GUM: the Main Universal Shop. The 120th anniversary.

Before 1815 the site had been occupied by trading stalls. Retail trade and whole sale prospered there. The stalls needed renovation badly but the tenants were against it since it would decrease their revenue. The building was in such a bad condition that "once a layer of plaster fell on the buyers, but another time, a lady, trying on a velvet dress that suited her very well, failed through the rotten floor, broke her leg and so was taken to the hospital in the unpaid new dress. The owner was afraid to remind her about it, at the meantime being happy that she didn’t recover for her loss."

However, after a long-term opposition between the government officials and merchants who owned the stalls and the plots of land on which they were located,  in 1893 the grand opening of a new building of the Upper trading stalls took place. You can learn more about the GUM building construction on its site.

Nowadays it is  an enormous boutique with hundreds of departments. Its one side overlooks Red Square and the others - picturesque old-fashioned narrow Moscow streets. It also houses the Gastronome №1 (a large food shop), some cafes, and occasional exhibitions.

Taking a walk along the Moskva River: a pedestrian in Moscow.

Moscow is not a pedestrian friendly city. Cars parked on pavements, scarcely located underground walkways, too many people who normally rush around.

Well, I know I can't help grudging about the city. Here I would offer a route from the Novospassky Monastery along the Moskva River to the Red Square and further on to Tverskaya street, a pompous reminder of Stalin's Empire style.

The detailed map is here. 

You may start at Proletarskaya underground station then take your time relaxing in the garden of the Novospassky Monastery where you should also have a meal. Beware:  a walk along the river will take 2-3 hours and there are not so many crossings or underground pedestrian walkways. As far as I remember there were 2 or 3 of them.

Once you start your trip along the embankment, you won't get much chance to cross the road which is all along the embankment and is a very busy one. Strange but true: there aren't benches or any facilities for taking a break on the embankment.

However, the views unfolding will reward you for some inconvenience. 

Vladimir, the Golden Ring of Russia

We went to Vladimir in May but I didn't have time to properly arrange the material so it's a bit late. Here I'm going to write about what guides are like in Russia, our experience of checking in hotels, and nice things you can buy from a souvenir shop.

Vladimir is an administrative centre of the Vladimirsky region about 200 km from Moscow, one of the  cities of the Golden Ring of Russia. Population is about 350 thousand people. The city is older than Moscow(1147),  was founded in 1108.  Since 1157 it was the capital of Russia.

The city is on the Klyaz'ma River and several hills which makes it very picturesque.

It is particularly famous for the Uspensky Cathedral with the restored frescoes by Andrey Rublev and Daniil Cherny (1158) and Dmitrievsky Cathedral (1194). Those are the sights tourists are dragged to by unimaginative tourist agents in Vladimir regardless the fact they could show them more aspects of it.

The picture below is the view of Uspensky Cathedral from the Museum of Local History (ethnographical).

Restaurants in Moscow

We've recently been to a very interesting restaurant, Oblomov.

 Oblomov is a famous Russian character of a novel by Ivan Goncharov. Like most Russian literature, "Oblomov" novel (1859) is very versatile and profound. However, in a nutshell, the protagonist, Oblomov,  is a symbol of dwindling and lapsing into idleness  Russian nobility.

The three-floored mansion in the city center houses the restaurant. There are 3-4 rooms designed in the 19th century style. Having entered Oblomov, you're immediately find yourself in the atmosphere of the 19th century. They tried so hard to restore the atmosphere that they succeeded. Being there is an unforgettable experience. Which I would not apply to the food.

Restaurants in Moscow

Moscow so far has proved to be a city where you have to cautiously enter restaurants, shops, hairdressers' so that you won't be presented an unexpectedly exorbitant bill in the end.
Judging from my experience, prices are seldom connected with the quality of service. The city is enormous with crowds looking for entertainment, services, something to eat, somebody to meet. So if you're a dissatisfied customer, they don't care much about what the reason of you dissatisfaction is, there  will always be others.

Doing Moscow: going to the Kremlin. Yes? No!

One out of five Muscovites dreams about leaving Moscow for the countryside according to a survey. Believe me, that is for a reason. I started dreaming about leaving it the first year I came here.

A most splendid metropolis with traffic jams taking hours of its residents' lives, muddy streets, unskilled cheap laborers employed all over the city in order to make whirlwind money. All these make Moscow unattractive for life. Yet, hoards of people all over the world come here to land unbeatably lucrative jobs.

We've discussed the sightes of Moscow with my husband who was born here. Our mutual belief is that Moscow can't be attractive altogether, all of it, in general.  There is a number of spots with rich history, and, despite becoming sore from looking at ugly brand-new buildings, your eyes will eventually find its sight to rest on it.