Friendly Local Guides: 2013

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

New Year 2015 in Moscow

Already planning your New Year's night 2015?
Our guides will be happy to celebrate this Christmas and New Year 2015 with you! Moscow rocks on December 31. Be part of it, be part of local CRAZINESS! :) We will organize everything for you and make sure your only job will be to relax, enjoy, eat, drink and have time of your life!

Moscow is going to be a Winter Princess in all Christmas and New Year decorations

Fact 30.
Pedestrian areas will amaze you with glowing waves, balls and lights on the trees. At the Bolshoi Theatre you'll see huge candelabra with candles, on Gogol Boulevard will grow a fountain of blue lights, on Chistoprudny bulvar you'll sit on the benches with snowmen and colored glowing animals.
It will be a lot of fun, joy and positive festive atmosphere!

Local parks will entertain you with bright and colorful activities

All atmosphere is AMAZING! Let us show you magic side of Moscow and get you to places which only locals know about and you will enjoy every minute of your time

Feel free to ask us any questions about New Year and Christmas in Moscow on our Facebook and Google+ pages

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Saturday, December 14, 2013

Where to go in Moscow on New Year's Eve

Everybody is crazy preparing to Christmas, and we are extremely excited too! Here are some of ideas from our blogs in Facebook and Google+. Our ideas are all about where to go, what to see and what to do, and how to have fun in Moscow! Enjoy!

Fact 29.
1. Today, December 14, we are going to Family Day in Design Factory "Flakon".
What's there? Spruce garden gastronomic festival "Russian Winter" with products from different regions! Russian crafts! Handmade christmas presents! This should be fun!

2. Moscow will host a festival of ice sculptures. During the Christmas holidays, citizens and visitors will be able not only to see the huge ice sculptures, but also take part in creating them!
When: 2-11 January 2014

3. December 22 everyone will be able to participate in a costume flashmob of Santa Clauses. Gathering place - station "Warm place" at the crossroads of the Kuznetsky bridge and Rozhdestvenka street, beginning at 12:30 pm. To participate you need to come in a suit of Santa Claus and bring a Christmas toy

4. TsUM, as always, amazes us with its extravagance. This year it is Baroque style. Each showcase has its own story: confectionery , beauty and perfume boutique, picnic, dance, retro studio, walk in the royal forest and theater scene. Very baroque palette of white, blue, cream, pink and gold colors. Very beautiful!

Experience all fun activities of Moscow on our Going Out in Moscow Tour

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Saturday, December 7, 2013

New Year's Foods in Russia

If you're lucky to visit Russia during Christmas and New Year, taste Russian cuizine and make a wish, and you may be sure it'll come true! Let's have a closer look at what we have for New Year's Eve dinner

Fact 28

1) Pancakes with sour cream and red caviar.
Make a little trick on your friends: tell that it's a whipped cream with jam and just watch their reaction)))

2) Dressed herring or herring in “shuba-coat”

It's a layer cake of salt herring and boiled vegetables covered by "coat" of mayonnaise and grated beets. So Russian! You will like it after a shot of vodka ;)

3) Olivier or Russian salad

Perhaps it'll shock those who have never been to Russia, but it's just potato salad seasoned with lots of vegetables and sausage above. Very tasty! And nutritious. Just what you need on the main night of the year.

4) Marinade
Marinade mushrooms, pickled tomatoes, sauerkraut. Adults snack this with vodka - so delicious!

5) Jelly
Meat jelly. The idea does not seem normal, but it is part of Russian food culture, and there is space to creativity! You can make different shapes.

6) Pork fat, and the more it is - the better. Eat it with brown bread and onion! No cold will get you after it.

7) Kvass or rye beer
It's a grain-juicy drinking and it is slightly alcoholic. Drunk instead of water on New Year's night

8) Sandwich with herring, mayonnaise and pickles
All the ingredients are a snack to vodka. Plus mayonnaise, because WHY NOT. This dish is also popular in the Netherlands, only without spirits.

9) Vinaigrette
Beets, potatoes, pickled cucumbers and pickled cabbage are very frequent ingredients for Russian cuisine, so it is not surprising that one has a separate dish of them!
Yes, we are vegetable people.

10) Vareniki
The filling may be any: meat, mushrooms, cottage cheese, berries. On New Year's and Christmas's night, we like playing and fill some vareniks with some paper, a coin, extreme amount of salt or pepper. The person who gets one of these is considered foxy (salt), grumpy (pepper), rich (coin), clever (paper).

Indulge into Russian culture and food on our Going Out in Moscow Tour

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Sunday, December 1, 2013

Christmas in Moscow

Hello December! Time to explore the Christmas Fairs for presents and fun!
The main fair is opened at the Red Square

Fact 27
2000 m2 imbued with a festive atmosphere, where you can buy author toys. The square will be covered 23 colorful houses, where you can taste traditional food: pancakes, eggs, baked potato with mushrooms and cucumbers, mulled wine, Viennese waffles and roasted chestnuts.

In the festively decorated houses and benches you can get traditional Russian Zhostov trays, khokhloma toys, Orenburg shawls and gingerbread, as well as modern art gifts, Christmas decorations, Christmas gifts and fluffy green tree.

Every week from Thursday to Sunday will perform musicians, dancers, jugglers and clowns, and every weekend Santa Claus himself will come to the fair to greet guests and play with children.

When: December 1, 2013 - January 19, 2014

Now that i's officially winter and cold, we want to keep you warm and will make best coffee shops in Moscow as a must-do on our tours.Hope you are excited! We are. Very! :)

If Moscow is your transit stop, get the most out of it on our Airport Pick up Tour

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Saturday, November 30, 2013

New Year in Russia

Fact 26.

The most extensive New Year celebrations in Russia occur on December 31st/January 1st. Fireworks and concerts mark this holiday. It is on this day that the Russian Santa, or Ded Moroz, and his lady companion Snegurochka visit children to present the gifts. What those in the West would call a Christmas Tree is considered a New Year's Tree in Russia. Because the Russian New Year precedes Christmas in Russia on January 7.

Ded Moroz (Father Frost, the Red Nose) and his granddaughter Snegurochka (the Snow Maiden) are two
legendary characters, which bring presents to Russian children. Ded Moroz comes on the first night of the new year and leaves his presents under the New Year’s Tree. He is dressed in a red costume and has a huge white beard, large bag with presents inside, and a staff. Snegurochka is dressed in a light blue coat and usually has a long braid. The official residence of Ded Moroz is Veliky Ustyug, Vologda Region.

The Kremlin Clock

The Kremlin Clock is a historic clock on the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin. Usually, for decades the chimes have rung on the quarter hour, with bells tolling for each full hour. Every New Year's night hundreds of people gather on Red Square to celebrate the coming of the new year. They usually listen to the president's traditional speech and then wait for the first stroke of the Kremlin Clock, which marks the beginning of the new year. It is rather a solemn moment, so many people go to the Red Square every year, just to go through it again and again.

More about Russian traditions and culture on our 2 Days in Moscow Tour

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Sunday, November 24, 2013

Matryoshka Dolls (Nestling Dolls)

It's hard to find a symbol of Russia more popular than the traditional Russian nesting doll. These decorated wooden dolls "with a secret" are also called matryoshka dolls or babushka dolls.
They are recognized even in the countries thousand miles away from Russia. Taking a Russian nesting doll back home is a must among tourists from Europe and the United States alike. The lovers of exotics collect matryoshkas in Australia and South Africa.

Bright and picturesque Russian nesting dolls decorate the fireplaces and bookshelves in the homes of thousands of Russians.

Fact 25. Some historians of Russian life argue that matryoshka dolls originated from Japanese traditional dolls. The first Russian nesting doll set appeared in Moscow in 1890's. It was carved by Vasily Zvyozdochkin from a design by a folk crafts painter Sergey Malyutin. The doll set consisted of eight dolls of decreasing sizes placed one inside the other. All eight dolls depicted children - the outermost was a girl holding a rooster, six inner dolls were girls, the fifth doll was a boy, and the innermost was a baby. Despite the fact that first matryoshka dolls were intended for children, their price was so high that only adults could afford to buy them on special occasions. Matryoshka dolls were often given as a present to young women from their beloved ones. In 1900, the dolls earned a bronze medal at the World Exhibition in Paris.

It takes a lot of skill to make a Russian nesting doll set. Traditionally, matryoshka dolls were made from linden or birch and their production would involve the participation of the whole family.

In 1913, a factory in the city of Semyonov produced a matryoshka dolls set that consisted of 48 figures and was painted in traditional red and yellow colors.

Matreshka dolls inspired many Russian designers to create dolls in their own design:

Nina Donis

Alena Akhmadullina

Valentin Yudashkin

Denis Simachev

Andrew Bartenev

Konstantin Gayday

Explore the best souvenir shops on our tours

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Saturday, November 23, 2013

Movie about Moscow. Soviet nostalgic

Fact 24.
"Walking the Streets of Moscow" is the name of a famous film about Moscow.The film was made in 1963 by Georgiy Daneliya and produced by Mosfilm studios. It stars Nikita Mikhalkov. Now he is one of the greatest Russian film-directors.

This film was highly beloved by Soviet youth in the early 1960s. Though its plot is a bit naive and unpretentious, it shows how wonderful life is.The song by the same name from the film is still popular and became the unofficial hymn of Moscovites.

Experience aithentic Moscow with us on our 3 Days in Moscow Tour

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Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Streets. Kuznetsky Bridge

Let's stroll along Kuznetsky Bridge street today. The history of the street goes back to the XV century, when it was densely populated with blacksmiths. Subsequently, the street became known as Blacksmiths', which in Russian is Kuznets

Fact 23. It all began with the moment when a bridge was built across the river. The name of the bridge was the Kuznets Bridge (Blacksmiths' Bridge). At the same time, not far from the bridge opened numerous retail shops, which made Kuznetsky Bridge area an important trade center of Moscow.

Kuznetskн Bridge turning from a bridge in the street developed rapidly. By the beginning of XIX century it was a center of French trade and culture. Fashionable shops with sonorous names packed te steet: Haberdasher Standfild, perfumer Jambon; fashion from Revel, tailors and Lebourg Latrel; shop «Le Montagne», trading in delicacies, wine and perfume, and the first French restaurant "Yar", which opened in early 1826, and in September of the same year alwaready treated Pushkin.

Kuznetsky Bridge, center of fashion in Moscow.

Little has changed over the past century. It is interesting that even in the Soviet times ascetic Kuznetsk Bridge remained the center of fashion with a luxurious fur store which housed Union Fashion House. And today Kuznetsky Bridge is the center of "fashion district" of Moscow.

Art and culture of Kuznetsky Bridge are presented by Moscow Operetta Theatre, exhibition halls of the Moscow House of Artists, two large public libraries and the School of Fine Arts.

Nowadays Kuznetsky Bridge is a fashion mecca due to four-storey shop Podium, Trade House "Svetlana", Vogue Cafe by Novikov and, of course, TsUM.

Kuznetsky Bridge is a lovely place to walk, with its charming and cosy cafes, coffee shops and stunning architecture

Explore the magic of beautiful streets of Moscow on our Moscow at Night Tour

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