Places piccolo8va Wants to Go

An early-20th-century "dacha" village of quaint cottages curiously located in a modern part of Moscow.

A small part of Russia that does not touch any other part of Russia.

The tallest hotel in Europe.

The coldest city in the world.

World's largest bell sits on the grounds of the Kremlin in Moscow.

A dormant lightning machine equal to all the power in Russia.

A Marxist summer camp full of fantastical statues lies tucked away and forgotten in the forests of Moscow.

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

A remote forest of stone pillars along the Lena river.

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

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.

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

Back in the tiny USSR.

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

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

Legends of time travel and magical woodland creatures bolster the natural charm of this verdant sanctuary in the midst of Moscow.

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

Nightmarish example of the unintended consequences of weapons testing.

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

The world's second-largest excavated hole.

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

The gorgeous entrances into the city's underbelly look more like grand halls than subway stops.

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