Russian Translation of Winter Wonderland Song

Probably almost everyone remembers and knows the song -  Winter Wonderland. You can check out this youtube video of the song if you are not sure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkFP0VwpPRY

We found a very nice translation into Russian of the beginning of the song done by one of the workers of some Russian translation company.

So, in the original it goes like this:


Sleigh bells ring, are you listening,
In the lane, snow is glistening
A beautiful sight,
We're happy tonight.
Walking in a winter wonderland.

And here is English to Russian translation of the song:


Слышишь, колокольчик в санях звенит,
На дороге снег блестит,
Красота - не передам!
Cчастливы сегодня вечером,
Гуляя в зимней сказке.

I think the translation was made pretty-pretty well.

And for those of you who wants to try to sing it in Russian, here is the transliteration (Russian phonetic translation):


Slishish', kalakol'chik v sanyah zvinit,
Na darogi sneg blestit,
Krasata - ni peredam!
Shastlivi segodnya vecheram,
Gulaya v zimnei skazke.

The 250th Hermitage Anniversary

Hermitage or the State Hermitage is one of the largest museums in the world is almost ready to celebrate its 250th anniversary. The museum will turn 250 years on the 7th of December of 2014. The museum is well-known around the world for a large collection of art and culture pieces. Hermitage is located in Saint-Petersburg.  It was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great or Catherine II as her private collection. Historians don't know the actual birthday of the museum, but everybody celebrate its birthday on the 7th because of the day of Saint Catherine - the protectress (patroness) of the museum. It was opened to the public in 1852. Right now the museum has at its disposition nearly 3 million items. The place holds the Guinness World Record for its painting collection. If you are interested in Russian Art - this is the best place to learn about it.

So, what will the museum get as a birthday gift?

Russian government discussed some plans about changing the face of the museum by donating 15.7 billions rubles (about 573,809,880 US dollars.) By 2014 they want to equip the Palace Square, the building of the General Staff, the Defense Ministry transferred to the museum, as well as the building of the Small Hermitage museum. They will also have to renovate the interiors of the Winter Palace and build a brand new Repository which will be available to public. 

No Winter Time in Russia - Finish for Daylight Saving Time

Russian President - Dmitry Medvedev has decided to cancel the shift to winter time, so no more daylight saving time for Russian people. And most of Russians support this decision - more than 60% of the population. Russian government believes that people will benefit from this change, especially their health.
Scientists calculated that the country saves only 0,1–0,3% by implementing the daylight saving time. And there is no need to change the time in northern countries like Russia.
This spring, on the 27th of March, will be the last time Russia changes the time. Microsoft has already adapted to this, all Windows based computers will reflect this change after Windows update.
Dmitry Medvedev ordered the government to prepare all the documents regarding this change along with the Russian to English translation of the documents.
Ukraine and Belarus will most probably follow Russian decision as it is a hot topic in the Ukraine and Belarus governments.
Time difference between Moscow and New York is 8 hours in summer and winter times, but it will be 9 hours in winter from now on.