From Russia with Love
6
Everything you Need to Know for
your Visit
museums, shopping and restaurants beyond compare, make one of Russia’s big cities your next vacation destination. After a day on the slopes, touring a museum, or shopping, visit a local restaurant and enjoy delicacies such as vodka, caviar, bliny, borsch, goulash and beef stroganoff.
Famous Russians
Yuri Gagarin- Born March 9, 1934, Yuri Gagarin was the first human in outer space. Gagarin grew up in Klushino, Russia with his parents and 3 siblings. As the Second World War commenced, the Gagarin family fell on hard times. In November 1941, Klushino was occupied by Nazis in the German’s advance toward Moscow, and their home was taken over by an officer. For almost two years, the entire family was forced to live in a 3 meter by 3 meter mud hut. First learning to fly in a biplane and then a Yak- 18, Yuri volunteered his time on weekends as a Soviet air cadet for a local aeronautics club. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin took off on his first, and only, space flight aboard the Vostok 1. It completed a full orbit around the earth before returning to earth. Gagarin was named a Hero of the Soviet Union, the nation’s highest honor. On March 27, 1968, Yuri Gagarin passed away in a MiG 15 training jet crash.
Leo Tolstoy-Noted for his famous works War & Peace and Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy was a Russian novelist, playwright, essayist and short story writer. Tolstoy was born on September 9, 1828 in Yasnaya Polyana, Russia, on his family’s estate. Leo’s parents died young, and the Tolstoy siblings grew up with relatives. Described by his teachers as “unwilling and unable to learn”, Tolstoy dropped out of university and joined the army where he began writing. Suffering from pneumonia, Leo Tolstoy passed away on November 20, 1910 at 82.
Irving Berlin-Israel Isidore Beilin, more commonly known as Irving Berlin, was a celebrated composer and lyricist of Belarusian and Jewish descent. Born in Mogilev, Russia on May 11, 1888, Berlin was one of Moses and Lena Lipkin Beilin’s eight children.. In 1893, Moses uprooted his family and moved to New York City. Berlin published his first song, “Marie from Sunny Italy” in 1907, and had his first international hit “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”, in 1911. Over his 60 year career, Berlin wrote an estimated 1,500 songs including the scores for 19 Broadway shows and 18 Hollywood films. Responsible for hits including “White Christmas”,“Happy Holiday”, “This is the Army, Mr. Jones”, and “There’s no Business like Show Business”, Irving Berlin is considered an American music legend. With 25 songs having reached the top of the charts, Berlin has worked with notable singers such as Fred Astaire, Barbara Streisand, Bing Crosby, Cher, Diana Ross, Billy Holiday, Doris Day and Celine Dion. This music icon passed away September 22, 1989 in New York City at the age of 101.