A small slice of Russia summer house (dacha) heaven outside of Petrozavodsk. This is what pure bliss is to a Russian )

Jenia’s hometown of Petrozavodsk has a gorgeous embankment. Here we are taking a walk among all the marriage ceremonies. The short Karelian summer of mid June to mid August is the most popular time to get married (for obvious reasons).

We visited one of holy islands in Russia – Valaam. Gorgeous and quite serene.

This video was shot around 3 am, way past 4 pm. Kind of funny because we were convinced you would be able to see the effect of white nights, eke the time of year it doesn’t get dark in Jenia’s hometown. Not quite so on this video — but it really is true. I guess…

Active lifestyle in Moscow — bike lanes, rollerblades, and even skaterboards, are totally the new “in thing” in the Russian megapolis.

Sergey narrates night time adventures in Moscow.

Meeting up with a Hungarian friend, Mr Peter – whom we met while in Myanmar – in Moscow.

A nice view there, eh? Sergey’s aunt and uncle flat in Moscow.

Back to the motherland for us — we flew via St Petersburg and got to spend a couple of exciting hours exploring the city with our new friend that we met in Georgia, actually. Here we are (sans the friend at that point) on the tram.