A few days before the New Year, I went on a business trip again. I preferred the centre of Moscow not because it is fancy decorated. It is great, but I’ve seen it before. I like the city centre because if there is only an hour of time left, you can spend it on “geographical discovery”.
In my opinion, Moscow in the area of Kitay-gorod has preserved the foppish and roguish spirit of Esenin times. Much water has passed under the bridge, but the rebellious spirit is hovering around here. And the GOOD MOOD hostel, intentionally or not, indulges the spirit. From the new: it was the first time I spent the night in a mixed dormitory room. I didn’t understand how I booked it. It wasn’t scary at all with the skilful organization of space.
Although at some point I wanted to give up the idea of staying here because of the reservation problem. One price, another price, some extra clicks were confusing. In the end, the bill is 950 rubbles. The difference is not principal, but the very fact of vanity isn’t pleasant. So far, the most convenient booking for me was at the “Fasol” hostel.
The host at the counter did not give a clear answer to my question about the ever-changing price. She said that it depends on the day of the week and the fullness of the hostel. The hostel was full: there were a lot of foreign and local tourists, business travellers and correspondence-course students.
I’ve been looking for the entrance for quite a while. The former tenement house on Maly Zlatoustinsky Lane continues to work as intended: here you can find a hotel and a hostel, and several commercial organizations. But when I came in, I realized that I wanted to stay. It’s cosy and there are a lot of funny pictures in the hostel.
I’ve never seen such a luxury bathroom in a hostel before. But it wasn’t even the design and the fact that the sinks were shining that bribed me. I saw the attention to the necessary details like cotton pads, cotton swabs, the right number of hairdryers, hooks in convenient places, shower with a curb, not a hole in the floor.
The combination of this makes a very pleasant impression. Although, unlike other hostels, there’s no separation between male and female showers. Probably because the Good Mood hostel itself is not very big. In huge hostels like Netizen it would be technically more difficult to organize life like this. Everybody has their special characteristics.
I got a bed on the 2nd floor. I guess if I had to pick a bed, I would have picked exactly that one.
There’s a wide, steady ladder leading upstairs. Inside there is light, personal socket, you can live as you please. The curtains are tight. It gives autonomy which is the most necessary thing in the mixed dormitory room. I came around 9:00 p.m. and only stuff testified about the tenants. There was only a man sleeping in one “compartment”. While I was exploring the bathroom and the kitchen, he woke up, dressed up, said hello and left. But somewhere between 10:30 and 11:30 p.m., the doorbell rang again and again. People were gathering. By midnight, it was quiet.
During the repair, they decided not to cover the signs of the old times.
I saw a lot of guests with laptops in the living room this morning. Behind my back, somebody wanted to book a room for a new arrival. But on the first days of January all the rooms were already booked.
I went into the kitchen and was watching the wall while drinking tea, like in that joke. The mood was good enough but the wall itself is joyful. In the hostel Good Mood, in addition to the standard tea and coffee set, guests are offered free pasta, cereals, buckwheat – something that is uncomfortable to take with and stupid to buy in every city.
The stairs in the old house – I wanted to leave a photo as a keepsake.
I decided not to go to the underground from Maroseika’s side, but to walk to another entrance from Solyanka’s side. To do this, I went straight on Bolshaya Spasoglinischevsky Lane (runs parallel to Lubyansky Proyezd). On the map, I saw Gorka Park here. It was interesting – I had never heard of it before.
The architecture of the alley is diverse. From very serious mansions…
To former tenement houses, office buildings – you can find everything here.
Gorka Park opened up to me where there was a fence a couple of years ago.
It is located right in front of the Moscow Choral Synagogue. Now it’s just the season of taking pictures of architecture, you can see the building in all its glory.
I climbed up the hill and found myself near the cafe “No one writes to the Colonel” surrounded by the sculptures of the commanders.
It turned out that there’s a museum of military uniforms here. And the Warlords’ Gallery was set up with it.
From the museum, I went down the other stairs, admiring a different view of the synagogue and the newly designed square.
Bolshoy Spasoglinischevsky Lane, 9/1. On the first collage there is one side of the booth, on this photo you can see the other, it is dedicated to the work of Albrecht Dürer.
The centre of Moscow is traditionally rich with the restaurants cooking khinkali (meat dumplings).
The underground entrance is near the All Saints Church in Kulishki. It took me about an hour to walk that way. And I’m the one who hasn’t visited the museum yet.
Section “Bloger sketches about hostels in Moscow”
