Atmospheric places of Moscow in the company of Yandex

We already organized it a year ago drinking excursion for Yandex and in the vicinity of Moscow State University. Today we are summing up the results of our cooperation with the IT giant and their project "Summer Together" this year. As part of the corporate event, Yandex employees were immersed in the world of fascinating excursions around the city of our bureau every week.

On Saturdays, six individual groups set off on a tour of Moscow's cultural attractions, where they were accompanied not only by guides but also by curators who helped with organizational issues and assessed the guests' impressions. After each tour, participants shared their feedback in the corporate automated system.

Our guides immersed the participants in the atmosphere of the "Soul of Moscow" (a tour of the alleys of Kitay-gorod), the grandiose VDNKh, Gilyarovsky's Moscow, and cozy Zamoskvorechye. In addition, the excursionists took a cultural and educational stroll along Arbat, Moscow City, and Vorobyovy Gory. And during our exclusive route "Sinful Places" the guests also drank with the guides in secret bars of Moscow, learning a lot about the drinking culture of the capital of the past and present. Conscious drinking in an unusual atmosphere is much more enjoyable. In addition, the children were given excursions "Architecture in Moscow" and based on the work of Mikhail Bulgakov "Master and Margarita«.

A few words about the "Bulgakov" route, which was led by Nastya. Starting from Mayakovsky, the group visited the area around the Variety Theatre, the house where Bulgakov lived, and both museums dedicated to his work. The guide shared stories about local residents and revealed the secrets of the Bulgakov House, causing surprise among the participants. Then the route led to Patriarch's Ponds, where the guide told about the love story of the novel and autobiographical elements associated with Bulgakov's life. The participants learned about the role of women in the fate of the master and the hardships of war that he experienced with his first wife. The shortened route ended with applause near the boulevard.

The next author's excursion "Uncle Gilyai and his time" was conducted by Anton, and also by Nastasya in an improvised duet with Dima - for the first time in the history of our agency, due to the peculiarities of recruiting participants from Yandex, one of the groups was led by two guides at once. It was an interesting experience of co-creation of two solo guides, which caused mixed feelings in the guides themselves)

We will tell you separately about the walk along the Sparrow Hills. Unlike last year, near Moscow State University, we slightly changed the route to diversify the program and include a new object - the restored Palace of Pioneers.

From the history of the pioneers, they smoothly moved on to the architecture of modernism and postmodernism. From there, there is an excellent view of the famous building of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences with its "golden brains", as well as the new Yandex office, which is being built on Kosygina Street on Vorobyovy Gory. It seems that it is precisely because of the importance of this area that Yandex prefers the route around Moscow State University: in 2024, they will just complete the construction of a new office, and this is symbolic, because the company's history, in a sense, began here.

After the Palace of Pioneers, we headed to the Theater Garden and then to the territory of Moscow State University to trace how the architecture of the area has developed from the early 1950s to the present day. Moscow State University and its surroundings are a real chronicle of architectural styles: Stalinist skyscrapers, modernist buildings, early 2000s buildings in the spirit of the Luzhkov era and the latest infrastructure, such as the innovative cluster IQ Dolina. Perhaps in the future, we will expand the route to explore the modern territory of the university complex in more depth.

We walked around the Moscow State University high-rise building from all sides, and the excursionists learned not only historical and architectural facts, but also interesting everyday stories.

The guide Anastasia has a friend who lives in the main building and is a postgraduate student, who shared interesting details about life in a high-rise building. Among our guests was a couple, husband and wife, who also studied and lived in the main building at the chemistry department. They happily supplemented the story with their impressions, and it turned out that their memories coincided perfectly with the stories we heard.

The tour ended at the observation deck with views of evening Moscow. Everyone was satisfied and thanked for the interesting a walk.

Of course, the summer of 2024 in terms of organizing excursions for corporate clients was marked by Yandex and Faberlic. However, photography was only allowed with the guys from the cosmetics company (see a large report can be found here), therefore this report is without photos.