#848 Krasnaya Ploshchad, Red Square, Moscow, Russia

The most iconic place in Russia symbolizing all that was hated about the Tsars, all that was controlling about the Communists and all that is powerful about Putin and modern Russia: Red Square. With St. Basil's fairy-tale church at the bottom end by the Moskva River, the Kremlin palace and government halls to the right side, the Gum department store on the left side and the imposing gates leading in, it would be an impressive place, but all of that does not encompass its enormous size. 

As you can probably tell from these photos, Red Square is large and imposing -- used in films about the USSR and Russia, paintings and art, and it is symbolic, iconic and memorable. I especially remember the line to see Lenin's embalmed body snakes down one whole side, although we didn't join it! The name Red comes neither from the red bricks nor from red communism, but from krasnaya, which can mean red or beautiful, an improvement from Pozhar 'burnt-out place' which is what it was until the 17th century.

Photos from 1997.

#948 Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia

A place that I've always wanted to visit, but prohibitively expensive and quite inaccessible: Kamchatka Peninsula. People tell stories of only being able to visit the remote volcanoes by helicopter, and that the number of active volcanoes is unmatched anywhere in the world, but these are just rumors of a place so remote and unvisited that people will say anything about it. Unfortunately, I haven't yet had the pleasure to visit, so I can't dispute any rumors yet, but I wanted to share this amazing place with everyone, so that you can add it to your bucket list, too!

You may have seen this incredible photo of a lava flow cave inside a glacier in email forwards and circling the internet. What a place!

From telegraph.co.uk where they advertise Kamchatka as being an option for a 'Blackberry-free break'!

The Kamchatka peninsula would have a similar temperature range to southern Alaska, and with only around 300,000 people in an area similar to that of Japan, it is easy to see why it is off the beaten path despite being an UNESCO World Heritage site. The Eastern side catches the storms and remains covered in snow even in summer, but in winter it is girded with ice and even has oceanic ice bracketing the ports.

Part of the Pacific's Ring of Fire caused by the tectonic plates' collision, in addition to its many volcanoes there is the 10,000 meter Kuril-Kamchatka Trench just off the eastern coast. Of the 160 volcanoes, 29 of them active, and 19 included in UNESCO's list.

I want to visit this spectacular landscape and see the amazing semi-arctic wildlife and landscape.

Note: Photos are not mine -- many are from Wikipedia.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamchatka_Peninsula

Kremlin Walls

Kremlin Walls is one of the walls are very famous and legendary in the world. This wall is a defensive wall that surrounds the Moscow Kremlin.
Red brick wall which had stood for 700 years. The length of this wall at 1.4 miles with a wall thickness varying between 3.5 to 6.5 meters. And in this wall there is the mausoleum where the body resides the highest Russian leaders like Stalin and Brezhnev.
And now this wall belong to one of the most historic walls that ever existed.

Russian Federal Highway

Russian Federal Highway is a very famous street in the world, because it is one of the most dangerous road in the world, especially in the winter which lasts for 10 months. The road that connects between the Yakutsk Moscow has extremely cold temperatures, the coldest temperature ever recorded outside Antarctica, so the inhabitants had built a house on concrete because the frozen ground and snow is difficult to be extracted.

But in July and August, when the rainy season and summer come, then you will feel very different situation when crossing the Russian Federal roadway. Road will usually frozen and covered with melted puddles and mud that is very difficult, so it often makes the traffic jams. And at that moment there was common crime, such as looting, hijacking and even kidnapping.

Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal is the deepest and oldest lake in the world and he offered the most water on Earth, which is about kirberisi more than 20% of the world's fresh water and more than 90% of freshwater Russia. And the lake is located in southern Siberia in Russia. Lake Baikal is expressed as one of the world heritage site.

In the lake there are approximately 2,500 unique species, such as Nerpa, or Baikal Seal. The lake is very easy to dikenalai, because there is a rocky outcrop stands out from the island on Lake Baikal Olkhon that symbolizes the rugged beauty and isolation resonates from this stunning lake. And for now I think this lake into the category of some of Lake's most unique and extreme in the world.

Peterhof Fountain

Peterhof Fountain. Peterhof is a series of palaces and gardens located in Saint Petersburg, Russia which was founded in 1710 by Peter the Great. The palace and the garden looks very luxurious and beautiful. The palace and gardens are sometimes referred to as the "Russian Versailles". The palace-ensemble along with the city center is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage.

And here found a fountain that includes one of the most beautiful fountains and the largest in the world. Combining several palaces, a number of landscape gardens and a collection of statues and fountains, giving him the title "Russian Versailles him". Grand Cascade flows from beneath the palace towards the Baltic Sea. From the Grand Cascade's largest fountain, filled with golden statues of Samson fighting a lion.

Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world with a maximum depth of 1642 meters (5369 ft), and the lake is also known as "blue eye of Siberia". Located in southern Siberia near the Russian-Mongolian border. Lake Baikal large lake with a large eco-systems in which more than 1,700 species of flora and fauna that live, two-thirds of them will only be found here, and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.
The lake is completely surrounded by rugged mountains and dense forest, this lake has an estimated age of 25-30 million years, making it one of the most ancient lakes in geological history.

Caspian Sea

Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, with many classified as the world's largest lake or a sea full. Sea surface has an area of ​​371,000 km2 (143,200 sq mi) (excluding Aylagy Garabogazköl) and volume of 78,200 km3 (18,800 cu mi). It is in the basin endorheic (no flow) and bordered on the north by Russia, on the south by Iran, western Azerbaijan, and eastern Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
Fauna in the Caspian basin is very rich: large numbers of sturgeon (the main source of caviar), a variety of rare species of salmon can only be found in this area.
Caspian Sea is very rich in energy resources such as oil and gas deposits, which have been processed since the 10th century. Currently, the oil in the Caspian basin siperkirakan worth $ 12 trillion.

Saint Basil's Cathedral

 

Saint Basil's Cathedral is a church that has a lot of cone-shaped roof in Red Square in Moscow which is traditionally viewed as a symbol of Russia's unique position between Europe and Asia. Featuring brightly colored domes towering taper to a point. Resemble the onion domes of different colors that are part of the air landscape Kremlin, Moscow.

The Cathedral was founded by Ivan the Mighty, to commemorate the capture of Khanate of Kazan. In 1588, Emperor Fedor Ivanovich add private chapel on the east side of the main building, directly above the tomb of St. Basil Addicts of Christ, a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church, so that the cathedral was then known as the Cathedral of St. Basil.

 St. Basil's Cathedral is located at the southeastern tip of the Red Square, (55 ° 45'08 .88 "N, 37 ° 37'23 .00" E), just across from the Kremlin Spasskaya Tower. The building is not very large, and consists of nine chapels built with a single foundation. The design of the cathedral following the cone-roofed churches on the same period, particularly the increase in Kolomenskoye Church (1530) and Head of the Church of Beheading of St. John the Baptist in Dyakovo (1547).

Mirny Diamond Mine

Mirny Diamond Mine is a mining site in eastern Siberia, Russia. Mirny Diamond Mine is a diamond mining human handiwork worst ever in the world. Mir Mine also called Mirny Mine. Mine the size of 525 meters (1720 feet) and has a diameter of 1,200 m (3,900 ft), and a hole dug in the world's second largest, after the Bingham Canyon Mine. Air space above the mine is closed for helicopters due to several incidents in which they were sucked in by downward air flow.

Mine was found on June 13, 1955 by Soviet geologists Yuri Khabardin, Ekaterina Elagina and Viktor Avdeenko during Expedition Amakinsky large Yakut ASSR. They found traces of kimberlite volcanic rocks that are usually associated with diamonds. These findings are the first success in the search for kimberlite in Russia, after failing many expeditions from the 1940's and 1950's. For this discovery, in 1957 was given Khabardin Lenin Prize, which is one of the highest awards in the Soviet Union.

Construction of the mine has been started in 1957 in very harsh climatic conditions. Seven months of winter per year to freeze the ground to ice, which is difficult in winter, but it turned into mud in the summer. Buildings must be flexible, so they will not sink in the summer, the main processing plant to be built on land 20 km away from the mine. Winter temperatures are so low that the tires and steel will be damaged and the oil will freeze. During the winter, workers using jet engines to dig defreeze and permafrost or with dynamite to get access to the kimberlite. The entire mine should be closed at night to prevent the engine from freezing.

In 1960 the mine produced 10 million carats (2 tons) per year diamond, where a relatively high fraction (20%) are of gem quality. The biggest diamond found in the December 23, 1980, weighed 342.5 carats (68 g) and named "26th Congress of CPSU" (Russian: XXVI съезд КПСС). Mining operations ceased in the 1990s at a depth of 340 m after the bottom hole into this banjir.Saat, mine is operated by Alrosa, the largest diamond producing company in Russia, and employs 3600 workers. It has long been anticipated that the recovery of diamond surfaces by conventional methods will be saturated. Therefore, in the 1970's has begun construction of a network of underground tunnels for diamond recovery. Diamond production by this method began in 1999 and is expected to last for 27 years. This estimate is based on exploration to a depth of 1220 meters. In order to stabilize the hole left by the main, the bottom is covered by a layer of debris 45 feet thick.