next discover russia with artie's james brown delves into the local life and traditions of the summer. if you're traveling in the russian winter it's always good to head to somewhere well developed and the small 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 of rome this 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. it's not exactly a very picturesque place but i did a thorough 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 eighty two as a backup 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. seems even more incredible to me is that the people that some are 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. through is all that it was built by conflicts who were them 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 i'm a totally 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 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 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 of the head of the room for the majority of the soviet union's existence some are was renamed. 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 benefits of 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 where 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

a 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 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. adds. to the lists. of.

the ice they want to see me with any passengers but i was very happy to be going so . we can avoid hitting any excuse that would be good. but when you don't have customers. it is easy to get carried away. with the problem with this so if i was driving this all the time i'd just be tempted to. drive 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. on 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 that carried the first man into space i know some of the city's cosmic achievements are on display to the public. full of a lot of. space and. 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. 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'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 full of hundred kilometers above the it would be able to read what was on the news here is definitely one of the city's cultural highlights but if you're also a winter sports fun 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. best way to elude you speak english yet. james then asked me. ok well this is a first for me ok in the snow action if women too. what's the idea about today what's going on well it's a golf tournament so you play golf almost the same rules as for some money you have of course some local rules that. all of us rules are you know couldn't resist

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 gold 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 set up your ball on the tee ok yeah then those but to make up position. them so for a prayer self to make a suit and then to make this move. you are the head. not exactly in all species start and i've always thought go for the non-contact sport. oh. walking wounded. get out of the way of the person playing.

to some soothing tea i was ready to teach. the ladies when. i decided to play a solo round. as long as i wasn't attempting the longest drive. ahead in the right direction. see you. my technique and my first concern. with the temperature down around minus twenty celsius so minus four. one of the quickest. in history.

comes in for the high school championship. and. who is now. going to enjoy. some very well deserved because. in the clubhouse it may have been freezing but some are was a lot of fun and i was ready to take a look at another famous russian business the coals this region.

here. not saying. you know what's going on here. if you wander around the streets of some. you'll see. and that's no surprise because it's. the. if you think. that you can't help but think. they've been going up and down the country. and

their story. this is the. two thousand employees work with six hundred. every day. ok so when i think of a lot of this that's a classic this is pretty much what crops up in my head but it's. making something a little more than. i was ready to see how it was done. in the right place through. really nicely if. i would be allowed to do it populous ok so this is where everything begins. so this

is well this told me all the hard beginning we are in the world and in these in the law 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 me wince of cards to print them a list silly we produced the dean families of ours. from old pleasant months old on the basis of we are two more than cars love the plane on the freeway. the leader is one of his biggest sellers the machines work day and night keeping the production line going to load the guys behind the lead by all of us to give a little german company to come up with it is the weld in a place in the night of the cardboard actually only two persons need it here and there is a separation is. that all of. them once the frameworks assembled it's on to the next polish deliberation. now we'll go into the next day job and it worked

out with the body ok and then the border with forces go into the sweetest qualities . and 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 force. operation. and what do you get for your seven thousand euro price tag something like this. the six hundred pieces of metal but i need four hours on the production line my brand new law that. is ready for the roads. to clean a maybe a very popular color around here bounce 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 samoa i decided i'm going to ramp things up a little bit. so you know if 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 are we going to be doing today we're going to ski your e. on the river this instant and speed that's almost the role and this key your ok the 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 fans of stuart which apparently is skiing behind animals in this case a high powered snowmobile. romo makes it look very effortless doesn't it. yeah

write it out to me of anything 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 the whole craft again. really dose. really. there it is all of the good like so please please. because i got a good. and mrs lee there were a couple of false starts but eventually i managed to stay upright. ok i know you like. to still be. proud of still much. what you managed to control your balance this is an amazing

experience and soon i was ready to join the going for a group effort. and we're ready to rock. and i. feel that it will. be fine. but if you are trying this for the first time it's special to get over confident. oh. well. well that's a fairly intense reintroduction to skiing but i think.

everything's still intact. i think i just got a little rest but unfortunately my recovery was to be short lived. i'm still aching for my session out there on the ice but apparently my new friend has another thing that he wants me to try something about turning me into a tunnel runs. it sounded rather ominous but once again because of promised i was going to enjoy myself. although you may think you get so what you're going to lead to. because we'll. ok so simple no see super with roy it gives you instant flying power. and useful if you've got it well. and. you know history

will show 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. fortunately. it is like. these beautiful imagery. you know if you are good and happy people. smile down it. tightly the secret here is something 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 five hundred horsepower engine enough to even get someone

like me off the ground. good fellow off. right. into the tunnel. but. you know. and then it was time to take to the yeah i was a little worried that i could crash to the floor at any point but remember had a good grip on me. 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. and then they say spirits ok they're 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 certain 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 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 but i'm quite hopeful. it's not just

a claims that her people were the 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. discovered very worked up there i am not sure what it is. they will find a. little to everyone was upset because they were hungry but a bit of a bookie seems to solve problems. already i know. i have no idea what was going on under the rule. 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. i. think this is the. element of the massively successful. i'll. try to have some sort of significance. i have to be people is right i sign up for this. apparently series here to beat all the bad spirits out of you this is the year starts a new i and then you can have a go in with both my. lips the staples that i thank you for you but very obvious. i found once everyone has been cleansed this is yet more dull sing to celebrate but finally i managed to sneak off to some to. windsor is rank with oh i am not kids i finally had

a size eight. i should have been the rope to. buy doesn't it leo and my pancakes but sadly it was time for me to be leaving some aura. i found of troy being cultural business and scientific center and people that are always ready to show you a great time. russia

condemns foreign powers for inciting the opposition in syria in an attempt to topple president assad. syria's hour of the day boost to the bucks president assad says the united states and its allies called the tougher action to bring

about the downfall of the syrian leader. changing of the guard as new prime ministers take over in italy and greece we take a look at how they hope to tackle their country's overwhelming debt. police in the u.s. ramp up pressure on the men as they crack down on peaceful ted protests and marchers across the country. thank you for joining us here with our team broadcasting live twenty four hours a day on karen tara we go now to our top story russia's foreign minister has accused the u.s. and its allies in stirring up syria's opposition in an attempt to topple president bashar al assad moscow says the west is more interested in regime change than a peaceful solution to the on the rest artie's peter all over.