First thing in the morning we left Helsinki Finland to reach our next destination, St.Petersburg. On the way we stopped off on the border town of Vyborg. Vyborg is a town in Leningrad Oblast. Stopping off at a local market we began to get the feel of Russian life. Outside of the market there was a begging woman. Had to be at least 40+ in age. She was carrying around a baby and her little 6 year old daughter followed her around. She would go up to everyone in the tour and even walk up to the tour bus, to find the doors closed in her face. She would put her hand out to motion that she wanted something from you and your best reply would be "Nyet" which means no in Russian. Questions filled your mind, Why would this woman be having these kids if she couldn't afford them? Was she really poor or was this just an everyday kind of job in Russia, Begging the people of the town for a few short rubles to get throughout the day.
After getting nearly harassed by this lady and her 2 children we made our way inside the market place. As you walk in you feel the hot breeze from the inside. The weather was very humid on the outside, I didn't actually expect it to be hotter inside. Due to being spoiled of air condition's and fans back in the U.S. Going thru row by row seeing all the things the market had to offer. A liquor shop selling vodka for only 6 dollars American money, Antiques and different kinds of figures, And of course the food. The big line down the middle consisted of fresh meat, seafood, vegetables, fruits, You name it they had it. Not exactly saying it would be the best place to grab some food to cook at home with but for the little town of Vyborg it did big justice, except for the begging woman outside.
Leaving the market empty handed. We had a 10 minute warning before having to get back on the bus. That drove me to make my way a little more into the town just before I would have to depart. Seeing the different buildings I was not impressed with the architecture. Most likely because this town was a very old country town. Not something like a big city. There was a big park in the middle and there were many locals strolling along and enjoying the sunny day. We stopped off at a book store and it was funny seeing all the books in Russian Cyrillic writing. Maybe one day I will learn how to read and write it. But for now looking at it is like looking at a 10,000 piece puzzle. After the short journey I got back on the bus and we made our way to our next stop. St. Petersburg.
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