Travel Notes

Station Reopened

Leningrad Station, Russia's oldest train station (opened in 1855 as Nikolayevsky, a name that current Russian Railways management would like to see return), has reopened after four years of remodeling.

The station's passenger lounges and ticket booths were overhauled, and a food court and updated baggage storage hall were added.

The renovation cost R3 billion ($90 million), according to Russian Railways.

Doc Fest

The Museum of Moscow has opened a documentary cinema, the first in the capital to show both Russian and foreign documentary films.

The small movie theater, run by the Center for Documentary Film, is located next to the Park Kultury metro station and aims to boost the popularity of the genre, which has completely disappeared from mainstream theaters. The project was launched with aid from the city government's new cultural department, which has also overhauled several parks in the city to widespread praise.

In July, the cinema was showing the critically acclaimed films Samsara by Ron Fricke, The Imposter by Bart Layton, and Waste Land, among others. Foreign films are shown with Russian subtitles. The cinema has also promised to launch a media library this fall that will stock Soviet documentaries and foreign classics.

The price of admission is 250 rubles ($7.50). cdkino.ru

Sochi Hotels Rated

Some 496 hotels, sanatoriums, and guest houses in Sochi have been rated using the "star" system in preparation for this coming winter's Olympic games, city authorities announced.

According to the city, there are 22 five-star hotels, 22 four-star hotels, 95 three-star hotels, 104 facilities with two stars, and 79 with just one star. An additional 184 sites were categorized as "mini hotels."

It was not clear what standards were used to derive the rankings.

Peterhof Fountains

The Peterhof Palace, which lies about 40 kilometers west of St. Petersburg's city center by road, has opened a new museum in one of its galleries to showcase the history and workings of the park's most famous feature: now visitors will be able to gain detailed information on the palace's legendary system of fountains.

Peter the Great first mentioned the idea of building a palace at the Peterhof site in 1705 and had it built as his Summer Palace, convenient to the harbor at nearby Kronstadt, his starting point on trips to Europe.

Exhibits include old blueprints and archive photos, as well as eighteenth century pipes and tools used by the master craftsmen who built the fountains.

A Century Late

For the first time in nearly a century, Russia will officially honor its fallen in the First World War.

Sergei Naryshkin, State Duma chairman and also chairman of the committee organized to mark the centennial of the outbreak of World War I, will next year, on behalf of the state, lay a wreath before the Moscow obelisk (near Sokol) that commemorates "Those Who Fell in the World War of 1914-­1918," ITAR-TASS reported.

Russia entered World War I on August 1, 1914, when Germany declared war on it. Some 2 million Russian soldiers died in action and another 1.5 million are estimated to have perished as a result of the conflict.

After the November 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, Russia mostly stopped fighting on the Eastern Front, allowing Germany to make serious territorial gains and demands that led to the humiliating (for Soviet Russia) Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

Since those who took part in the war were fighting to defend the Russian monarchy and state, they received little credit or thanks for their effort. A monument built in Vyazma in 1916 to "Heroes of the Second Patriotic War" (the first being the war against Napoleon) was destroyed in 1920. By the 1930s, the war had been eclipsed by the horrors of Russia's Civil War.

In June of last year, President Putin was asked how Russia would celebrate the centennial of the war's start in 2014. He responded by offering a historical perspective on the war's outcome for Russia, saying that "the Bolsheviks committed an act of national betrayal..." The war was unique in world history, Putin pointed out, in that Russia lost to the losing side, Germany. "We capitulated to it, and shortly thereafter it capitulated to the Entente."