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The apartment
 AIR
CONDITIONER!!!
ELECTRIC
WATER HEATER FOR TIMES WHEN THE CENTRAL HOT WATER SUPPLY IS DOWN. PHOTO
SOON.
The kitchenH
Pasha himself in the nearby Sokolniki park working on the apartment description
G Children's bed
is good enough for not too large of an adult.
Another view of the kitchen
G The bedroom
I've met many travellers eager to go out of their way to see this symbol
of conquest of cold empty space. It too is within walking distance from
Alexandra's apartment. No more than half an hour.
The lower two thirds of the Ostankino tower. Yes, this is how it
typically appears. Well, 20% of the time, which is bad enough. I'm
trying to convey the real sense of Moscow rather than create a tourist
travel brochure. Please no comments to the effect why I couldn't make or
find a better picture.
The National Exhibition turned into a huge market. One of the sites
where trade shows are held. Need a trade show visited on your behalf?
Your booth
manned? See my Business Services project.
The Cosmos (Kosmos) Hotel is 30 min. walk or one Metro stop north
from here. A
room at the Cosmos is 2.5-3 times more expensive than Alexandra's apartment. As
of recent I've been hearing good things about the hotel, and it is one
of the less expensive ones in Moscow. Prostitutes there no longer call
you in the middle of the night as they used to.
Part of Moscow's water supply system.
The famous "Worker and Collective Farm Woman" is also in the area.
Botanical Gardens are on the other side of the Exhibition Grounds (VDNKh).
If you want a cheap ($25/night, $500/month) room in the Gardens area see
Snejana Mother's Room at the
Rooms & Homestays
page.
The "Apothecary Garden" run by the Botanical Department of the Moscow
State University is about 20 min. walk south towards the city center
from Alexeyevskaya, at Prospekt Mira 26, opposite the Olympic Center.
Their site: www.hortus.ru (Russian
only). |
Three minutes walk from Metro Alexeyevskaya, north west
from the city center, between Rizhsky Railroad Station and the Exhibition
Grounds. Ten minutes by Metro to the center of Moscow.
The area is
populated by "intelligensia" - writers, TV people, movie studio
employees and the like. Very few factory types
and their noisy offspring.
Close to
Metro, easy access to the city center, several parks within
walking distance. 15-20 min. walk to VDNKh, Ostankino TV center,
Ostankino park, or Sokolniki park. 15 min. ride to the Botanical Gardens.
15 min. ride to the Losinny Ostrov (Moose Island) park. 3 min. metro
ride to the Riga Train station, and 15-20 min. to the Leningradsky, Yaroslavsky, and
Kazansky train stations.
Lots of
shops, banks, cafes, and restaurants. Safe. Next door to the district police
headquarters.
Washing
machine, TV, DVD player, music center.
AIR
CONDITIONER!!!!
BACKUP
WATER HEATER!!!!!!
The
bedroom has a double bed and a small desk.
The
larger room has a single fold-out bed and a desk, and a combination of
children desk/bed that will suit an adult who is not too large. I, with
my 5'8" and 170lbs, spent a night there and found the arrangement
comfortable and fun.
The
apartment has not been renovated for a while, has some clutter that
cannot be removed, and is available only in the summer, thus the low
rate.
About
Alexandra, the owner of the apartment:
A
writer with specialization in compiling biographies of weird and
fanatical researchers of the Far North. Spends every summer at the
Kandalaksha Nature
Reserve on the White Sea feeding mosquitoes and counting birds.
The rest of the year makes a living as an editor.
Loves old
cemeteries and can be hired to do archive work. Although Alexandra denies that she speaks English I'm more than sure
she does. Has a son, 11, who attends a school that specializes in
natural sciences, and a Chow-Chow dog over which I regularly
stumble.
A few
photos of the neighbourhood's main drag,
Prospekt Mira
GAlexeyevskaya Metro. 3-5 min. walk.H
Easy car and Metro access to the city center. Near a major
highway that will take you north from Moscow, towards Sergiev
Posad, Pereslavl-Zalessky, and Yaroslavl. See my
www.staritsa.info project in you plan to travel through
towns between Moscow and St. Petersburg or visit the "Golden
Ring".
A cluster of stores (pharmacy, mobile phones, shoes,
flowers, newspapers and what not) by the Metro entrance.
The first
snowfall of the year, and traffic is standing still..
Almost walking distance to the Exhibition Grounds and to Ostankino.
That's the
building itself. Alexandra's apartment is on the 5th floor facing
south-east and north-east. Soon to be replaced by its summertime
version.
The Riga
train station. 9-10 hours and $40 and you are out of one of the worse
places to live in!
Street
toilets. Entry fee 20 roubles (about 70 cents). Often dirty and poorly
equipped but it needs to be admitted that, while the country as a whole
is going to hell, the shitter situation is steadily improving.
A view from the window looking south-east. The middle
of winter, soggy weather. Soon to be replace with something green
and cheerful and otherwise deceitful.
Write to Alexandra
with a copy to me |
The
neighbourhood
Remnants of the water theme playground by the water pump factory
The water pump factory
G
Sokolniki (Falkon Hunters) Park
H
G
Same pond in summer. A rare yellow duck that
normally nests in cliffs can now live in cracks in apartment buildings
while flying to the pond for their specifically duck things.
Polar bears club at one of the park's ponds
G Children's Shelter built and supported in 1896 by the marchant
family Bakhrushins. Presently occupied by the bankrupt Mir Publishers. A
delight for the connoisseurs of urban decay.
The "urban decay" territory is liked by drug users. See
elsewhere for my Misery Tourist program.
Summertime
photos
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