Russia an Perplexing Yet Lively Country

With a whopping land area of 17,075,400 km over the huge expanse of Europe and Asia, Russia hales as the bulkiest country around the globe in terms of area. However, despite its titanic scale, Russia remains to be quite a conundrum. In one of Churchill's anecdotes, he described Russia as "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma" seems to be the exact illustration of existing Russia.

Such conundrum that envelopes Russia is one of the reasons why tourists still insist on observing this country. Russia's varying ethnic background constitutes one active cultural melting pot that contributes to the country's vibrant culture. Various institutions such as the Orthodox Church remains to be one of influential driving forces in establishing a holistic spiritual inclination of the Russian people. This is one thing I like about Russia: due to varying political turmoil that its history caused, its art advanced and remained steadfast up to this day. During my latest trip to St. Petersburg, I had the opportunity to observe the Russian Winter Festival. It is also held in other Russian locations such as Moscow and Novgorod and is normally celebrated from late December to early January. It stages folklore shows that gives a retrospective presentation of the culturally-rich country that is Russia.