There is a very special clock that resides in the White Dining Room in the Hermitage Palace, but its function is not to tell time. In fact, it has been shown the time 2:10 AM for over a hundred years.
The stopped clock serves as a reminder of what took place on October 25. 1917 at 2:10 in the morning, when the Bolsheviks arrested Russia’s provisional government. That was the exact moment in which Russia officially became a communist country.
Rabbit Memorial
When you walk down the Ioannovsky Bridge in St. Petersburg on your way to the Peter and Paul Fortress, you can’t help but notice the statue of a rabbit standing on a wooden pole in the water. The sculpture represents the many rabbits that used to live on the island in the 18th and 19th centuries. At the time, the island was even known by the name “Hare Island.”
During that time, St. Petersburg was plagued by many floods. Both rabbits and people had to fight the floods in order to stay alive. Unfortunately, there aren’t many rabbits left on the island today, but at least there are plenty of statues around to remind us of their presence.
Russia Has The Biggest Landmarks
Since the country of Russia occupies ten percent of the land on Earth, it is no surprise that they have some of the biggest natural landmarks in the world.
The Volga River, which flows from central Russia to the Caspian Sea, is the biggest river in Europe and an estimated 2,300 miles long. Lake Baikal in Siberia, which is believed to be the world’s deepest lake, holds 20% of the planet’s drinking water supply. Lake Elton, in the Volgograd region, is Europe’s largest salt lake and the Sarykum Dune in Dagestan is Eurasia’s biggest sand dune.
Pepsi is the Popular Choice
When Vice President Richard Nixon visited Russia in 1959, he participated in a televised debate with Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev, which later became known as the Kitchen Debate. The two leaders talked about their countries and discussed possible options for future cooperation between them.
Not everything was serious politics. However, there was one moment that had everyone in the audience smiling; it happened when Nixon and Khrushchev shared a Pepsi. Soft drinks may have been completely unknown in Russia back then, but that is not the case today. Russia actually accounts for 8% of all Pepsi sales worldwide.
Is Beer Alcohol?
We’ve already seen how Russians feel about their booze, but it seems we may even disagree about what booze even is. For example, the law that stated that beer was an alcoholic beverage only came into effect in Russia in 2011.
This may seem hard to believe, but until about ten years ago, drinks with less than 10% of alcohol were not legally considered alcoholic beverages. The law may have changed, but that doesn’t mean that Russians are drinking less alcohol. Instead, the change in beer’s status has made it more expensive and has simply driven more Russians back to their traditional favorite – vodka.