Moscow Day 3 - Ancestral Locations

Today we meet Vladimir, our friend in Moscow who will take us to visit some sites important to Ann's ancestry. After a stop for Coffee, we visited a military barracks where Ann's great grandfather Vladimir Apollonovich Sysoev spent time. He was a Titular Counsellor and Police Inspector of the city of Demyansk. This was the home of the 4th Grenade regiment and is now the military training school for music. The building is over 200 years old and is still used by the military. We managed to sneak a few pictures outside but were not able to go inside. Its a strange feeling being where Ann's great grandfather was over 100 years ago.

Vladimir and Ann

Once the prison, now a hospital

The Plaque on the building.

We then visited the area where Ann's Great, Great, Grand Father Apollon Vladimirovich (father of Vladimir) lived, worked and worshipped. The buildings are now used as a hospital, but are still standing. We were lucky that they opened the church for us to visit inside. There was a baptismal font in the middle of the church where it was possible that Vladimir (jnr) may have been baptized. The lady who showed us the church explained about a particular image depicting St Dmitriy. We also visited the cathedral where they may also have worshipped.

The Baptismal Font

In Front of the Hospital

We stopped for a light lunch and then went  to see sights of Moscow. We went again to Sparrow hill, this time it was not as crowded and we had a clear view of the high rise buildings. We then stopped at the Arch of Triumph, celebrating the Russian victory  over Napoleon Bonaparte. This amazing structure was built around 1824 and has been maintained in excellent condition. We had hoped to see the museum about the Napoleonic war, but it was closed for reconstruction so we wandered around looking at the canons and statue memorial relating to the war.

The View from Sparrow Hill on a Clear Day

Napoleonic Cannons Captured by the Russians

After a short time we picked up Vladimir's daughter Eva, from University and went to his home where we met his beautiful wife Ella, and our stay for the next few days. Ella had prepared a beautiful traditional Russian meal for us and made us feel very welcome in their home.

Memorial to Napoleonic Heroes