DID YOU KNOW XL4

Hello ladies and gents this is the viking telling you that today we are going to talk about]

DID YOU KNOW RUSSIA

1. The Hotel Astoria in St Petersburg is where Hitler planned to hold a huge celebratory banquet once he'd conquered the city (it was called Leningrad back then). Its restaurant remains an institution and one of the best places in the city to sample traditional Russian food. 

2. Russia's greatest museum - The Hermitage, also in St Petersburg - is home to around 70 cats, which guard its treasures against rodents. The tradition dates back to a 1745 decree of Empress Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great, founder of St. Petersburg. The museum also has almost 14 miles of marbled corridors.

3. Subbotnik is the day when residents of Russian cities volunteer to sweep up and tidy the streets. It started after the revolution but still happens today.

Holidays in Stalin's Russia: vintage travel posters

4. The name Red Square has nothing to do with communism, but derives from the word "krasnyi", which once meant "beautiful".

5. The icicles hanging from the gutters in Moscow in winter are so enormous that the pavements below are cordoned off - as they'd kill you if they fell on your head.

And as always have a chilled day from the viking.