Vodka and a Snowstorm

Last Saturday our group visited the Vodka Museum, which turned out to be a dinky tourist trap, for the most part. However, there was some interesting stuff there and they offered us free shots of vodka. I went ahead and just bought a whole bottle. There is a price paradox in Russia; although it is the third most expensive city in the world (according to the Economist) and food prices have risen by 25% since the summer, some of the best Vodka is still half the price of decent Vodka in the United States. I bought a limited edition bottle of Vodka made to commemorate the anniversary of the birth of St. Petersburg for $20, and the last time I bought Grey Goose vodka in the States, it cost me $40 (If I remember correctly). Also, you notice a glut of vodka everywhere. Instead of stacks of cola sitting in the grocery aisles for quick sale, you see giant pallets of vodka - of every kind - being sold in the same way, and for almost the same price, as cola. The dark side of this, is, of course, the rampant alcoholism that is decimating the population.

A model of what the first alcohol still looked like - a milestone in Russian history.

This is how Russians originally bought and sold vodka: 20 liters at a time.

This is Russian Standard, which is vodka made from the original recipe of the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev. He is more famous abroad for creating the periodic table of elements after seeing it in a dream.


We also visited Mosfilm, which is the biggest film studio in Russia and one of the biggest in Europe. It was very cold that day, in the middle of a mild snowstorm, when we visited. As you can see, though, the snow really looks beautiful.

An outdoor set of an old Russian movie set in the 18th century.

Kyle puts on one of the wigs made at Mosfilm.

A "ZIS" luxury sedan made for Politburo officials, such as Stalin. The acronym "ZIS" in Russian stands for "Factory named in honor of Stalin", which is the name of the plant that made these types of cars in the USSR.

I have no idea what this is, but it's cool, so I took a picture.

It was a beautiful evening after the snowstorm weakened, leaving everything covered in snow. I have never seen snow like this in Oregon. It is so cold and dry that the snow is like fine, white dust. Even when it is laying on the ground, it stays particulate and gets kicked up in the air like flour when you step in it. I took this picture on the campus of my host school.

Another picture of the snow from the sixth floor of my apartment building. The flash caught some falling snow.

I hope everyone is doing well!