Living in Saint Petersburg Now

Unfortunately I didn't get the chance, but they are practically next door and there are train stops at most of them. Those that you can't get to by train I'm sure you could hike to or pay a marshrutka to take you to. I'm definitely gonna go back to the Isthmus and try to visit some of them once I know where the specific spots are. Do you have any specific places in mind for that area? I'll try and get to them one of these free weekends for sure.

 

See my post nr. 21 in this thread - for example.

Also the Äyräpää/Vuosalmi area was the venue for heavy fighting in both the Winter (1940) and Continuation (1944) Wars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vuosalmi
http://karel-val.narod.ru/battlefield/vuosalmi.htm

You might also want to see the film "Winter War" - or YouTube-clips of it, which tells about the battles of Taipale and Äyräpää/Vuosalmi in that war.

See the maps for the battle areas:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War

One of the crucial locations at the Mannerheim line in 1939-40:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Summa

 

Will definitely try and get to Summa as that is very close. I'll also try and visit Sortavala as well, I just remembered!

 

Although bombed by the soviets in the Winter War the center of Sortavala still has quite a lot of the original Finnish buildings - but maybe not always in their best condition.

http://alanier.at/Sortavala.html
http://heninen.net/sortavala/historia/english.htm
http://heninen.net/sortavala/arkkitehti_e.htm

Also the famous orthodox monastery island(s) of Valamo/Valaam are nearby. The ferries there leave from Sortavala.

https://www.google.fi/search?q=valamo&client=firefox-a&hs=sPr&rls=org.mozilla:fifficial&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=l7lBUo3DB-PJ4ASDx4DYDw&ved=0CGcQsAQ&biw=1680&bih=943&dpr=1

To avoid confusion please note, that there's also the "New Valamo" monastery in Heinävesi, Finland, where the monks of the original Valamo in 1939 escaped and founded the new monastery.

 

Hey y'all! While at the outdoor clothing shop on Udel'naya yesterday I found a hat I was looking for along with what I believe is an East German infantry cap, with ear flaps and all! = D
I'll try and get a photo, but it looks like a regular cold-war era communist bloc cap with a brim and it has a "target" in the front with a red outer ring, white middle ring and red central dot.

 

Silence in this tread is a good sign: the young man from Tennessee is having good time. I wish he has found himself a pretty and nice girlfriend.