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 or if you prefer the scenic route you can take a leisure li fifteen hour train ride. well that was a long journey and there's nothing like coming into minus twenty so wake you up but i mean some are one of the biggest cities in the whole russia. 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 this post 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. it's not exactly a very picturesque place here but i do need this rather tassy concrete about to uncover one of some more as they have 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 a 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 nineteen million 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 conflicts who were then executed but nothing was ever confirmed. 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 it has not been replaced since then but it's still operational 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. right this is over . the reinforced steel it. is the germans would have got through. if they are making. 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 of 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 that 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 air cushioned hovercrafts and it's made the journey a lot less precarious. before we started using the hovercraft people would try to cross the river by trying or car or 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. adds. crofts to the lists. like. the ice they want to see me with any passengers but i was very happy to be going solo. any excuse that you get.

when you don't have customers to look after it is easy to get carried away. the problem with so much if i was driving this old. people to the other side of. this great. spun out there was 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 the stalk that carried the first man into space and now some of the city's cosmic achievements are on display to the public. this music full of a lot of. space. take a look. i'm next to an old landing module and i met up with museum director for a guided tour of the premises. mara is the right place for such a museum. because our city has been the local point of this country's 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 were next to something without sleep 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 it would be able to read what was on the museum is definitely one of the city's cultural highlights but if you're also a winter sports firm you won't be disappointed either ok so if you ask me fun things to do in the rush when 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 sea nine hole course. so the players. that asked me to allude to speak english yeah. james then asked me. ok well this is a first for me ok in the snow actually for me to. 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 conditions of weather conditions right now ok so now we're trying to play in mind holes. but always been in the good walk spoiled camp when it came to goals

but louder was obviously a down pound and she said she could give me a few pointers. what do we need to do so the first thing you have to do set up your ball on the tee ok young then those boots on and to make up position. them so appropriate a self to make a suit and then so i think you. are you are the head. not exactly in all species start and i'd always thought go for the non-contact sport. oh. walking wounded. get out of the way the person playing. to some soothing tea i was ready to tee off. i decided i'd play a solo round. as long as i wasn't attempting the longest drive. ahead in the right

direction. see you. now. mind you my technique wasn't my first concern. with the temperature down around minus twenty celsius or minus four. and i may have made one of the quickest. history. right. comes to 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 given to each musician like mine. 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. if

you wander around the streets of somalia there's one car that you'll see more than any other and that's no surprise because it's dominated the region's manufacturing industry for decades. if you think of the old russian car that you can't help but think of the they've been going up and down the countries roads for almost half a century and their story started right over that. this is the alto bus factory more than seventy thousand employees work within it six hundred hecticness and they produce two and a half thousand new calls every day. ok so when i think about this that's a classic this is pretty much what props up in my head but it's. making something a little more modern. and i was ready to see how it was done.

in the right place. mostly. i would be a bad date populus ok so this is where everything begins. so this is well this story of the hard begins we are in the world and in this in the flood because the women are at the history of us began in the late sixty's and that's why we produced more than twenty six millions of cards to print them a list of silly we produced the dean families of ours. from old less than a month. on the basis of the are two 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 the production line going to lower the price line relieved by all of us to

get them to do it with the german company to come up with it is the world in a place in the side of the cardboard then actually only two persons on need here and there is a separation is. not available yet and once the frameworks assembled it's on to the next post the operation. now would have gone to the next stage you know and it worked up with the body ok and the border with force is still winter so we just qualities that a good. band in the neighboring hangar things were moving on quickly. from the wind screams to the engines and the wheels touch separately and it's remarkably fast operation. and what do you get for your seven thousand euro price tag something like this. so if the sixteen hundred pieces of metal but only

four hours on the production line brand new blog. is ready for the roads. to cleveland maybe a very popular color around ten bucks in the winter time it can get you everywhere . sometimes you just have to try out a more traditional means of transport though 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 you say i'm guessing it but even so mara 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 you already on the river this is and speed that's almost the role and this key your ok future will be between sixty kilometers per hour. maybe one hundred right that sounds

terrifying. good ok let's go. in here and his friends a funds of skewering which apparently is skiing behind animals in this case a high powered snowmobile. remote from the belly up in this business. yeah right get out of me really fee and or just. my medical insurance is up today. 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 the home across to get. me a dose. theo's i'm really. hurt is all of the good life so please please. come back i'm going to fall back. and mrs lee there were

a couple of false starts but eventually i managed to stay upright. ok i know you like he was a. part of still much. what you managed to control your balance this is an amazing experience and soon i was ready to join the guys for a group effort. and we're ready to rock. a . piece that you will do.

but if you are trying this for the first time it's best to get out of a confident. well that's a fairly intense reintroduction disc. but i think. everything still intact. the rest. unfortunately my recovery was to be short lived. i'm still thinking from there on the ice but apparently. another thing that he wants me to try something about turning me into a tunnel. it sounded rather ominous but once again because of promised i was going to enjoy myself. oh although you may think.

so what are we doing. of course will this. ok so the super no see super super this royce gives you instant flying power. and useful i've got to fly with a roof and two. and a little history this is a feel it's ok. turns out that a tunnel rat is an acrobatic expert in vertical wind tunnels and i was about to get my first lesson who will. first. read. these beautiful imagery. if you are good and happy people. smile damn it.

tightly the secret here is subtle changes to your body surface area do it right and you should rise in full 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 off. right. into the tunnel. but. maybe not this year. and then it was time to take to the end i was a little worried that i could crash to the floor at any point but remained had a good grip on me.

a fair. bit of. water a little bit more. through. all of them. and all tried made it through a ton of them run it was time to go solo. them despite bouncing off the walls a few times i made it down. in one piece. in the lazy spirits ok there are about thirty six could do their part in a but i think we're going to call that one the belly fly didn't it the superman suit works after all. it had been a lot of fun but some are 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 is 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 but on quite a show for. not just a claims to have people with a first residents of this area often 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. and discover very worked up i am not sure what it is. everyone was upset because they were hungry but a bit of a boogie seems to solve problems. really i know.

i have no idea what's going on. oh. no 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. this is the. element of the massively successful. i'll. try to have some sort of significant. recipe for people is right i sign up for this. apparently mushy series here to beat all the bad spirits out of you before the year

starts anew. and then you can have a go well with both my parents the statistic that i thank you for it but very obvious. 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. windsor is rank with i am not kids. and so i was a. go. ahead with a rope burn so. i doesn't leo and my pancakes but sadly it was time for me to be leaving some araa. i found a thriving cultural business and scientific center and people that are always ready to show you a great time. pete

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show with hotel. slim hotel evergreens the also totally. springs resort and spa hotel royal she pens ambassador hotel. the evergreen clothes a hotel in thailand to eat london hotel time ambassador type the full point. group the photo. how would international house change every hotel. in defense of damascus moscow blames syria's increasing international isolation on the west to bring about regime change. syria's arab neighbors turn their backs

on president assad as the united states and its allies call for tougher action to bring about the downfall of the syrian leader. turning up the heat tough talks between the u.s. and china over trade and currency issues as the apec summit comes to a close and one. three. one. back on track a crew of three heads to the international space station on a russian. song the crash of a similar rocket will clean up in. a very warm welcome to you this is r.t. live from moscow where it's now a just after six pm roll reception the u.s. and its allies are more interested in regime change in this.