if you're traveling in the russian winter it's always good to head to somewhere well developed under some our region definitely fits the bill the capital is the seventh largest city in the country and can lay claim to being one of the most important business and cultural centers in european russia it's also one of the most picturesque boasting the largest central square in europe and along beautiful embankment alongside the volga river it's a ninety minute flight from moscow if you prefer the scenic route you can take allegedly fifteen hour train ride. well that was a long journey and there's nothing like coming into minus twenty so wake you up but . one of the biggest cities in the whole. and i was also in one of its largest and most unusual buildings the glass fronted train station was completed in two thousand and eight and it's one of the highest places

in town so this isn't a bad view point to take my first look at the city from the supposed to be a million people down there and hopefully plenty of interesting places to explore as well. and my first stop was a real hidden gem. well it's not exactly a very picturesque place but i did they throw this rather tassie concretes are about to uncover one of some more as biggest secrets. during the second world war many soviet governmental institutions as well as most of the foreign embassies moved to samoa this huge bunker was created in one thousand nine hundred two has a back up to stalin and his cabinet. this is a really amazing feat of engineering this this entire bunker goes down almost forty meters and they built it over the space of. what seems even more incredible to me is that the people have some or apparently didn't even know that

this place was. was only in the city when the soviet union was dissolved. and they finally found this huge structure had been under their feet for almost fifty years. the rumors are that it was built by convicts who were them executed but nothing was ever confirmed. so just kind of the first level here hopefully to be able to get inside. sources hello nice to me. and one man who knows all about the place is my guide anatoly even after all this time the power systems are still working. here you find life support systems and equipment was installed when the bunker was still under construction but it has not been replaced since then but it's still operational if it works automatically it's russian made equipment the bunker was

built to house up to six hundred people and they had some pretty effective defenses . this is over a. reinforced steel it. through . the bunker now doubles as a museum with various classrooms holding its old equipment geiger counters gas masks and first aid kits are all on display but the most interesting area is right down in the depths. it's an eerie experience entering this huge conference room and imagining the plans that might have been made here the central table is laid out for the generals and politicians the stenographers are off to the right and stalin himself would have sat under the huge map at the head of the room for the majority of the soviet union's existence some are was renamed bush if on the map clearly

indicates its strategic position safely away from the german front lines it was never confirmed that uncle joe ever set foot here but the designers had obviously been told to meticulously prepare just in case nothing like a little megalomania to start the day but i was very happy to make my way back to the surface and take in some fresh air there's one real benefit to venturing out on days as cold as these it's got to be this sort of view. the mighty volga river in all its frozen glory now the river here is covered in ice for at least three months of the year and it was always a real pain to get across until some local businessmen opened up the rather unusual ferry service. valarie has been running the operation here since two thousand and seven literally thousands of people come to cross the river every month and they all jump into these hovercrafts and it's made the

journey a lot less precarious. and before we started using the hovercraft people would try to cross the river by trunk or car but sometimes the thin ice caused disastrous accidents so it is the only save method. but now it only takes ten minutes and costs around one euro to make the journey safely and the bus itself is surprisingly easy to control. costs to the lists. they want to see me with any passengers but i was very happy to be going so. we can avoid hitting any excuse to get. one you don't have.

it is easy to get carried away. the problem with it so if i was driving this all the time i just pretend to like. people to the other side of. this great. now there were several chilly passengers waiting for a ride so it was time for me to make my exit. now that. is what i call a ferry crossing. foot i was ready to check out some of the attractions i'm one of them is quite literally out of this world. if you're talking about the soviets all the russian space program when you're talking about some of the soyuz rockets seventy

percent of the world space flight school use these rockets and then made right here in the city. one of the proudest parts of some our us history and include the launch vehicle to stalk the carried the first man into space and now some of the city's cosmic achievements are on display to the public. full of a lot of. space. i'm next to an old landing module and i met up with museum director for a guided tour of the premises. is the right place for such a museum. our society has been the local point of this country space engineering for decades here you can see there are men satellite that has been in outer space. it is a replica of war to the world renowned cosmonaut yuri gagarin used during his space

missions. there around six hundred different exhibits that date back to the beginning of space exploration including some of the most advanced technology of the cold war. makes me feel very small when you realize that you're next to something that's actually been out there among the stars and these spy satellites were part of the soviet and russian space programs for the best part of forty years and these lenses so powerful that if i open this up to do that even a volley of hundred kilometers above the had to be able to read what was on the museum is definitely one of the city's cultural highlights but if you're also winter sports fun you won't be disappointed either ok so if you ask me fun things to do in the russian winter i could tell you maybe sledging a bit of skiing i probably wouldn't say. bus here in samarra they don't let a small thing like the conditions get in the way of the rounds. and designers of

the ski resorts have built their own nine hole course. so the player. does need to unload you speak english yet. james then asked me. ok well this is a first for me ok in the snow action if i'm into. what's the idea about today what's going on well it's a golf tournament you know you play golf almost the same rules as for some money you have of course some local rules. over us rules are you know code and so using the conditions of weather conditions right now ok so now we're trying to play it nine holes. but always been in the good walk spoiled camp when it came to goal but louder was obviously a dab hand and she said she could give me

a few pointers. what do we need to do so the first thing you have to set up your ball on the tee ok yeah then those but to make up position. so prepare yourself to make a suit and then to make this. oh. you are the head. not exactly in a special start and i'd always thought go for the non-contact sport. oh . walking wounded. i want to get out of the way of the person playing. to some soothing tea i was ready to teach. the ladies went on when i decided i'd play a solo round. as long as i wasn't attempting the longest drive. ahead in the right direction.

so you. use. my technique and my first concern. with the temperature down around minus twenty celsius so minus four. one of the quickest. in history. right. now comes the ice. and. who is now. going to enjoy.

some very well deserved because. in the clubhouse it may have been freezing but some are was turning out to be a lot of fun and i was ready to take a look at another famous russian business the calls this region home. culture is that so much different and there's a huge musician mind. is it deja vu all over again the united nations nuclear watchdog the i.a.e.a. claims in a new report that iran is moving ever closer. british. economy .

if you wander around the streets of somalia. and that's no surprise because it's dominated the region's manufacturing industry for decades. if you think. that you can't help but think. they've been going up and down the country's roads for almost half a century and this story. this is the. two thousand employees work within it six hundred hectares is and they produce two and a half thousand calls every day. this . is pretty much. but.

i was ready to see how it was done. in the right place through. a few nicely. i would be a bad date populus ok so this is where everything begins. so this is where the story of the hard beginning we are able weldon did this in the flood because the women are at the history of hamas began in the late sixty's and in that sweep produced more than twenty six millions of cards different them a list of silly we produced the dean families of ours. from old lebanon wants money on the basis of the op to more than possible that one of the free will. to live in or is one of the longest biggest sellers the machines work day and night keeping production line going. along the ties line relieved by all of us to give the hood

the german company to come up with it is the weld integration the night of the car boarding actually only two persons on need it here and there is the brazenness. then once the frameworks assembled it's on to the next post the operation. now will go into the next job and it worked out with the body ok and the border with force is going to show interest only the ok. and in the neighboring hangar things were moving on quickly. from the wind screams to the engines and the wheel returns separately and it's remarkably fast operation. and what do you get fuel seven thousand euro price tag something like this. so if the sixteen hundred pieces of metal but only four hours on the production line my

brand new blog. is ready for the roads. to clean them maybe a very popular color around. bounce in the winter time it can't get you everywhere sometimes you just have to try out a more traditional means of transport now i recently strapped on a pair of skis to run about the first time in twenty five years that was quite quiet easy reintroduction but here in samarra i decided i'm going to ramp things up a little bit. so you know so i'm guessing it but even some are like to do things a little bit extreme yes you got to extreme right now what exactly we're going to be doing today we're going to ski your. river this is and speed that's almost the role and this ok the future will be between sixty kilometers. maybe one hundred right that sounds

terrifying. good ok let's go. in here and his friends a fans of stuart which apparently is skiing behind animals in this case a high powered snowmobile. romo makes in the belly up in this business. yeah right get out of me really feeling or just. my medical insurance is up to date. but it's one way or another i was going to have to give it a go so i was properly kitted up but i was starting to wish i'd just gone and taken home a craft again. i. mean i was. theo's i'm ready. for it is all a good laugh so please please. come because i got. a couple of false starts but eventually i managed to stay

upright. ok i know you like. but i'm still much. what you managed to control your balance this is an amazing experience and soon i was ready to join the go for a group effort. and we're ready to rock. and. that will. be fine.

but if you are trying this for the first time it's best not to get overconfident. oh. well. well that's a fairly intense introduction to skiing but i think. everything's still intact. rest but unfortunately my recovery was to be short lived. still aching from there on the ice but apparently my new friend has another thing that he wants me to try something about. tunnel runs. it sounded rather ominous but once again because of promised i was going to enjoy myself. and i think you get so what are

you going to. go. ok so super super super super screw it gives you instant flying power. and useful if you've got it. and. i hear. her voice ok turns out the tunnel rat is an acrobatic expert in for to cool wind tunnels and i was about to get my first lesson. fortunately. is like. these beautiful imagery. happy people. smiled on it.

partly the secret here is something changes to your body surface area. and you should rise and fall safely and if you train enough eventually you can do stuff like this the wind speed is apparently more than two hundred kilometers an hour and it's powered by a five hundred horsepower engine enough to even get someone like me off the ground . good long haul. right ok we're into the tunnel. but tara. was here. and then it was time to take to the air i was a little worried that i could crash to the floor to any point but remained had a good grip on me.

the theory. was a little bit more. than. made it through time to run it was time to go solo. them despite bouncing off the walls a few times i'm a deep down in one piece. and then they say spirits ok there are about thousand techniques and could do their part and they but i think i got a call that one the bellyful i didn't know it the superman certain works after all . it had been a lot of fun but some are a was beginning to tie me out so i thought i'd end my trip with

a little self-indulgence the muslim it's a festival has definitely got to be one of my favorite times in russia because basically it's a weeklong extended version of pancake day but it also is supposed to signify the end of winter and i've heard that the two of us some are a traditional native inhabitants who don't quite go for. not just to claims to have people with us. first residents of this area after they battled with bashkirian nomads back in the eighteenth century. and it seems they still like to expend some serious energy to get themselves in the mood for a feast. that they still have very worked up their most or what it is. they will find a. little general most upset because they were hungry but a bit of a buggy seems to solve problems. i already had off.

i have no idea what is going on i know you'll. kill people. and then the guest of honor arrives this old lady represents muscle units and she's here for a special reason. and then things started to get weird i think i. could this is the. pundits telling me to massively suppress civil. i'll. expect to have some sort of significance. i have to be people is what i signed up for this. apparently must seem serious here to beat all the bad spirits out of you before the year starts anew. and then you can have

a go on with both my parents the statistic that i thank you for it but very savvy about it. i found once everyone has been cleansed this is yet more dull seem to celebrate but finally i managed to sneak off to some to. start windsor is rank with oh i am not kids but i only have. so i was eight. i said hell with the rope burn so. i buy doesn't really earned my pancakes but sadly it was time for me to be leaving so mara. i found a thriving cultural business and scientific center and people that are always ready to show you a great time. the

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calling its own shots we'll bring you all the latest details from honolulu just ahead in the program. syria seeks to reverse the arab league's decision to suspend it from the organization amid growing protests which some believe sponsored from. blasting into orbit a crew of three heads to the international space station it's the first launch since a similar rocket carrying a supply craft crashed back to earth. it is now i just after two pm on monday here in moscow this is with me. as the gathering of the pacific rim is political and economic heavyweights winds down in hawaii it's the latest rift between the globe's.