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July 15, 2002

We started off the day travelling to the town of Sergiyev Posad, known as Zagorsk during the Soviet era. It is a small industrial and agricultural city about an hour from Moscow.

Our trip to and from Sergiev Posad offered lots of variety from traffic jams to missile manufacturing. The highway runs through huge birch forests and rolling hills, as well as past groups of country homes, or dachas. Dachas aren't reserved for the wealthy; a great many Russian families have them, though most, aren't much more than shacks with no running water or electricity.
Sergiyev Posad is famous for its spectacular fortress monastery, the Trinity Monastery of St. Sergius, Russia's most revered religious and historical landmark, a destination of both spiritual and national pilgrimage. The Trinity Monastery is a place of worship and residence for about 100 monks and is the official seat of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Outside the monastery walls, on the edge of the parking lot, is a small bazaar (surprise, surprise) at which one can purchase Russian handicrafts.
Our next stop was the Kremlin, the heart of the Moscow and the seat of the government. Behind its 15th century walls are palaces, museums and cathedrals. The two principal cathedrals are the Cathedral of the Annunciation with it precious icons and the Cathedral of the Assumption with its gilt cupolas. Here the Czars from the 15th century onwards were crowned.
We trooped to the Armory Museum, which houses a wonderful collection ofcostumes, precious jewels, gold and silver. Also housed there are Faberge masterpieces, armor, weapons and icons.
After supper we visited the world famous Central Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard and then discovered "Moscow by Night."
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