscow I took a night train to St Petersberg. I didn't get much sleep, as I was in the middle of a carriage with a year 10 school excursion. It was quite amusing as I was on the aisle and could watch the teacher walk up and down the carriage checking on the kids. They were all drinking beer on the sly and hiding it when the teacher came past.
St Petersberg is a fantastic city. Canals and gilded church domes are set amongst beautiful 18th century buildings. There are so many amazing things in St Petersberg that I would love to write about now, however this computer is so slow I can't open or edit any of my photos.

I arrived in Latvia 3 days ago, and have spent my time walking around the world heritage listed city of Riga. Medieval cobbled streets and old buildings topped with spires and castellation make this the city feel the oldest of all I have been in. The city recently celebrated its 800th anniversary, so this feeling does have some basis.

Today I went to a shooting range in an old soviet bunker. I shot a Glock 9mm, an AK-47 and a pump action shotgun. Firing the Glock was interesting, it was so small a thing for the noise and recoil it made. This of course was nothing compared to the noise and recoil of the AK. I was firing it in single shot mode, as if it had been on a burst there is no way I would have got anywhere near the target, as it kicked a good 5 degrees up with the recoil. My first shot was quite a shock, it does indeed sound like something has exploded next to your head (for good reason). There must be some serious OH&S issues for guerrilla fighters, as they would go deaf pretty damn fast. I was wearing hearing protection and it was still damn loud.
The shotgun was probably the most fun to fire, and half of that was the pumping action. It was also very loud, but had more of a booming sound and less of the crack of the AK.

Tomorrow I am heading out of leaving Riga, Latvia and heading to Vilnius, Lithuania.

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