This year, Russia had official holidays from December 30th through January 8th. It sounds like a great idea, but all that time off work can get boring and expensive for some people. The New York Times has an interesting article on the financial and psychological ramifications of this extended holiday.

Link: Russia’s Extended Winter Holidays: A Binge of Drinking and Spending

Russia produces and exports a lot of oil. Here’s a photograph by Ville Miettinen of a Russian train carrying oil. This is a familiar sight for anyone who travels by train in Russia.

It’s Christmas in Russia today. While most countries celebrate Christmas on December 25th, Russia celebrates on January 7th. Why?

“Well, the reason is that the Russian Orthodox Church still lives according to the old Julian Calendar, which is currently 13 days behind the Gregorian Calendar, which is adopted by most countries in the world (and by the Russian government). ”

Link: Russian Christmas: Why do Russians Celebrate Christmas on January 7th?

WikiMapia has an annotated view of Red Square and downtown Moscow. The photos, provided by Google, are clear enough to see individual buildings. Different users have annotated the map to tell what each building is. Very cool!

Link: WikiMapia

Moscow’s skyline is changing quickly these days. Many new skyscrapers are being built, some of them stretching even further into the sky than the famous Stalin-era buildings of the 1950s. Here’s a link to a interesting diagram showing many of Moscow’s skyscrapers and info about each one.

Link: Moscow Skyscrapers

Russians have a love/hate relationship with McDonald’s. Most Russians I’ve met tell me that they don’t like the food and will lecture me about how bad it is for your health. McDonald’s is very popular non the less! The first McDonald’s in Russia opened in 1990 smashing opening day records for customers served … and it is still the world’s busiest McDonald’s. Today’s link is to a brief history of McDonald’s in Russia.

Link: McDonald’s Russia
Link: McDonald’s Official Site in Russia (Russian Only)

Today’s link is to the official website of Russian President Vladimir Putin. This site is full of information about the president, his speeches, policies, photos and more. It’s updated frequently with new information and has a huge amount of resources in the English language.

Link: President of Russia

A recent report from Reuters Canada talks about the death of a village priest and the state of Russian villages. It’s an interesting look into the conditions of the Russian countryside.

Link: Reuters Canada – Priest’s death shows Russia’s rural rot

According to Sci-Tech Today, Russia will soon be making new space shuttles that could play an important roll in future International Space Station missions.

“Russian space shuttles will ferry American astronauts to the ISS after the U.S. Shuttle program is decommissioned by NASA in 2010. Russia plans to begin construction of its own shuttle, the Kliper (often called the Clipper in English), in 2012.”

Link: For Russia, a Good Year in Space
Relevant Book: Energiya-Buran: The Soviet Space Shuttle