Moscow is an incredibly green city. It has 120 parks in total – 120!!! – and the whole 20% of the Central district is taken up by park spaces. A week doesn’t pass without me taking a walk in a park, no matter the time of year. With so many to choose from, there is…
Have you ever wondered how people in the USSR REALLY lived? The daily reality of an average Soviet person was equally removed from the extremes of the ebullient propaganda posters and grim tales of totalitarian oppression. And you can take a trip back in time and into the homes of “ordinary Soviet people” thanks to…
Before they became Tzars and Emperors of the Russian Empire, the Romanovs were prominent boyars (nobles) and lived in Moscow. Their house in Moscow’s oldest neighborhood, Kitay Gorod, was built in the 1500s out of stone – a rarity at that time – and was practically a palace in those days. It was painstakingly restored…
VDNKh is one of those Moscow places I do not particularly enjoy yet keep going back to over and over for various half-baked reasons. What is VDNKh? Good question. Vystavka Dostizheniy Narodnogo Khozyaystva, (Exhibition of Achievements of the People’s Economy) is Moscow’s enormous exhibition complex and is one of those grand Soviet relics that seems more like…
Can Amsterdam be done as a day trip? Only if your day starts at 6 am and ends at midnight, or if your whole plan for the city involves a stop at a “coffee shop” and grabbing a beer along one of the canals. If you want to get more out of the Dutch capital,…
Clearly not satisfied with force-feeding you, dear readers, a monthly selection of Russian paintings, I have taken to sharing my art-loving ways on YELL.RU. So, if you are as much of an appreciator of pretty things as I am, and if you are ever in Moscow, read on to learn for ways to maximize and diversify your…
Of all of Crimea’s palaces, the one that belonged to Count Vorontsov – the hero of Napoleonic wars and later the governor-general of Crimea – is probably the most peculiar and magnificent. I say “probably” because it’s the only major Yalta / Alupka palace that I got to visit, as my pre-purchased excursions to Massandra…
One of the highly appealing aspects of Crimea as a travel destination (in case gorgeous nature, sea & sun and wine by the bucket were not enough) is its incredibly diverse cultural heritage. Ancient Greeks, Visigoths, Vikings, Persians, Romans, Byzantines, Venetians, Genoese, Georgians, Tatars, Ottoman Turks and Russians have all left their mark on this…
Saint Pete’s is full of the fun and the funky, of the unusual and the unexpected. Here’s just a small sampling: Lions and Boobs Those are the predominant themes in architectural decoration in this city. One signifies might, another …I’ve got nothing. I guess breasts are just generally a good thing? Museum of Curiosities There’s…
These were the exclamations that kept coming out of my mouth — to myself, out loud — as I walked from room to shining room of the Winter Palace, former residence of Russian emperors and now home to one of the greatest art museums ever. The Hermitage, according to multiple sources, is actually the largest…
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