The past few days have been extremely hot in Russia’s capital with temperatures reaching as high as 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit). Here’s a short video clip from Russia Today covering this extraordinary Moscow weather.

The February, 1958 edition of Science Digest featured an interesting article on Soviet plans to build cities on the moon. Of course the Soviets never sent men to the moon, and it would be another 11 years before Neil Armstrong would make his historic landing. Back in 1958, however, it seemed that Soviet plans to colonize the moon were taken rather seriously by American scientists. The article is very interesting and gives some historic perspective on the space race between the US and USSR.

Link: Soviet Cities on the Moon?

If you’re looking to learn some basic Russian for a trip to Russia or just for fun, check out listen2russian.com. It’s put together by two Russian girls, Lena and Irina, with the help of a guy from Australia. The site takes you through the basics of the Russian alphabet and gets you started with some phrases that should come in handy for tourists. The cool thing about the site is that you can listen to the words and phrases spoken by Lena and Irina. While you won’t become a Russian language expert from sites like these, listen2russian.com is a very nice, and free, way to get started.

Link: listen2russian.com

The Soviet government produced quite a lot of propaganda posters in its day. Some of the more interesting, and still relevant, posters were against alcohol abuse. Yuri Matrosovich has put together a small “Museum of Anti-Alcohol Posters” featuring some great examples of anti-alcohol propaganda.

Link: The Museum of Anti-Alcohol Posters

Here’s a small collection of videos and photos posted by internet users on Victory Day 2007.

Russian National Anthem sung by soldiers during the official Victory Day celebrations on Red Square. You can follow along with the lyrics.

Video from inside the cockpits of the jets that flew over the Red Square ceremony.

Veteran. Originally posted by Encinar.

Veteran. Originally posted by Leonid V. Kroujkov.

Veterans marching in Victory Day parade. Originally posted by Leonid V. Kroujkov.

Victory Day parade, Moscow, 9 May 2007. Originally posted by urbanpostings.

Stalin poster in Victory Day parade. Originally posted by Leonid V. Kroujkov.

Marchers in Victory Day parade. Originally posted by Leonid V. Kroujkov.

Fire in the Sky. Originally posted by stranger in moskva.

A great example of the funny things you can see while riding on Russian public transportation!

Balloons by Yuri Timofeyev

Victory Day, the celebration of Soviet victory over fascist Germany in the Great Patriotic War, is celebrated each year in Russia on May 9th. Victory Day banners, posters and decorations are everywhere. Here are some pictures we took on a short walk around St. Petersburg.

Victory Day Decorations at Technology Institute Metro, St. Petersburg, Russia

Victory Day Decorations – Narva Triumphal Gate, St. Petersburg, Russia

Closeup of decorations at Narva Triumphal Gate

Building decorated for Victory Day

Victory Day poster in store window – “Happy Victory Day – May 9th”

Victory Day poster – “Happy Victory Day”

In the same style as other Soviet soda water machines, this Soviet-era Pepsi machine features a reusable glass for everyone to share. This boy seems to be urging his friend to hurry up and finish his drink so that he can use the glass. The grossness factor of these machines is quite striking. We are surprised that Pepsi allowed such machines to feature their famous drink and logo.

Photo via Freedom Toast

Here is a short American news clip from 1961 covering the May 1st celebrations in both the Soviet Union and Cuba. While the clip shows little about the actual May Day events, it does provide examples of both American and Soviet Cold War propaganda.