Google Earth Arrives in Russia: Detailed Satellite Imagery of Secret Soviet Cities now Available

by Neil Woodburn on

In their most paranoid state, the Soviets outlawed detailed maps of their country during the Cold War. As if this wasn’t bad enough, the maps that they did produce for Soviet citizens were purposely wrong–entire cities were often left off the map or strategically relocated in the interests of national security.

The Cold War has been over for a long time now and the Soviet Union no longer exists. The law prohibiting maps with “precise geographical data,” however, has remained on the books–that is, until last May when legislature finally removed this antiquated law and opened the door for Google Earth Russia to make its official, legal entrance onto internet servers throughout Russia.

Now every comrade in Russia can zoom right in all those weapons and nuclear “secret cities” which never officially existed, such as the nuclear warhead facilities at Penza-19.

Naturally, someone has already created a Google Earth mash-up of secret cities throughout Russia–some of which still remain closed to outsiders. Click here and pretend you’re a CIA analyst trying to make sense of the mysterious sheds and facilities viewed from outer space. Hey, is that an ICBM?!?!?

Very cool! I could spend all day doing this.

Ritz Opens $1000 per Night Hotel in Moscow

by Neil Woodburn on

We’ve bemoaned before on the pages of Gadling about the high cost of Moscow, and the corresponding high cost of trying to find a place to sleep in the world’s most expensive city.

Sure, the occasional budget accommodation will pop up here or there, but for the most part, the continuing trend is towards more expensive places to sleep instead of the opposite.

Case in point. Ritz Carlton has just announced the opening of their first Moscow branch. Located just a few blocks from Red Square on the site of the old bug-ridden Intourist Hotel, the new Ritz is making a run for bragging rights to the city’s most expensive hotel rooms. At a $1000 per night for the cheapest room in the building, the Ritz just might claim that crown.

Hotels don’t get much better than the Ritz, and you just know that everything is going to be top-class, but wow, that is a lot of money. To tell you the truth, I’m going to be very jealous next time I return to Moscow and walk past this amazing hotel.

I think back to my first time in Moscow in 1991 and how the hotel bathrooms, if we were lucky, had toilet paper torn from the pages of a student textbook and stacked neatly in a little box next to the toilet. Oh man have things come a long way since then!

Secret Moscow Bunker now Open to Tourists

by Neil Woodburn on

Going underground is always a great experience no matter what city you visit.

Cold war capitals like Moscow and Berlin offer some of the very best subterranean experiences around. This is because the safest place if the Cold War ever got hot, was deep underground where the radiation can’t get you.

Now that communism is dead and the world is one big happy place, Cold War bunkers are increasingly coming off the Top Secret list and being transformed into tourist sites.

Take, for example, the newest attraction in Moscow: The Confrontation Cold War Museum. In the old days, this 75,000-square-foot facility buried 200 feed underground was known only as the Tagansky Underground Command Center. And, it was known only by the select few who would scurry there and live off rations for three months while the outside world was scorched by nuclear bombs.

Today, any foreign tourist with $39 in their pocket can now join a guided tour of these facilities. David Holley, of the Los Angeles Times, recently journeyed below the surface to check it out and reports back that the new owners have decorated it with Soviet posters and some outdated communications equipment. Tour guides dress in old Soviet Army uniforms, and visitors are served the traditional rations endured by those on duty here: buckwheat porridge, canned beef stew, and a shot of vodka–proving that some things in Russia never change. Har har har.

Click here for a virtual tour.

Russia in Los Angeles

by Neil Woodburn on

I am fortunate to have spent a lot of time in Russia on my travels and for some strange reason, keep going back for more.

The only problem is that it’s a long flight, an arduous visa process and Moscow itself is very expensive. But now, I’ve found a shortcut; visit Russia in Los Angeles.

I’ve known for a long time that West Hollywood has one of the largest Russian populations in America, second only to Brighton Beach in New York. I’ve also known that there are a couple of Russian restaurants as well catering to this crowd. What I didn’t know was just how many Russian restaurants and Russian nightclubs that Los Angeles boasts. And guess what; they are full of Russians.

Moscow on the Pacific, an LA Times article by Charles Amter, explores the Russian subculture in LA and how it has now exploded into the mainstream with a potpourri of rocking clubs and authentic restaurants that makes one feels as though they are indeed in Russia (except for the heavy clouds of cigarette smoke; smoking is illegal in LA clubs).

So, if you have a hankering to see what Moscow is like and don’t want to deal with the hassles of actually visiting, check out Amter’s article and pop into one of the 18 clubs or restaurants recommended for that authentic Russian experience.

BBC Video of First Modern-Day Crossing of the Bering Strait

by Neil Woodburn on

We’ve been posting here about the amazing exploits of Karl Bushby who is in the middle of an extraordinary journey to walk around the world.

As if this isn’t cool enough, Karl aimed to do so by being the first person in modern history to walk across the Bering Strait from Alaska to Russia.

Although no one has been able to do so in recorded history, Karl and his travel buddy Dimitri Kieffer gave it their best shot and emerged wet, cold and successful on the Russian side–where both were promptly arrested for not properly processing their paperwork upon entering the country (obviously there is no customs/border station on the shores of the Bering Strait).

That’s the last I heard about the daring crossing of the Bering Strait until recently returning to Karl’s website where I discovered that the BBC had been on hand to film part of the crossing and had put together an amazing program with the footage.

The program is now available in six parts on Karl’s website. And let me tell you, it is amazing. Even before they get to the actual crossing of the strait, the footage shot in this remote part of Alaska is simply breathtaking. The reporter then follows Karl and Dmitri for the first couple of miles over the frozen sea before wimping out and heading back as the ice began to get thinner. Karl and Dmitri then power onwards with their own video camera capturing a surrealistic landscape and the kick-ass spirit of an adventure never accomplished before.

Much of their journey is spent swimming in float suits across bone-jaring water that looks like someone dumped a bunch of massive ice cubes into an even bigger slushy. They’d swim from ice chunk to ice chunk, heaving themselves up with pick axes and towing their gear behind them in some type of improvised floaty.

The 57 miles they had hoped to cross in a couple of days, turned into 150 miles and 14 days as they drifted north (see photo). When they did finally make it, they were arrested, put on trial, and deported–hardly the hero’s welcome they expected. Everything is back in order now, however, and they are continuing the journey across Russia.

The Bering Strait video is really remarkable footage and I recommend that you spend 30 minutes viewing the entirety of the program. Until I did so myself, I never fully appreciated the challenges involved in such a journey. Simply Amazing!