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            Welcome to Been there. Your tips on the places you know - that you love,
            live in or have just visited - are what make this guide.
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                <title>Folk singing and disco in the forest</title>
                
                <link>http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/3924</link>
                
                <description><![CDATA[Every Saturday and Sunday old people gather in Izmaylovsky Park to socialise and to sing traditional Russian songs - chastushki. It is actually like a freestyle hip-hop gathering: there's usually a man playing the accordion and women (MCs) stand in a circle and come out in turn. One woman sings a verse, which can often be quite offensive but is always funny, before another replies with her own verse.<br> <br>A little bit further in there's an old-school disco with 70s and 80s music playing from tape recorders and old people having fun dancing.<br> <br>Those not in the mood for dancing can walk a little bit further to the chess players' hut, where serious men ponder their next move while discussing the latest political developments over their beer.<br>It's all actually really nice to see and they don't mind you joining in at all, even if you're not their age.<br><br>The action usually starts around 4pm on weekends. It is more common in the warmer months from May to September.]]></description>
                
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                <title>Sparrow Hills</title>
                
                <link>http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/3852</link>
                
                <description><![CDATA[The only place where you can get a true impression of the scope of Moscow. If you've read Tolstoy's War and Peace (well done), this is where the scenes are set as the Russian army retreats from Napoleon's doomed advance. <br><br>Now it's a setting for the Moscow State University and has splendid views on a fine day. You really can see it all from here - especially the married couples having their photo taken with the panorama behind.]]></description>
                
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                <title>Patriach's Pond</title>
                
                <link>http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/28</link>
                
                <description><![CDATA[The spiritual home of Bulgakov's masterpiece and Moscow's soul. A park in the city centre.]]></description>
                
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                <title>Stand in the middle of Red Square</title>
                
                <link>http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/12</link>
                
                <description><![CDATA[As long as the Kremlin security lets you that day, otherwise stand near it. It's where it all began, ended, and will go on.]]></description>
                
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                <title>Vorabyovi Gori</title>
                
                <link>http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/11</link>
                
                <description><![CDATA[Or Sparrow Hills in English. Located near the State University, it’s a popular hangout because the city sprawls beneath you.]]></description>
                
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                <title>VDNKh</title>
                
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                <description><![CDATA[An enormous exhibition park, built to demonstrate the riches of the Soviet state. Filled with lots of huge Stalinist buildings, gigantic statues and grandiose water fountains. Within the park there are still sound speakers along the footpaths - probably used for pumping propaganda during communist times. Creepily, they now pump classical music.<br><br>The park is situated opposite the impressive Hotel Cosmos, built for the 1980 Olympics.<br><br>Must be seen if you want to get a feel of Stalinist Moscow.]]></description>
                
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                <title>USSR Exhibition of Economic Achievements (VDNKh)</title>
                
                <link>http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/3860</link>
                
                <description><![CDATA[A gigantic Soviet ‘Expo' from 1937, featuring more than 80 pavilions, lavishly constructed in the distinctive style of Stalinist neo-classicism. You can walk around the enormous site or take a ride on the monorail. Highlights include a 1960s space rocket, a triumphal arch topped with statues and the gilded Friendship of Nations fountain. <br><br>You can also take in the iconic monument to space exploration, a spectacular shard of metal topped with a B-movie space ship, which is just outside the park at the metro station.]]></description>
                
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