Tallinn is an excellent choice to visit during the Christmas season. Stalls serve the traditional winter meal of blood sausage, potatoes, and sauerkraut. Glühwein is served practically everywhere in the city.
The Graveyard of Fallen Mouments is where many of Moscow's statues of Stalin and other Soviet leaders ended up after the dissolution of the USSR. In addition to rows of intact statues, there is also this metal cage containing decapitated heads in less well-preserved condition.
When navigating the Moscow Metro you should load a map onto your phone with English translations unless you can read Cyrillic. Oftentimes, the only printed maps available in Latin script are on the trains themselves.
The Maidan square in 2012. In 2014, this would be the epicenter of the Euromaidan movement that ousted Viktor Yanukovych and set off years of conflict with Russia. An underground shopping mall is below the glass dome in this photo.