The tour of this beautiful city starts from the B&B where I'm staying, walking to the Arctic and Antarctic museum.

Walking in St. Petersburg. This city has also a very efficient metro subway system, with beautiful stations. However, in order to enjoy the city more, I prefer to walk all the way.

The museum of Arctic and Antarctic. This hall is dedicated to the arctic and there is also a northen light simulator (impossible to represent on a picture!)

A reconstruction of the Krassin icebreaker saving the members of Umberto Nobile's expedition to the North Pole.

This hall is dedicated to Antarctica. There are samples of suites used during the expeditions, information on wildlife and scientific bases.

From the Arctic and Antarctic museum, I walk along the Nevsky prospektive, up to Hermitage square.

The tour of St. Petersburg continues with a vist to the Krassin icebreaker, now docked in the Neva river and converted to a museum. This ship had great importance during the exploration of the artic regions the past century.

Thanks to the hull's shape, kept together by over 4 millions of rivets, the Krassin was able to break ice up to 2.5 meters of thickness, a real record for an icebreaker more than 90 years old.

This hall is dedicated to the rescue of Umberto Nobile's expedition team to the North Pole, after the wrek of Italia airship.

The dinning room. The picture over the left wall represents the Krassin how it was, when built over 90 years ago. From then, it was refurbished many times and was converted from coal to diesel.

I then continue my visit to St. Petersburg, walking along Neva river, with views over Hermitage.

PICTURES

St. Petersburg (YOU ARE HERE)

Three days in St Petersburg are really not enough to appreciate the city and to visit the countless museums, so I have to limit my itinerary only to the Arctic and Antarctic museum, the Hermitage, the Church of Our Savior and the Krassin icebreaker, the ship that has saved the members of Umberto Nobile's expeditions to the North Pole.

Novosibirsk

Novosibirsk is the Russia's third biggest city and geographical center, as well as the capital of Siberia. I hike in the city with a temperature going from -10 to -18 deg.centigrades, visiting the Opera theatre (the world's biggest!), the Transiberian railway station and the downtown, where ice sculptors were at work.GO

Yakutsk

Yakutsk is the capital of Yakutia autonomous region and has about 240000 inhabitants. The temperature was frequently around -40 degrees, both C. and F., as the two scales meet at this low value. I hike in the downtown main streets, visiting also the local museum, the dock onto Lena frozen river and the Permafrost institute. GO

From Yakutsk to Tomtor via Ust-nera

A flight of about two hours brings me from Yakutsk to Ust-Nera, a town of approximately 8000 inhabitants, from where the tour continues to Tomtor by car, crossing valleys, mountains and villages having the lowest winter temperatures of the northen hemisphere. This area is also sadly known for gulags and executions during the first half of past century. GO

Tomtor

Tomtor is a small town situated inside the "Pole of the Cold", the world's coldest inhabited place, where the January's average temperature is -50 degrees centigrades. I visit the old gold mine where nice ice sculptures are kept, and an hot spring where most water never freezes. GO

Oymyakon

Oymyakon is a village made of many charming small houses, where about 1200 people live. It is here that the lowest temperature of the northen hemisphere, -71,2°C, was recorded. I went on a frozen river with a fisherman, to see how ice fishing is carried-out, spending a few hours out at -52°C. I've also visited a nearby horse farm. GO

From Oymyakon to Yakutsk via Tyoply Klyuch

The distance from Oymyakon to Yakutsk is about 1000km and requires two full days by car, with an overnight in Tyoply Kluch. Again, wonderful frozen mountains, valleys, lakes and river, where everything is white. A visit to a meteo station is also included. GO

Visit http://www.yakutiatravel.com for tours to Yakutia