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HOT News
November 24, 2007
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Today was the second day of competition for Cup of Russia (Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2007/2008 in Moscow) and I was very happy when Johnny told me himself that he is in first place so far in context.
I worked with Johnny about 10 days before the competition for Cup of Russia which started for him yesterday, NOV. 23, 2007. Mostly I worked with him as professional driver, not as a guide - he has visited Moscow many times and knows the city pretty well :-), but everyday he needed transportation to/from ice rink for his practices and for shopping when he had some free time.
It was not so easy to provide transportation for him and his trainer, Galina Yakovlevna, from the hotel Cosmos to the skate rink in THE Olympic Sport Complex because of terrible traffic nea...
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November 16, 2007
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Recently, Millie Ball, who is travel journalist from New Orleans, USA, posted at her blog two very interesting stories about her trip to Russia. She was here, in Moscow, with her husband, Keith Marshall, at the end of October and used my services as a guide and driver couple of days. It was very interesting to work with them: they like Russia, had a lot of questions about everything (life, people, culture, politic, history and many personal questions), we had a lot of fun during our sightseeing tours around famous places of Moscow.
Yesterday she informed me that her stories about Moscow and St. Petersburg are already online and I think that her experience and information are worth to learn for all people who have interest to Russia:
1. Moscow: 16 years later
2....
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November 14, 2007
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Yesterday was the first strong snowfall in Moscow, about 10 centimeters of snow. Many drivers were not prepared with their winter tires for the winter season, and as a result, there were about 2,000 accidents in the city yesterday, according to the news. I was not prepared also, and by providence escaped a couple of times from damaging my car.
I am currently working with my repeat client, Johnny Weir, a figure skater from USA, who has returned to Moscow again to participate in the competition for the Cup Of Russia. After I dropped him and his Russian trainer off at her apartment near the Metropol hotel, at about 11 pm I ran out to my wife's parent's garage about 50km outside of Moscow to retrieve winter tires for my car. So I returned back to Moscow almost about...
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September 25, 2007
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I and my wife Olga just returned back to our home from South of Russia, Black Sea. We spent great time there, visited a lot of places from Lazarevskoe (where we rented a house close to the beach) to Abhazia. I took a lot of pictures and hope to make interesting photoalbum on my website soon.
I would like to say "thank you" for your patience in waiting my replies on your messages and requests. I will try to respond on all of them as soon as possible!...
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September 09, 2007
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PLEASE NOTE: In a few days, I am going with my wife Olga to the south of Russia, to the Black Sea. This will be our first vacation in 5 years. We will take a train on the 11th of September and in 30 hours we will be 1,500 km away from Moscow in a quiet place near the famous resort of Sochi. This is the city that will host the Winter Olympic Games in 2014. We will return home in the early morning of the 25th. While we are away, I will not have regular access to email, but I'll respond to your message when I return to Moscow on the 25th. I hope to take some interesting pictures during our vacation and to make a special photo album about our trip on my website as time permits....
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August 19, 2007
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On 17th of August 2007, when I was walking across the Bolshoi Kamenny Most (Big Stone Bridge) to meet my clients near the Armory Museum, I was able to watch a fire in one of the buildings opposite the Kremlin Cathedrals. The other side of the Moscow River, where the fire was burning, was cordoned off by police and surrounded by many fire trucks. Even one boat was called to resist and stop the fire in the old house which is currently under reconstruction.
The total area of the fire in the small 3 floor building, which is located at Sofiiskaya Embankment, 8, came to more than 250 square meters. The fire destroyed completely all wooden construction on two upper floors of the old building. Seven fire brigades and one boat were involved in the operation to stop the f...
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August 16, 2007
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Yesterday, when I arrived with my current clients at the Red Square, I was shocked when I saw the bare wall of the Moscow Kremlin. They had removed all of the majestic pine trees from the left side of Lenin's Mausoleum (between Spasskaya Tower and Lenin's Tomb) and I had a thought: were they going to remove even the Necropolis and Lenin's Mausoleum to restore the architectural style of Red Square to how it looked before the revolution?
No, I was wrong with my almost fantastic thoughts. It was reported on TV that they are not removing the pine trees forever, but want to replace the old trees with new ones and will keep everything as it was before. The old trees are going to be moved into the Kremlin grounds and they will be replaced with new ones, young 2 meters ...
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August 10, 2007
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On a recent visit to the famous Izmailovo market (Vernisazh) with a client, we discovered, completely by accident, a special museum of Orthodox Church Bells located in the attractive wooden and brick towers of the spectacular Kremlin in Izmailovo which was built in old Russian style of architecture. We were especially lucky that we met Konstantin, a professional bell ringer with 17 years experience. He was a pupil of the best Russian bell ringers and occasionally rings the bells in the Ivan Bell Tower in the Moscow Kremlin, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, and in the bell tower of the Holy Trinity St. Sergius Lavra in Sergiev Posad. He provided us with very interesting information about the history of traditional bell ringing in Russia, the different types of ...
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May 30, 2007
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From 18th of January 2007 the administration of the Kremlin's Museums announced the same prices for tickets for citizens of the Russian Federation (excepting students and veterans) as well as for foreign tourists. Also the Kremlin Museums announced that they would no longer permit private guides to offer guiding services to their clients on the territory of the Kremlin and Armory Chamber without a special "Tour Voucher". The "Tour Voucher" is available only for their local guides who work in Kremlin or to the guides who have Accreditation from "Association of Guides-Interpreters" and work with one of 40 big travel agencies which have agreements with the Moscow Kremlin. Because of the limited number of local private guides it is almost impossible to book one in advan...
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May 27, 2007
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On 18th of May 2007, I was with my clients from Canada in Kolomna right before great event for this city - celebrations of the Day of the Slavic Literature and Culture which was on Saints Cyril and Methodius Day on May 24th. Cyril and Methodius, two Byzantine Greek brothers, were canonized in Eastern Orthodoxy as equal-to-apostles for devising and spreading the Slavic alphabet in the middle of 11th century. New alphabet was based on the Greek one and originated from the Phoenician system of writing.
We were very impressed by this beautiful old Russian city (founded in 1177) by it's colorful wooden houses and churches, peaceful atmosphere and renovation activities all around the old city. My client, Annie Budz, who came to spend her vacation in Moscow for the t...
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Moscow, Russia 
Contact Info: Arthur Lookyanov