A couple of years ago, I wrote a post about the surreal views you can get in Saint Petersburg during the navigation period on the Neva (from April to November), when 22 bridges across the river and main canals are drawn at night to let ships pass in and out of the Baltic Sea and right through... Continue Reading →
Tsarskoye Selo (or "Tsar's Village") was the town containing a former Russian residence of the Romanov imperial family and visiting nobility. It is located 24 kilometers (15 mi) south from the center of Saint Petersburg. It is now part of the town of Pushkin ( which got its name in 1937 to to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of the Russian... Continue Reading →
The town of Vyborg lies on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of the Vyborg Bay, 130 km (81 miles) to the northwest of St. Petersburg and 38 km (24 miles) south of Russia's border with Finland, where the Saimaa Canal enters the Gulf of Finland. The town has changed hands several times in history, most recently in 1944 when the Soviet Union captured it from Finland during World... Continue Reading →
In 2009, Russian Railways made an order with Siemens for a development of an electric multiple unit train adapted to the Russian environment. The new trains were planned to be used in Sochi for suburban passenger traffic during the 2014 Winter Olympics, and then to be partially transferred to other train lines. Now, three and a half years after the Games, you... Continue Reading →
Having being launched on 11 May 1900 and commissioned on 29 July 1903, the Russian Cruiser Aurora stands today as the oldest commissioned ship of the Russian Navy, still flying the naval ensign under which she was commissioned (even if today it's under the care of the Central Naval Museum). She is still manned by an active service crew commanded by a Captain of the 1st Rank.
Time flies, when you are having fun. That's how the old saying goes and I guess it also applies when you are posting your impressions on the largest country in the world: Russia. Since June 10th, when I published my first post with the first picture I ever took in Russia, another 99 have followed,... Continue Reading →
A few months ago my wife Nastya and I discovered a great way to get to see as many museums as we like in Moscow and Saint Petersburg and even enjoy free coffee and cappuccinos as a bonus! After a few months of using PassCity I am ready to recommend it to you without hesitation. Full... Continue Reading →
Did you know that less than a century before being admitted to the USA as the 49th State Alaska was part of Russia and it was called Russian America? Alaska was actually discovered by Russia and it was part of the Russian empire until the emperor Alexander II sold 586,412 square miles (1,518,800 km2) of land to the United States on March 30, 1867 for $7.2 million.
Pictured above is Pygmalion's point of view when admiring his beloved statue/wife in the interpretation of Italian sculptor Pietro Ceccardo Staggi (1754-1814) in his Pygmalion and Galatea (1790-1792). The attribution of the statue to Staggi comes directly from the Hermitage museum, where it is on permanent display in the European Fine Art Collection, alongside statues of Antonio Canova.
Russia Through The Lens 