Issue link: https://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25059
play broom ball A "totally brutal" contact sport started in the 1950s as a way for expats to bond, broom ball now has team shirts, logos, officials, leagues and the Broom Ball Cup and formal Ball each spring. Required equipment: a large round ball, brooms and an expanse of ice-usually a frozen tennis court at one of the embassies. It's hockey without skates, rugby with brooms. The object: to bat the ball around, knock the other team down and get loaded on the sidelines. Call any of the for eign news bureaus in Moscow for the schedule. nighttime workout Attention showgirls and showboys! For nocturnal adventure, there's the Hungry Duck (+7095- 923-61 58; Pushechnaya UI 9) next to the Kuznetsky Most Metro. At the rowdiest joint in Europe you can gyrate your natural assets above an intoxicated crowd that only wants more. More beer. At this Canadian-owned Mecca you can groove on every flat surface in the place. Perhaps best to wear knee pads and helrnets in case you take a tumble, which is likely on Mondays and Thursdays when, starting at 8pm, you get six drinks for the price of one. Enter at your own risk. A nose plug comes in handy if you plan to stay all night-patrons seem to express themselves anywhere if the bathroom lines are too long. Closes around 6am, and reopens for lunch at noon. r a diu s � treasure hunt Lurk around Red Square, peer into open grates, ask a few questions and you may find a group of adventure bibliophiles dedicated to searching the city's underground tunnels for the lost library of Ivan the Terrible. The col lection of priceless manuscripts transported here from Byzantium, is rumored to be buried somewhere beneath the Kremlin. A little Russian and some prior urban subterranean experiences could prove useful. h 0 u r� r a diu s� whitewater Russians h 0 u r� 5 r a diu s� About 50 kilometers north of Moscow is the Vogulsa River (Class Ill. 500 kilometers north is the Msta River (Class III). Sasha Yershov of Reuters likes to go further, south to the Caucausus, or east to Siberia. He's part of a group that travels by plane, train, bus and don key then treks over mountains to get to catamaran class V and VI waters. The Gover Brothers run expert-level trips on such rivers as the Katun in Siberia's Altai mountains. "The point of whitewater rafting is thinking you are going to die .... They did a good job, " says Moscow-based journalist Alan Cullison. Or try adventure outfitters Team Gorky, staffed by former pro paddlers. Tel: +7 8312 651 999. E-mail adv@team-gorky.nnov.ru. Or call the Moscow Intourist office: +7 95 292 2365. ice fishing in St Petersburg Take an overnight train to St Petersburg. Head north to the coast, exploring the waterways and looking for people sitting out on the ice. Bring a chair, a fishing pole, bait, a sandwich and vodka to share. Let the experienced fishermen show you how to saw your hole in the ice. Settle in, plop down your line and enjoy the scenery. Don't drink too much, lest the ice breaks off while you doze. Every winter Russian men get drunk and float out to sea while ice fishing. When they don't come home, their wives call the emergency air rescue squad to send helicopters out to sea to pick their husbands off the rebel ice floes. Prime time: January and February. 3 PHOTO: HALLAHAN@NETWORKIMAGES.COM mushroom hunt Drive out of the city in any direction and you will soon see green. Pull over on the side of the road, grab your bucket and start hunting. Russians hunt mushrooms anywhere that is concrete-free. Watch out for poganki-poisonous mushrooms. Wear a long white canvas overcoat to look like Tolstoy on his summer estate. Bring a picnic and spend the day living off the land. map: russian life magazine I RIS publications