"The picture everyone takes..." a Porvoo Travel Page by bobs12

Quiet, serene even. Hardly a murmur of traffic at night. English spoken almost everywhere. Has the wonderful Borga folkhogskola. All the conveniences of a big city in a small town. Perfect for a weekend break from Petersburg : )

Also, it has excellent travel connections as it is on the main road to Helsinki. Buses depart for the capital every 20 minutes or so during the day.

I haven't really seen that much of Finland yet, but there is one place I have a real soft spot for; this town has everything- peace, tranquility and enough variety and conveniences to keep you occupied for a whole afternoon.

For me, it's a just a great break from the neurosis-inducing insanity of St. Petersburg. The simple fact that you can cross the street without thinking about whether your medical insurance will pay for your funeral is a great release in itself.

Porvoo is just five or six hours from St. Petersburg by bus, located a few kilometres off the main Helsinki motorway. Recommended restaurant is Rosso, where you can buy pizza without a bank loan. Oh, in case I didn't mention- Finland is very expensive. However, there is also a great kebab shop with a guy who can only count to five in English, so the last time I was there, nothing cost more than five euros.

Not to be missed is the wonderful Brunberg chocolate factory, just round the corner from tourist information. They have a very generous 'try before you buy' policy. You can just walk into the shop and help yourself to sweets from plastic bins on either side of the counter. They are free and the staff are on the other side of the counter, so there's nothing to stop you. If you have a guilt complex, try waiting for one of the dozens of bus tours that cram themselves in at regular intervals throughout the day. Keep going from one side of the counter to the other and no-one will ever notice.

The first time I ever went to Finland, I was in Porvoo to teach this group Business English. Nobody told me before I went that the group would include the Dean of the Economics and Finance faculty of Moscow State Railway University and two of his senior lecturers. I was told the group would be sixteen to twenty-year-old girls with no business knowledge whatsoever, so prepared materials accordingly...

Nonetheless, it all went off without a hitch. In fact, they were probably the best single group I ever taught. I wonder if some of their motivation and enthusiasm didn't come from competition between lecturers and students! In any case, it all went well and we had a good time too...

At the end of the course there was a presentation based on work done during the week. Everyone participated with enthusiasm and it made a great end to the week of classes. Seen here is the staff team (plus one student) presenting their plan to knock FedEx out of the courier market with a network of hypersonic sleighs delivering parcels to all corners of the globe.