“It is wonderful and bright – Love to look at it by night – Of Moscow windows never fading light.” This soulful song, written back in 1960, is still sung with pleasure by the residents of the capital. Because every Muscovite is sincerely ready to confess his love for his native city, to tell about the neighborhood where he was born and grew up, where those very native windows shine
POLINA STUDENNIKOVA, Acting Head of HR Department, 1.5 years of experience in the company
Bella Akhmadulina
“Moscow at night in a snowfall”
Parent-guardian-jealous soul, that you caress wonder and child? Sleep, don’t gaze at the moon by your floors, don’t torment by the Alexander Garden. Is Moscow to be tantalized by the whiteness of Athens on the night of the first heavy snow? (My friend, your name will call out from the posters from alienation as from heaven. Either the scare-lamp is sparing the fire, or the weather is so impenetrable, my friend, your name reads me and does not recognize the pedestrian)
#runnin’
I was born in Lublino, but, I’ll admit honestly, I don’t really like the neighborhood of my childhood. Nearby -Kapotnya, the torch is burning, similar houses. And although the Bratislava metro station appeared in the late 1990s, it still seemed somehow uncomfortable to me. And then I moved to the Semenovskaya metro station. This is the place I fell in love with. Here is Izmailovsky Park, where we go skiing as a family. And if you take the streetcar a little way, there you are VDNKh. There’s an unparalleled winter skating rink
#where_to_walk
My favorite neighborhood in Moscow is Chistye Prudy, Myasnitskaya Street. The Higher School of Economics, where I studied, and the Perlov Tea House are both located there. Of all beverages, I love tea more than anything else in the world and coming to this store is simply an aesthetic pleasure. An old building, walls with paintings and Chinese dragons. The smells alone are worth it! I always buy weighed out tea there. And if you walk a little to the center – the favorite bookstore Biblio-Globus. There are three floors of books – read all you want! As students, we used to run there to meet writers. My mom also loves Myasnitskaya – she used to work there, I used to visit her, and when we walked together, she told me a lot of interesting things about the street
#moscow_tale
Holidays, especially New Year, are always awaited with some amazing feeling. Good things must come true, something new must come. For a festive mood I go to the center of Moscow: to Teatralnaya Square, to the Bolshoi Theater, to Tverskaya. Those big city lights always give hope for the best. And definitely to GUM – not for shopping, but for ice cream. There’s nowhere else like it!
SERGEY VOLKHONSKY, Head of Direct Sales, 15 years of experience in the company
Marina Tsvetaeva
“Above the city, Peter had abandoned…”
Above the city, Peter had abandoned, Rolled the bells’ thunder. The waves are crashing Over the woman you rejected. Tsar Peter and you, O, the tsar should be praised! But above you, tsars, bells. As long as they ring from the blue — Undisputed is the primacy of Moscow. And forty times forty churches Laugh at the arrogance of the tsar
#under_the_walking_planes
I was born in Moscow and have lived there all my life. The main point of attraction for me is Vnukovo. My childhood passed under the hum of airplanes, and I, of course, wanted to become a pilot. The boys and I often climbed the observation tower, looked at the airliners, we could distinguish them by sound when they were in the air. I never became a pilot, unfortunately. As a child, I was a brawler and injured my eye in one of the fights. So the medical examiner’s office would have shut me down
#vnukovo_grows
Our Vnukovo used to be a village. And now it is a modern district – Novomoskovskiy. I’m a patriot of my district. I ran for local municipal deputy. The main point of my program was the creation of a sports cluster in Vnukovo. We have a beautiful Pychtino Park, which has both a catamaran station and summer rentals. I wanted a pool and a sports center, too. Plus, we have a lot of four-legged lovers, and dog parks are in great need of improvement. By the way, one of them – on Plotinnaya Street – managed to modernize.
#where_to_walk
I love Zaryadye – especially the soaring bridge, I love the squares of Tverskoy Boulevard. I can park my car somewhere and walk, for example, from Kitay-gorod to Park Kultury – but it’s a pity that it is now under reconstruction. I like to wander in Tsaritsyno, Kolomenskoye. And the old houses of Ostozhenka just fascinate me.
#pulling_home
In other cities, especially smaller ones, I probably wouldn’t be able to live. It’s kind of… quiet in there for me. Having been used to the noise of airplane engines since childhood, I feel uncomfortable in silence. And in big cities, there is often not the same rhythm of life, not the same movement as in Moscow: everything is different. St. Petersburg is also a big city, and everything is different, and even the sounds are not what you are used to. You go on vacation, and two weeks later you’re already drawn back
LUDMILA KOSOROTOVA, Deputy Head of Implantology Department, 4 years of work experience in the company
Bulat Okudzhav
“Song about Arbat”
You flow like a river. With your strange name And your asphalt transparent like water in a river. Oh my Arbat, you are my vocation. You are my joy and my misfortune. Your pedestrians are not exalted people, Their heels pound, they hurry on their way. Oh my Arbat, you are my religion, Your roadway lies beneath me. I will never get over loving you, Even loving forty thousand other roadways. Oh my Arbat, you are my native land, No one could ever come to the end of you.
#big_difference
I was born in the Mozhaisky district of Moscow. There used to be five-storey buildings around us, and now there are high-rises, traffic interchanges, flyovers – the difference between the past and the present is enormous. Five to seven minutes away from me is Skolkovo. I even made a report on this wonderful cluster when I was studying at the Moscow International Academy. We have a BCL station opened in Davydkovo and an MCC station opened at Kutuzovskaya. Now it’s so easy to get to the Moscow region in the summer!
#soul_here
Our neighborhood is very cozy, green, and there’s a park nearby. I used to live on Bagritsky Street, but now I’ve moved further away. Still, my heart remains here, as they say, “in the neighborhood.” I often run into my former classmates — almost all of them still live at their old addresses. Everyone loves it here. Although, the metro is a bit far — “Slavyansky Boulevard” and “Molodyozhnaya.” But maybe something else will be built.
#dad_knows
My parents were also born in Moscow. My father knows Moscow very well; he can talk about it for hours. When he and my mom met, he would take her on full-blown tours, showing her his favorite streets, alleyways, houses, and sharing city stories. Now dad is retired, but his love for walks in Moscow hasn’t faded.
#still_trying
For three years now, every spring, I’ve been trying to visit the Botanical Garden on Prospekt Mira to see the cherry blossoms. But it never works out: I either arrive too early, and it hasn’t bloomed yet, or I come later, and it’s already past its peak.
#where_to_walk
I love the center of Moscow the most. Historic buildings, old streets, and alleys. The crowds of people don’t irritate me at all; in fact, they make me happy — you feel a certain energy. My favorite place is Arbat, especially in December, before New Year and Christmas. It always feels so festive at that time — unique decorations, lights. And the people are so cheerful — on Arbat, holidays feel truly special. No wonder poets have celebrated it in their works.
ALEXANDER PKIN, Head of the Legal Department, 12 years of service in the company
Yuri Levitansky
“I Love Autumnal Moscow”
I love autumnal Moscow in its bright adornments, when in the mornings they burn the leaves that have fallen under the wind. A vast, slow bonfire above the bare garden resembles a Gothic church with a charred facade. And the old maple has completely drooped, standing, sadly hunched… It seems to me they have their own, their own pride, these leaves.
#my_novoperedelkino
I was born in Tushino, in Maternity Hospital No. 2. Currently, another organization is located in this old, restored building. And I live in Novoperedelkino. There’s plenty of greenery and fresh air here, with the large Meshchersky Park and Rasskazovka Park nearby. Our whole family loves walking and cycling here. I have a son and a daughter growing up — this place is perfect for them.
#chebureks_forever
My friends and I have a meeting spot that cannot be changed. It’s the “Druzhba” chebureks cafe on Sukharevskaya, in Pankratievsky Lane. A symbolic, legendary place. It opened back in the 1970s, and everything there is still just like in Soviet times: standing tables, plastic plates, forks, and cups. But the aroma of delicious chebureks can be smelled even from the street. They are fried right here, and few visitors can resist going back for seconds. And the crowd is diverse: retirees, young people, office workers in expensive suits, and tough guys in Vodokanal uniforms.
#son-in-law-trooper
In our Novoperedelkino, there are plenty of new buildings, transport interchanges, and a metro station. So in the summer, like many Muscovites, we head to the summer house. I visit my mother-in-law in the Tambov region. From there, I bring back the harvest: several bags of potatoes, carrots, and 300–400 jars of various preserves. All of this barely fits into the trailer. One time, I attached a sign to it that said “Son-in-law-trooper” and drove to Moscow with it. Passing drivers were very amused, giving a thumbs-up.
#where_to_walk
During my student years, I often visited VDNKh and still love it to this day. But I only go into the pavilions when I need to buy something. Perhaps my favorite place is “Novoslobodskaya”. There’s MIIT, where I studied, and the Soyuzmultfilm studio — I recently took the kids there on a tour, and they were shown how cartoons are made. My wife and I go to the theater; recently, we watched the play “Wolves and Sheep” at the Maly Theater.
Photo: Ivan Novikov-Dvinsky
