旅人る - Tabibito

 

Moscow

 

See also the next report.

A brief overview of Moscow in 2022. January and February were rather snowy.

 

Japanese-style market and skating rink in Kurkino district.

 

Surprisingly, they did not save on materials during construction.

 

I expected at least one stand with Japanese goods, but there hardly any trade at all.

 

Church of Boris and Gleb in Zyuzino (1704). Worth a look inside: there is a temple cat and a fresco with a funny fish.

 

Nearby are many five-story buildings for demolition.

 

Picturesque washstands in the food court on Leninskaya Sloboda.

 

A cat that lives at a tire shop.

 

Then the infamous events began. Few Z-symbols.

 

Spontaneous support for Russian military operation on the car with Georgian plates.

 

Huge explosion over Moscow (in fact, steam from space rocket engine tests at Energomash factory in Khimki).

 

Pepsi can featuring 2022 FIFA World Cup final that never happened in St. Petersburg.

 

Closed McDonald's restaurants.

 

And Vkusno i Tochka that took them over.

 

They had to manually cover up the old logo on the sauces.

 

Starbucks became Stars Coffee (the coffee there still sucks).

 

Unlike public catering, gas stations were not allowed to close for redesign, so they changed logo on the fly. Shell is being renamed as Teboil, a Finnish brand owned by Lukoil.

 

Krispy Kreme banned the use of its logo, but the date of the founding of the network remained from the design. Therefore, for half a year, Muscovites were pleased with a donut shop with the name "1937" - a year that often serves as a synonym for Stalin's repressions.

 

Building of rapid transit continues no matter what.

 

Huge money is being spent on the restoration of Stalinist architecture at the Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy (VDNKh). It might be scary to go there at daylight: one can go blind from luxury.

 

"Tsar-Maket", a huge model railway near VDNKh. Made well, but in terms of scale it still does not reach either St. Petersburg's "Grand Layout", or Hamburg's MiWuLa.

 

But more regions will be added soon.

 

Yandex delivery robots are found almost everywhere.

 

Mini-zoo on Vyborgskaya street.

 

Alyoshinka river in Novo-Peredelkino district was captured by beavers.

 

Everything around is swamped and destroyed.

 

But the locals still treat these beasts with apples.

 

Beaver tenderness.

 

Rodents accompanying beavers.

 

Sviblovo manor.

 

Yauza valley park.

 

Restored cloth factory office building near Botanicheskiy Sad metro station.

 

The upper part of the tower was lost long ago, but the basement and first floors are real. Brickwork is from 1820s.

 

The factory building itself is occupied by a kindergarten.

 

Few other Moscow sights.

 

Museum of the Navy at the Khimki Reservoir: wingship "Orlyonok" and hovercraft "Skat".

 

New Moscow trams.

 

Other details.

Where to eat (as of November 2022): best japanese food - Maru restaurant chain (former Marukame), best italian food - Pinsapositana near Belorusskaya railway station, best Central Asian - Uryuk chain, best Jewish - Dizengof99, best cakes - Friends Forever and Conversation, best Coffee - nearly every coffee shop with the decent espresso machine would serve good coffee (just don't try Stars Coffee).

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