Russian Kafe

December 31st, 2006

Here’s a video of a really cool ice palace on St. Petersburg’s Palace Square. This video is from last year. There is no ice palace this winter because the weather has been far too warm.

• st. petersburg , video

December 30th, 2006

There’s a new project on the horizon in St. Petersburg, Russia. Energy giant Gazprom is planning to build Petersburg’s first skyscraper. Here’s a picture of the winning design and an article about the project from the St. Petersburg Times.

St. Petersburg Times - “Gazprom Winner is ‘Corn on the Cob’”

Some highlights from the article:
“A 300-meter-tall twisting glass tower dubbed ‘the corn on the cob’ beat out five international rivals to win the contentious competition to build a new Gazprom headquarters in St. Petersburg.”

“The tower, if constructed, would be 2.5 times higher than the Peter and Paul Fortress, the city’s highest building, and more than 3 times higher than Smolny Cathedral or St. Isaac’s Cathedral.”

• architecture , news , st. petersburg

December 29th, 2006

This is a “public service announcement” from the Moscow Metro.
It says “SMILE — an inexpensive way to look better”.

Photo by urbansheep.

• photos , transportation

December 28th, 2006

The Moscow Metro (subway) is really something amazing. It is listed in many tourist guides as a museum because of its elaborate decorations and artwork. Today’s link is to an online photo gallery that’s packed full of pictures of the Moscow Metro. There are panoramic views as well as detailed pictures of different sculptures.

Link: Moscow Metro Photos

• transportation

December 27th, 2006

Did you know that the Soviets made a space shuttle? It was called Buran and only made one unmanned flight back in 1988. The project was eventually abandoned in 1993 due to lack of funding.

Today’s link is to Krzys Kotwicki’s site all about the Buran project. On his site, you can find out about the history of the Buran project, see tons of photos and even some videos.

Link: http://k26.com/buran/Info/energia_-_buran.html
Relevant Book: Energiya-Buran: The Soviet Space Shuttle

• space