Read "The Provincial Lady in Russia" by E.M. Delafield online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
One morning Peter and I go to Kolominsky escorted by the Little Monster. She says it is an ancient monastery, and when we get there it _looks_ like an ancient monastery but she recants and says it was a Palace of Ivan the Terrible. I don't know which she means. Prefer to think of it as a monastery.
Much the most peaceful spot I have seen in Russia--no Comrades, no reconstruction, not even a picture of Lenin with outstretched arm and clenched fist.