Bizarre loos, big drops and leaning houses - Photos from Sochi
Recent and archive images of the final push and journey to be ready for the Sochi Winter Olympics, which opens on Friday and ends on February 23. Sochi has for years been what President Vladimir Putin has called the world's biggest construction site, with new hotels being built with state money. Despite the concerns about safety, IOC President Thomas Bach said Russia had managed in seven years to transform an old-fashioned sub-tropical summer resort, once favoured by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, into a "modern all-year sport and tourism hub".
AWKWARD - A two-toilet double stall is seen in the lobby of a media hotel as preparations continue for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
WEIRD - The walls of a toilet are decorated with a mountain panorama wallpaper and skis on the floor at the "Red Fox" restaurant in the winter sport resort of Rosa Khutor, a venue for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.
WHOOPS - A man looks at a residential house that started leaning after a tunnel collapse in the Russian Black sea resort of Sochi. The house, unnoccupied at the time, began leaning after a tunnel on a nearby road construction project fell in.
STUNNING - A general view of the accommodation at the athletes village in Rosa Khutor as preparations continue for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
OMINOUS - A member of the Russian military walks past a rocket launcher near residential houses next to the Olympic Park in the Adler district of Sochi.
HALF-HEARTED? - Workers paint a Sochi sign at the Rosa Khutor alpine resort near where the Winter Olympic Games are taking place.
GLORIOUS - Sweden's snowboarder Sven Thorgren goes off a jump during snowboard slopestyle training at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in Rosa Khutor.
MAGNIFICENT - Course workers look at Switzerland's Martina Koch speeding down the track during the women's luge World Cup at the "Sanki" sliding center in the winter sport resort of Rosa Khutor, a venue for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.
WHAT? - A photographer puts a python on a sunbather for a snapshot on a beach outside Russia's Black Sea city of Sochi. Photographing with exotic animals such as snakes, parrots, monkeys and alligators is popular among holiday-makers at the Black Sea coast of Russia.
FLYING - Snowboarders sail off jumps during snowboard slopestyle training at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in Rosa Khutor.
STERN - A warning sign describes the rules for walking on the snow as snow cannons are in use at the Russki Gorki center where the Olympic ski jumping and Nordic combined events will take place in Rosa Khutor near Sochi.
DANGEROUS - Kim Jun Ho (L) of South Korea crashes during practice at the Adler Arena in preparation for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
CUTE? - Russian President Vladimir Putin strokes a Persian leopard during his visit to the Persian Leopard Breeding and Rehabilitation Centre in the Sochi national park.
MASCOTS - Women in traditional Russian costumes wait for the prize-giving ceremony after the two-men bobsleigh test event at the "Sanki" sliding center in Rosa Khutor, a venue for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.
