Moscow recently celebrated its 850th anniversary, having been founded in 1147 by  Yuri Dolgaruky.  His statue is situated on the street formerly called Ulitsa Gorkovo, and is now Ulitsa Tverskaya.  One of the most significant changes since 1989 and the disappearance of Communism has been the name changes of streets.  Many Russians still refer to the streets by their old names.  Another significant street name change was Ulitsa Gertsena to Bolshaya Nikolskaya Ulitsa.  (Ulitsa is Street in Russian)

You can see the statue of Yuri of the Long Arms (Dolgaruky) midway between the Kremlin and Pushkin Square.  Tverskaya is the spoke of the Moscow rings (there are 5), which leads to its airport for Western international travel, Sheremetyevo 2.  The first ring of Moscow is the Kremlin Wall.  Then there is a second ring called the Boulevard starting at Kropotkinskaya Metro and ending at the Moscow River, Ustinsky Bridge.  This is a wonderful way to view the city as it is about a 90 minute to 2 hour walk.  A fine way to drive around Moscow is the Garden Ring.  This is the 3rd ring around Moscow and is the busiest street in Moscow these days when there are so many cars on the streets.  This is the surface street that runs close to or at, in some cases, the Brown line  or circular line of the metro system.  Here are some of the most beautiful metro stations in the city.  Here also, is the line which connects with Moscow's seven or so, main railway stations.

One of the most interesting things about Moscow is its public transportation systems.  Between the buses, trams, trolleys, metro, railways, and cars willing to take you anywhere for a price, there is practically no need to have a car in Moscow!  Another beauty of Moscow is the proliferation of concerts, operas, ballets, and plays.  Besides the well-known Bolshoi (which is very expensive for anyone to attend these days), there are many, many local theatres which offer great entertainment for the equivalent of one or two dollars. 

One of our favorite Russian novels is also presented as a play.  We saw "The Master and Margarita" by Bulgakov at a small theatre in the Southwest section of Moscow where we lived and it was first class!  We also saw "Jesus Christ, Superstar" in the theatre called Mossoviet, which is near Mayakovskaya Square, at the intersection of Tverskaya and the Garden Ring Road.

The Garden Ring Road also goes by the US Embassy, has an American Express ATM machine, and some wonderful sights of Moscow not often seen by the tourist group.

Not to be missed is the Moscow State University campus at Sparrow Hills which has a spot called "Smotravaya Ploshatka" (literally "looking over square" ) or, in our slang,  Scenic Overview.  Here one can also buy the typical souvenirs that visitors love such as military watches, wool scarves, fur hats, and the ever present Matryoshka dolls.

There are many other beautiful parts of Moscow, and it continues to be the one place we would go back to over and over and never tire of its sights, sounds and people.