I arrived in Moscow on Friday evening, after a long queue at immigration, a ride with AeroExpress train and metro I finally met my friend Lena. We went to the supermarket to get some food and drove to her home to prepare dinner.
Next day, Lena's sister Oksana showed me arround the city. First, we started with Novodevichy Convent - founded in the 16th century it was later initially a second home for Sofia (half-sister of Peter the Great) during her rule. Later Peter confined and imprisoned her there and had her joined by his first wife.
Transfiguration Gate-Church
Outside the gate, we bought tickets to the exhibitions and church. The convent was very quiet except for the guided tour buses that spilled out their load from time to time. We tried to avoid them and made our own way through the convent.
bell tower
The first exhibition hold information, pictures and icons of the churches in Moscow and its region. Pictures showed the restoration and reconstruction of churches after perestroika.
Assumption Church
The other exhibitation showed the life of a Mother Superior in the 20th century and everyday objects of the nuns. While we were strolling from one place to the other, it started to rain heavily so we ran for cover in the convent shop. You could buy pictures of saints, candles, souvenirs and much more. After 15 minutes we finally dared to go out again and headed to the next door church through the lighter rain.
Iconostasis of Smolensk Cathedral
The rain eased so we walked around the convent back to the car. We drove through the city passing by several good known sights like the Bolshoi Theatre, Red Square, Kremlin, ... Finding a parking spot was as difficult as in any other metropolitan city in the world, so we had to walk about 15 min to Varvarka Street.
This little street linking Kitay Gorod (China Town) and Red Squares features four churches (one at least working), a monastery, the little Romanov museum and the Old English Court (the first residence and trade post of the British Empire built in 16th century).
Church of St. George
The Cathedral of the Sign
On the way back we crossed a street market and followed our steps back to the café where we drank coffee and tea and then further to the car. The navigation system led us home past Lubyanka Square (former headquarter of the KGB - now Federal Security Service), Tverskaya Street and Belorusskaya Train Stration.
At home Lena prepared her special croissants with salmon - delicious.
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