Dinner on the tramway
Around Patriarch's Ponds there are no rails, so there is no risk of being decapitated. However, near Чистые пруды [Chistye Prudy] or Clean Ponds, Line «A» had been running again since 1997, when the 850th anniversary of the city of Moscow was celebrated. All the other lines had a number, but this one did not. The «A» stood for Аннушка [Annushka], and the carriages were painted with characters from The Master and Margarita. .
One of the cars wa called Трактиръ Аннушка [Traktir Annushka] or Café Annushka. This tram set ran circular routes around Chistye Prudy. You could enjoy a decent meal and a drink there in a cosy setting at reasonable prices, from noon to «the last customer».
Although the regular tram line «A» (still affectionately known as Annushka) remains one of the city’s oldest and most iconic tram lines, the travelling bistro is, sadly, a thing of the past. The tram was forced to close its doors in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic. After a years-long search for a buyer and problems with licences for the ageing tram set, the iconic tram was finally taken to a scrapyard at the end of 2023 and scrapped.