High Heel Race in St. Petersburg

by Neil Woodburn on

While everyone else in the sporting world is focusing their attention on perhaps the most famous race on this planet, the Tour de France, others in the Russian city of St. Petersburg are paying perhaps a little too much attention to a local race of their own.

If you were lucky enough to be in this fine city last week, you would have witnessed a rather bizarre sporting event in the center of town: a race in high heels.

The rules were simple: heels must not be less than 3.5 inches.

And that’s it.

As you can tell by the above photograph, the St. Petersburg High Heels Sprint has all the excitement and spills of the Tour de France, plus sex appeal!

I’m sure we can all look forward to this spectacle becoming an annual event. Be sure to book your tickets now for next year!

For more exciting photos, click here.

Tickets to Outer Space Increase Astronomically

by Neil Woodburn on

Dammit!

I’ve been trying to save up money for a trip into outer space and now they’ve gone and raised the price.

The first space tourists to visit the International Space Station by jumping a ride aboard a Russian rocket paid a scant $20 million for the adventure. Recent passengers have paid $25 million.

The word on the street, however, is that the price for the rest of 2008 and 2009 is expected to increase to nearly $40 million–mostly due to the falling dollar.

Dammit! That means another 200 years of saving my money before I can scrape up that fee.

Super Secret Soviet Submarine Base opens for Tourism

by Neil Woodburn on

It’s very rare in life, but occasionally some of those super-secret, underground complexes that house submarine bases or other military facilities are actually opened to the public.

A regular diet of James Bond movies while growing up has always made me excited to seek out and explore such villainous lairs despite the fact that they were merely the dreams of scriptwriters.

The reality, however, is that such places actually exist. They are not the creation of super villains wanting to take over the world, however, but rather super powers wanting to take over the world.

Recently, one of the world’s most secretive Soviet cities, Balaklava, has decommissioned the nuclear submarine base stationed there and has now opened up the underground complex for guided tours.

Located 10 kilometers from Sevastopol in the Crimea, the complex actually bores right into solid rock; submarines simply disappeared into the secret entrance. The rock, as well as outer doors weighing 120 tons, would have protected the facility from a direct nuclear strike. If one had occurred, the complex was designed to support a full staff for up to three years.

The attack never came. Instead, the Cold War ended and all the secrecy surrounding this city has been lifted. The submarine base was stripped of its technology and transformed into a museum.

For a detailed and very cool James Bondish photo tour, be sure to click here. Or click here for a video tour.

Baikal by Boat

by Neil Woodburn on

It’s been a long time since we’ve posted about Siberia’s Lake Baikal here on Gadling and so I was therefore pleased to run across an article about my favorite lake in last Sunday’s New York Times.

Unlike prior articles, and unlike my own trip to the lake four years ago, New York Times journalist Steven Lee Myers decided to explore the deepest lake in the world in the most natural way possible; by boat.

His six day journey took him to places that only boats can reach and allowed him to discover far more of the lake than I was ever able to do. In addition, he caught fish nearly any time he wanted, got up close to the nerpas–the lake’s rare fresh water seals–and even spotted some bears.

The boat, which sleeps eight people, took Myers to remote shores in an already remote part of the world where he hiked to remote lakes, visited remote settlements, and basically indulged in a remoteness that only the beauty of Lake Baikal can provide.

Damn it! I’m jealous. Next time, I am indeed taking the boat.

Bizarre Kalashnikov Museum Evokes the Cult of Lenin

by Neil Woodburn on

You can take Russia out of the Soviet Union, but you can’t take the Soviet out of some Russians.

Three years ago, in celebration of Mikhail Kalashnikov’s 85th birthday, a museum was opened in the Russian city of Izhevsk to honor Kalashnikov’s most enduring gift to the world; the AK-47 submachine gun.

An entire museum dedicated to a single gun might seem rather excessive, but this isn’t just any gun; it was a brilliant piece of engineering designed to work flawlessly in the varied, extreme climates of the former Soviet Union. And it did. No other gun is as beloved by forces around the world for its reliability and durability; killing has never been so easy! The damage this gun has done in African civil wars alone is staggering.

Nonetheless, the Russians felt a museum was in order and spent $8 million dollars to build a sparkling new edifice in Kalashnikov’s hometown.

Not being a gun fan, I haven’t made the pilgrimage to the Kalashnikov Weapons Museum and Exhibition Center, but have spent the last 30 minutes on an extensive virtual tour thanks to the folks at AK47-Guide.com.

The result was a virtual travel back in time to the Soviet era and their passion for deifying illustrious figureheads. The museum contains bronze statues of Kalashnikov, replications of his dacha, his favorite place to work at home, and the actual desk used to design the weapon. There are entire display cases dedicated to the awards he received as well as the numerous gifts from fans spanning the globe. Personal articles, black and white photographs of the great man, cases and cases of guns, as well as a strange display of Kalashnikov Vodka fill out the rest of the exhibit. This, folks, is no different than every Lenin museum I visited in the Soviet Union in 1991. Except, of course, the vodka display.

Oh, and in case this museum doesn’t quench your thirst for all things AK-47, come back to Izhevsk in a couple of years; if plans go accordingly, the city will boast the world’s first hotel designed in the shape of a gun (a Kalashnikov, of course!).