geography
Chapters: 1
A Visit to Hyde Park
April 24, 1996, Wednesday. In Hyde Park, Roman reflects on how his dream of a rich life has come true, but happiness did not come along with the…
Notes: 58
A Nomenklatura Brick Apartment Building
The short, elite Moscow street where a Stalin-era apartment block's ground floor turned into a shop selling televisions, VCRs, and refrigerators to a…
Audi A6 Avant: the "bottomless barn" Roman and Liza drive from Nice to Malaga
Why the 1997 Audi A6 Avant C4 was the ideal "bottomless barn" for a leisurely coastal drive from Nice to Malaga.
Belgravia: An Aristocratic District in the Heart of London
Belgravia is one of the most prestigious districts of central London, straddling Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
Biryulyovo in 1993: a Grim Moscow District
In 1993, Biryulyovo was a working-class settlement on the southeastern outskirts of Moscow, considered one of the most troubled and crime-ridden…
Bordeaux Saint-Émilion: the wine Zhorik savors while Roman pines for whiskey
The right-bank Bordeaux appellation of Saint-Émilion -- its terroir, classification system, and the celebrated 1982 and 1989 vintages Zhorik has open…
Cap Ferrat: where 1990s Russian money learned to whisper instead of shout
Cap Ferrat: the ultra-discreet French Riviera enclave where 1990s Russian new money learned that old-money status runs on restraint, not display.
Carloforte and Saint-Tropez: Elite Mediterranean Resorts
Two jewels of the European coastline -- Italian Carloforte and French Saint-Tropez -- have long drawn wealthy travelers with their unique atmosphere…
"Ringing It In at Nine, Novosibirsk Time": Celebrating New Year on Your Hometown Clock
In 1993, Russia had a complicated system of timekeeping inherited from the USSR. "Decree time" was in effect — standard zone time plus one hour…
The Moai of Easter Island: History and Mystery
Easter Island and the enigmatic moai statues: the story of their discovery, the mysteries of an ancient civilization, the birdman cult, the…
Gare de Lyon: gateway to the Riviera night train
Gare de Lyon and its famous overnight sleeper to Nice — the prestige route for 1990s businessmen skipping straight from Paris to the Riviera.
Gatwick Airport: the gateway to Kent for Roman's second property signing
Gatwick Airport in the 1990s — its history, its role as a transatlantic gateway, and its convenience for travelers headed to Kent.
Genoa and Piazza Principe Station: where Zhorik's yacht cuts the shopping trip short
Genoa's history as capital of a medieval maritime republic, and the story of its main railway station, Genova Piazza Principe.
Gorky Park and the Origin of the Name "Gorky Park"
The Maxim Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure (abbreviated TsPKiO, or Gorky Park) is a Moscow park of culture and recreation, one of the…
Legendary 1990s Stores: GUM, TsUM, and Passazh in an Era of Change
How three grand Soviet department stores turned, almost overnight, into hives of individual traders, smuggled goods, and knockoff labels.
Harrods: the London department store where Roman gets his makeover
Harrods: the London department store where Roman gets his makeover, from its Victorian escalator debut to its Fayed-and-Qatar ownership history.
Hollywood, Florida: the resort town Roman mistakes for the real thing
Hollywood, Florida: the Broward County beach town Roman seizes a mansion in, ready-made for a summer of palm trees and a yacht.
House on the Embankment: the Moscow landmark Roman faces during the interview
The history of Moscow's House on the Embankment, the elite 1931 apartment complex that became synonymous with the Great Terror.
Ibiza: the party-animal island where Roman watches Zhorik and Liza disappear into the crowd
How Ibiza became the world capital of club culture by the mid-1990s, from Pacha's 1973 opening to the superclub era.
Jack London and Incline Village
Zhorik's fake sob story about a ruined "California" business — a garbled nod to Jack London's gold-rush fiction and a real, very wealthy resort town…
Kama Itil
Note to the chapter: Yurik, the Ideal Manager
Kurums
Kurums are boulder fields formed in mountains through the weathering of rock. They form in harsh climates, especially permafrost zones, where…
Sherlock Holmes and "English" Tallinn
For Soviet viewers, the image of London was shaped largely by the famous Sherlock Holmes television series, which depicted Victorian London using the…
Manhattan Express: the club that redefined Moscow nightlife in the 1990s
The history of one of Moscow's most iconic 1990s nightclubs, built as a faithful copy of a Manhattan club by the Rossiya Hotel.
Mayakovsky Square: "Mayakovka," the ministry-district hub where Roman starts making his rounds
The history of Moscow's Mayakovsky Square (Triumfalnaya), from its 16th-century origins to its 1990s role as a hub of ministries, theaters, and…
Mayfair: London's Most Prestigious District
Mayfair is one of London's most prestigious and expensive districts, located in the heart of the city in the borough of Westminster.
Metrostroyevskaya Street (Now Ostozhenka)
Ostozhenka Street received its original name back in the 17th century, after the old Ostozhye area — a low-lying floodplain on the bank of the Moskva…
Miami vs. Miami-Dade: What Is the Difference?
This note explains the difference between the city of Miami and Miami-Dade County, both mentioned in the text of the novel.
MIT -- the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Why comparing MIT to Moscow's own MIFI was, for a Soviet-trained mind in 1993, the single highest compliment one could pay an American institution.
Naberezhnye Chelny, Nizhnekamsk, and Almetyevsk: the three Tatarstan industrial cities behind Chicha's disappearance
The industrial profile and 1990s crime realities of Tatarstan's three largest industrial cities.
Palo Alto, California
The Silicon Valley city Zhorik invokes for his fake business card — home in 1993 to Hewlett-Packard, Xerox PARC, Sun Microsystems, and Adobe, and to…
Pelmeni Houses in Moscow
Pelmeni houses in 1980s-90s Moscow were popular as places for quick, affordable meals. They were known for their concise menu, plain interiors, and…
Perkhushkovo
A village in the Odintsovo district of Moscow Oblast, located on the historic Mozhaisk Highway.
Povarskaya Street in the Mid-1990s
Povarskaya Street is one of the most prestigious streets in central Moscow, and its mention in the context of buying a six-room apartment in 1993…
RKTs Tushino: the Bank of Russia's Settlement and Cash Center in Moscow's Tushino District
A note on RKTs Tushino, the Bank of Russia's settlement and cash center serving the Tushino district of Moscow -- part of the clearing infrastructure…
Royal Tunbridge Wells: the cover story of choice for a hidden villa
Royal Tunbridge Wells, the quintessentially respectable Kent spa town Zhorik picks as a plausible cover story for Roman's supposed English house.
Selfridges: the American import that reinvented British retail
Selfridges: the American entrepreneur's department store that reinvented British retail as entertainment, and hid a secret WWII command post in its…
Sharik: the affectionate Moscow nickname for Sheremetyevo Airport
The history of Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, from its 1950s military origins to its nickname "Sharik."
Soho: From Royal Park to Entertainment District
Soho is one of the best-known districts of London's West End, located in the borough of Westminster.
The Cathedral of the Intercession (St. Basil's Cathedral)
The Cathedral of the Intercession, known as St. Basil's Cathedral, is an Orthodox church on Red Square, built in 1555-1561 on the orders of Ivan the…
The "Arbat" Restaurant: a Legend of Soviet Public Dining
The restaurant "Arbat," mentioned in the novel, was one of the most iconic establishments of Soviet-era Moscow, a symbol of the grand ambitions of…
The "Democrats": Soviet slang for the Eastern Bloc, and what it revealed about the USSR itself
Why Soviet citizens called Eastern Bloc neighbors 'the Democrats' — and what that word's slow curdling into resentment revealed about the USSR itself.
The "Moskva" Pool
The "Moskva" Pool was the largest open-air swimming pool in the USSR and one of the largest in the world, in operation from 1960 to 1994 on the site…
What Barkhans Are
A barkhan is a crescent-shaped sand dune formed by wind in desert regions. Its convex side faces the wind, while its "horns" stretch out in the…
The Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge: the Moscow landmark behind the footage of Roman's own death
The centuries-long history of Moscow's Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge and its neighbor, the Krymsky Bridge, from a medieval ford to the modern crossings.
The Clinic on Romanov Lane
The clinic on Romanov Lane is the famous Kremlin Clinic, one of the most exclusive and prestigious medical institutions of the Soviet era, which…
The Dalí Theatre-Museum: the red-lips couch Roman recognizes from his own visions
The history of the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres, Dalí's self-declared "last work," including the Mae West room and his crypt beneath the dome.
The Gagarin Monument: the titanium idol Roman turns away from on his happy morning walk
The 42.5-meter titanium monument to Yuri Gagarin on Leninsky Prospekt, the first large-scale monument ever cast entirely in titanium.
The Kolomenskaya-Kashirskaya Stretch: One of the Longest on the Moscow Metro
The 2,817-meter Kolomenskaya-Kashirskaya stretch of the Moscow Metro was one of the longest in 1997. The history of the stations on the…
Los Angeles: a city with no center
Los Angeles as a sprawling conglomeration of low-rise municipalities, oil wells, and freeways — nothing like its Hollywood image.
The Lyudmila Department Store
A Soviet-era Moscow department store by Kursky Station, part of the "Mosodezhda" retail network — now vanished, but a fixture of an older…
The Nishchenka: the buried Moscow river Zhorik threatens to drown someone in
The history of Moscow's Nishchenka River, almost entirely enclosed in underground collectors by the 1990s, and its dark reputation as a place to…
The Stadium Flea Markets
How Luzhniki, Dynamo, and CSKA — Moscow's great sports arenas — became the country's biggest black markets in the years right after the USSR…
The V&A: the museum Prince Albert built to fix British design
The Victoria and Albert Museum: born from Prince Albert's alarm at British design after the Great Exhibition of 1851.
The Likhachev Plant (ZIL): from an Outlying Factory to the Heart of Moscow
The Likhachev Automobile Plant, whose sprawling, planned-for-nothing-but-production grounds swallow Zhorik's stolen Audi — a story that runs from a…
Torrequebrada
Torrequebrada is one of the most prestigious districts of the resort town of Benalmádena, on the Costa del Sol in the province of Málaga, Andalusia…
TsDKh: the Central House of Artists banquet where Roman meets his Canadian namesake mix-up
The history and role of Moscow's Central House of Artists as a hub of 1990s art, exhibitions, and society banquets.
Zagoryansky (Zagoryanka)
Zagoryansky (informally Zagoryanka) is an urban-type settlement in the Shchyolkovo district of Moscow Oblast. The name comes from the surname of…
Бачурино
Bachurino — a historic Moscow-region village overshadowed by its neighbor, the SVR headquarters