Moscow, Russian Federation
As my ticket to the Kremlin Armoury wasnt till 2pm and it was still morning I had time to explore and detoured off Red Square and the Kremlin for a bit. The street at the south east Ulitsa Varvaka had a row of Orthodox Churches and surprisingly no tourist crowds despite the close proximity.
I decided to goto the end of the street and work my way back. The first red church had a local service taking place with locals and signs for no photography.
There was then a mansion house you had to pay 400 Rub to enter ($8). This was the Boyers House of the first Romanov Tsar. The interior was impressive and missing any of the tourist crowds footsteps away in Red Square.
The route loops you thru various rooms. First is the stunning dining room with table laid with brass ware. This then leads to a private chamber and a study. The rooms also had thick coloured glass that was not see thru.
In what must have been the womens quarters were looms setup for weaving displays. Again very impressive and I had the house virtually to myself with almost no other tourists.
After an adjacent church was the Old English Court. This is where English merchants set up a trading office. For some reason the guard let me come in without a ticket but there was only really one room to see.
Heading back to Red Square were throngs of tourists (see prior entry for Kremlin visit). Once done with the Kremlin I walked over to Arbat St, the pedestrian shopping street. This wasnt the street I was imagining with the designer shops where the billionaires shop but was just tourist souvenirs.
See also vlog of todays visit https://youtu.be/E56DVQxoIYg
2025-05-23