I Can See Russia From Here! – All Things Good

As part of our celebration of “all things Russia” for Valentine’s Day, be sure to read our post in Rose’s Ridge, “From Russia With Love,” and try our recipes for Russian dishes from Around The Table.

“I am Russian. Russian by heart and soul, profoundly devoted to my land.”
– Fyodor Tyutchev (Russian poet 1803-1873)

Quick, interesting facts on Russia*:

The Russian Federation is the largest country in the world, covering more than one ninth of the earth’s land area
Russia spans nine time zones
Russia contains one fourth of the world’s fresh water
Russia is one of the top producers of natural gas and oil in the world
Russia borders with more countries than any other country in the world; 14 countries and 2 with maritime boundaries (USA and Japan)
Russia and America are less than 4km apart at the nearest point (near Sarah Palin’s Alaska)
There are 9 million more women than men in Russia (Happy Valentine’s Day!)
70 percent of Russia is made up of Siberia, defined as a region of central and eastern Russia stretching from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean
Lake Baikal in Siberia is the deepest and oldest lake in the world (it would take all the rivers of the world – Volga, Don, Dnepr and Yenisei, Ural and Ob, Ganges and Orinoko, Amazon and Thames, Seine and Oder – nearly one year to fill lake Baikal’s basin)
Russia is the only country in the world washed by 12 seas
The word “vodka” comes from the Russian word “voda” which means “water.”