Дом Книги

Bookstores are my jam. There's just nothing quite like being surrounded by shelves full of pages of words. My affinity towards books and bookstores led me to look up Russia's most popular.

I came across the House of Books chain and found it interesting that though it was a chain, each individual store kept a flavor of its own. One of its stores is in St. Petersburg at the historic landsite of Дом компании «Зингер». This building used to be for the Singer Sewing Company and was constructed parallel to the company's headquarters being simultaneously built in New York. It is now home to many books and is referred to as such by the people.

Bookstores are awesome places and when housed in historic buildings like Дом компании «Зингер», they are all the better.

Sand and Stones

This is ice cream?

Apparently so.

My dad is currently in Russia for work and sent us that picture. Apparently it's ice cream that has the literal translation of "silica and stones." I tried Googling it, but to no avail. The picture is from somewhere in St. Petersburg.

Is it a common, normal Russian dessert? I'd guess not, though Google can lie.

Is it really ice cream? Yeah, my pops wouldn't make it up.

Was it a fluke thing presented to my dad to be impressive since his company deals within silica and the like? Potentially, though rocks for ice cream may not be the way I'd go about it...

The mystery of rock-looking ice cream has yet to be solved, but apparently it's Russian.

Rudolf Nureyev

Upon Googling for famous Russians, the stellar hat worn by Rudolf Nuruyev caught my attention:

Nureyev, one of the most famous male ballet dancers, fell in love with dancing after watching an opera as a young child. His family fled from Moscow to Ufa, Bashkir during the the USSR occupation. He started dancing at the age of 15 and at 17 was admitted into the Leningrad Ballet School. He toured throughout Russia and Europe, but rejected an offer to become director of the Royal Ballet in England. Later in life, however, he did become ballet director of the Paris Opera.

In short, this guy can dance.

Russian Randoms

While reading about Russia, I came across some rather random and often obscure facts. Some may be fact, some may be fiction, but all are at least somewhat interesting. For this post I've collected 10 of my favorites.

1. McDonald's "local" food for Russia includes McShrimp.

2. Some rich people use ambulances in order to get around traffic.

3. Though we are often critiqued for our own low voter turnout, how does that compare to Russia's turnout of 146% in one district?

4. Beer was considered non-alcoholic until 2011.

5. 25% of Russian men die before 55. 1.5 liters of vodka weekly may have some effect on that.

6. Whistling indoors is not good per Russian superstition.

7. Russia's land mass is so large it covers 9 time zones.

8. Russia and the US are actually less than 3 miles apart (at the closest point).

9. Metro 2 is a supposed secret metro line running below the main line and used to connect underground bunkers.

10. Russian citizens can identify as any ethnicity...including Hobbit.

Russia. A one-of-a-kind place.

Military Disneyland

Going to school so close to the Magic Kingdom and all of the other various theme parks brings a heightened awareness of all things Disney and theme park related. Because of this, when I stumbled across a theme park in Russia equated to a Military Disneyland, my interest was piqued.

Recently opened in Kubinka, this theme park is unlike any other. People can test out military grade weapons, hang out in tanks, and taste army food (hey, it's free if you can wait in line for ages--oddly reminiscent of the old Soviet days?). Part of the goal of the park is to promote the military and encourage young people to be a part. It's also a matter of pride and patriotism to display the machinery and technology used by the Russian armed forces.

Basically if Disney, its princesses, and over-priced food have become too boring, head over to Russia for a very different experience.

The Ural Mountains

One of Russia's major geographical features is the Ural mountain range. The range runs from the Arctic Ocean down to Kazakhstan and is considered to be natural division between Europe and Asia. "Ural" also refers to the region famous for the presence of gems and other stones. Mining in this also includes copper, iron, gold, platinum, silver, nickel, and other various metals.

In addition to the natural resources found in this area, there are also a variety of people groups inhabiting the area. One website (peoplegroups.org <- very original name), claims there are 42 people groups in this region.

Also, there was a meteor that hit in 2013.