It's Good To Be The King (or Count...)

привет, my friend!

This weekend I went to Kuskovo, which was the country estate of the Sheremetev family -- the richest aristocrats in the 1700's.

First of all, I may say I am pretty proud of myself for being able to get there: I took the subway until the very east of Moscow (I live on the west side) and, in a totally unfamiliar territory, found the bus that would take me there. And last, I was able to buy tickets to see all the exhibitions from a cashier who spoke no English whatsoever.

So, the estate was built by Count Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev, who had 200,000 serfs (slaves). Among the serfs, there were some kick-ass architects, who designed and built the estate.

Because there were very few people at the time I visited, I managed to take many pictures using the 'timer' function. Therefore, I finally appear in some pictures.

This is me in front of the summer Grotto, built to resemble a sea cavern.

Some sections of the Grotto were decorated with shells and porcelain embedded on sand and stucco.

This is the orangery, which is a greenhouse where they could grow oranges year-around. Inside, there is now a beautiful ceramics museum, including some pieces painted by Kandinsky and others painted as Soviet propaganda. Unfortunately, I could not take pics inside...

This is inside the Dutch house, with tiled interior. Inside I questioned by the babushkas who work there, i.e., do I speak Russian, where I am from, how can I be from Brazil if my book was in English, etc. The whole inquisition happened in Russian, but I think I managed to answer most of their questions using my limited vocabulary.

This is inside the Italian Cottage. Note the babushka asleep in the background.

It had beautiful parquet floor, so I had to put on these fuzzy slippers.

These are different angles of the Wooden Palace. The palace is made entirely of wood, then plastered and painted to resemble stone.

These are inside the Wooden Palace. First one is grand hall, then the dining room, the play room, and finally the bedroom.

Afterall, the whole thing reminded me of the movie "History of the World Part I", where Mel Brooks plays Louis XVII. In the movie, the character does pretty much whatever he wants and always says "It's good to be the king".

пока!