The first Russian discount airline Sky Express started regular daily flights between Moscow and Sochi for 500 R ($20) one way. This is the cheapest offer on the market, and the airline will soon launch daily flights to Rostov-na-Donu (9 February) and Murmansk (14 February) as well. The price will stay the same at least for a few weeks and you can book your flight by calling +7 800 2009-360. Sky Express' website has an English version, but the online booking works in the Russian version only.
A small tip: you can get the special price if you use the promo code when you book your ticket: SKYX001



Sochi is a popular tourist destination for Russians, as it is situated on the shore of the Black Sea. However, what is even more interesting about this destination is that the best Russian ski and snowboard resort Krasnaya Polyana is located within a short drive from Sochi. Considering there's not so much snow in Europe these days, there's a good reason to try it out. You can read more about the resort in the World Snowboard Guide's , the guide to all Russian resorts in this book was written by Way to Russia team.

There is lots of snow in Moscow at the moment and the local airports (Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo) announced that there might be flight delays. Also, there's lots of traffic on the main motorways connecting Moscow to the international airports, so the journey to the center of the city will take about 2 hours instead of 1 hour it takes normally. Be careful when you plan your journey!

The Russian Railways have finally created something really special and nice: a virtual tour of "Rossiya" Trans-Siberian train (#1/2), which departs from Moscow and goes all the way to Vladivostok. It's possible to see the views from the window, "talk" to the passengers, take a look at the compartments, the restaurant, toilets, and learn a lot of interesting things. The texts are in Russian, but it's pretty easy to navigate through, just click through from the Day 1 to Day 6 in the interface above.

You can view the virtual tour here.

Moscow is severely lacking in graffiti compared with other major European cities. This can probably be explained by a relatively young and small hip-hop culture and an overbearing police presence. Which makes this video quite unique. He's not the most talented graffiti artist around but some of the locations he hits are pretty brazen - Kamergersky Pereulok, Kuznetsky Most Ulitsa, both the inside and outside of a metro train and a street corner right opposite the Kremlin. The video's worth watching just for its sightseeing value. Shame about the music though...