Places lovexdumpling Wants to Go

The tallest hotel in Europe.

Once frequented by heavyweights of the Russian arts scene, this café is stuck in the 1800s.

Some of the world's only freshwater seals live in one very special lake in Russia.

Abandoned castle was once a grand example of Russian privilege, built exclusively to win a frivolous bet between noblemen.

Moscow's imposing monument to the Space Age.

A 250-year-old timepiece-automaton adorned with golden mechanical birds, which still sing to this day.

Moscow's most popular cemetery includes the graves of numerous cosmonauts.

Former headquarters of the KGB.

The reason for the strange contortions in the trunks of these "drunken" pine trees in Russia is still a mystery.

Secret Soviet city once home to Russian cosmonauts and space training facilities.

The past, present, and future of Russia's signature alcohol is remembered in the world's only museum dedicated to the starchy spirit.

A sculpture park of the tossed aside relics of the USSR, from Stalin to a massive Soviet emblem.

The villagers of the coldest inhabited place on Earth adjust to unique challenges presented by day-to-day living.

Nightmarish example of the unintended consequences of weapons testing.

Its front wall is striped with a menagerie of fantastic beasts and magnificent monsters.

The oldest museum in Russia is home to a fascinating collection of nearly two million anthropological artifacts and anatomical curiosities.

Thanks to a spelling mistake this bizarre beaver-tiger hybrid became the symbol of a Siberian town.

An 18th century wonder of the world, lost in WWII, re-created at the Catherine Palace.

A little church on a tiny island looks like something from a fairy tale.

Stunning examples of Russia's 18th-century wooden architecture.

Palace where the nearly un-killable Rasputin was murdered.

This Russian religious complex is a Frankenstein's chapel that includes influence from almost all the major faiths.

It took over half a century but a Russian monument to a famous and tragic space pup finally stands in Moscow.

Museum celebrating the achievements of the Soviet space program.