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Ithikial's Holiday to Scandinavia and Russia

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing!

Never even knew there are trips organized in Australia to Scandinavia and the Baltic!
I hear a lot of people about the baffling natural beauty of the Norwegian coastline. But you say you like Switzerland (the Alps I presume) better?
 
Great pictures, @Ithikial . Looks like a great trip! Was Stockholm your only stop in Sweden or, asking since being a Swede. Did you stop in Narvik also on the way to North Cape? I visited a museum once in either Rovaniemi or UleĂĄborg in northern Finland where they had a 20mm Lahti AT-rifle.
 
Never even knew there are trips organized in Australia to Scandinavia and the Baltic!
I hear a lot of people about the baffling natural beauty of the Norwegian coastline. But you say you like Switzerland (the Alps I presume) better?
Not just Australians, targets pretty much generally any English speaking country. But most people on these trips are Aussies since we are huge travellers and it's cheaper to go overseas than a domestic holiday. (Yeah no joke). It's always been the case you can be sort of frowned upon if you've never traveled overseas here. Seen as a right of passage of sorts.

The village of "Hel" should have a sign that says "Abandon all hope, ye who enter."
Probably does... drinks were had later that night. :rolleyes:

Great pictures, @Ithikial . Looks like a great trip! Was Stockholm your only stop in Sweden or, asking since being a Swede. Did you stop in Narvik also on the way to North Cape? I visited a museum once in either Rovaniemi or UleĂĄborg in northern Finland where they had a 20mm Lahti AT-rifle.
It was just Stockholm unfortunately. And yes we briefly stopped off at Narvik for lunch but no one except me was interested. Finland was very rushed sadly as we raced south to get to Estonia over the course of 4 days.
 
If you are following along with this travel story I'm jumping ahead a bit again but recheck the opening post. ;)
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Russia Part 3 - Moscow

The obligatory pic with St Basil's.
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The main entry to Red Square. Sadly the square was half locked off due to the upcoming annual military tattoo.
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A certain Marshall of the Soviet Union.
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Entering and inside the Kremlin grounds itself. Came across a collection of captured cannons. Sadly the best bits of this part of the city had a no photo policy.
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Moscow Metro
It's only going down that you understand how deep these lines were dug.
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One of Stalin's station on the circle line. Built to show off Soviet design before and during WW2.
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The 'unused' third railway like at the metro station. The metro stop that was next to our hotel was one of the few places the old railway line connecting the Kremlin and Government buildings to the emergency fallout bunker was visible to the public. The bunker itself is actually below one of the old football stadiums.
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Even in the metro you can't escape WW2 monuments. This one was to the Partisans.
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Yeltsin's gravestone. (No goldfish in sight). Obviously no photo's of Lenin's tomb were allowed.
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The father of the Russian Airborne.
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Moscow's Modern CBD as well as some of the many weirdly designed apartment blocks.
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Moscow University
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Russia Part 4 - Velikiye Luki
Okay we all kept forgetting how to properly pronounce this place properly, so it became became known as "Licki Licki" on the tour bus.
It was only a nightly stopover on the way back to the Baltics and to quote our Russian tour guide, "There is nothing here." <Sigh>

You lot probably realise the small city marked the western edge of the Rzhev Campaign of 1941-43. We went through Rzhev on the day getting here. Gave the bus an impromptu history lesson to some on the bus as we went to visit the local Soviet war memorial. People were flabbergasted when they learned more men died along the road we travelled for most of the day than the US and Britain lost during the entire war.

It is actually quite a peaceful place there days compared to the hustle and bustle of Moscow or even Novogorod.
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The memorial. (Museum was closed).
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The old fortifications and trench system are somewhat preserved around this area as well to give an insight into how much the land was molded by a static frontline conflict for over two years.
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Latvia

Um... didn't get to be the traditional tourist for our stopover in Riga because of... well look at the video added to the opening post if you haven't already. :D
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It's amazing how different and dare I say cheerful it gets as soon as you cross the border out of Russia.

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And post flight steak and rib feast (for two) since we hadn't eaten for a good 18 hours to 'prep' for the flight.
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Skipping Lithuania... not a lot of FGM topic interest.

Poland
Warsaw. Definitely a long time wish to see the historical city. Finally!
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A city of memorials.
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Even today there are groups wanting Germany to pay repatriations for WW2. Given the language on these posters and where they were stuck up, likely going after the visitor's minds with this one seeking international support.
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Warsaw Uprising Museum
Newer museum but well worth it for anyone visiting the city. Very popular. Many of the pics I took were just of K98's etc. But there were a couple of different toys there...
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Polish Army Museum
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Armoured car created by the Polish Resistance in secret and used during the uprising. Now on display prominently at the entrance to the museum.

Quiz time: An M4 painted up as 1st Polish Armoured Division. What's wrong with it? :)
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Hetzer! (Or what's left of one. Destroyed by the German crew during the retreat).
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And finally something a bit more modern.
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And that's about it for the whole trip. It was back to Berlin the day after. Overall a great trip. :)
 
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