This weekend was
the end of a great two years of exploring Russia with Claire, and one
year of exploring with Angela. The three of us had been living
together for almost two weeks, so in that sense we were ready to
split up, but it was a bit weird knowing that this was my last time
with them for the forseeable future.
After the failed
attempt at going to a museum estate last weekend, Claire and I wanted
to try again. This time we chose to ride the metro to the closest
stop, then walk for a while. The metro doesn't randomly skip stations
unless the information has been made public for quite a while.
Kuskovo was the
summer country house estate of the Sheremetev family. I can't help
but wonder if they referred to it as their dacha, or cottage. I don't
know where the 'regular' house was for the family.
The property came
into Sheremetev family possession in the 17th century,
under Field Marshal Boris Petrovich Sheremetev. At the time, there
was already a church, several ponds, and a house on the property. I
assume that house was impressive for the time, but wouldn't be now. Just having your own property back in the 17th century meant quite a bit.
The current palace
was built by the son, Petr Borisovich Sheremetev. He was one of the
richest people in the entire country, and wanted to make sure
everyone knew it when looking at his palace. According to Wikipedia,
when he ordered the palace to be built, he ordered that it be bigger
and more beautiful than the estates of other nobles, and equal to the
residences of the tsars.
Building everything
on the estate took around 60 years, as the estate itself is over 740
acres; the palace work was begun in 1754.
After a long walk (during which we saw at least one church, several supermarkets, and a sign to an entrance of a specific regions of the city,) from the metro to the entrance gates of the property, we found
ourselves with the standard multiple ticket options for visiting a
state like this. It's annoying, but I guess Russians are used to it.
There is a ticket that just allows entrance to the property, which is
good if you want to have a family picnic, or something like that. Russians like to have picnics with family and friends, as most Russian homes aren't that big, and being social means getting out of the house.
We bought the
ticket that gave us access to the property, and the main palace.
There are a couple other buildings on the property with ticketed
entrance, but we weren't in the mood. To me, it looked like the
buildings are mostly arranged around a rectangular, landscaped garden
in the middle.
Almost as soon as
we entered the property Claire and I found ourselves trying to avoid
getting in the frame of photographers taking wedding photos. During
the first 30 minutes alone we counted at least 5 couples having
photos taken, and that was just outside.
It seemed all of them were
shooting daggers with their eyes at the regular folks wandering
around, which was annoying. We paid our entrance fee, just like they
did. If you want the area to be free of people, you need to show up
at a completely different time. This was early afternoon on a
Saturday, with fantastic weather.
As we wandered
through the palace we found ourselves avoiding another couple having
their wedding photos taken. How annoying.
Like other palaces
we've seen, this one had a bunch of great ceilings and chandeliers,
as well as overdone wallpaper and furniture. I know it's a matter of
taste and style, but I am definitely not someone who wants all that
crap in the place I live.
None of the furniture looked very
comfortable, neither did any of the beds.
Even with all that,
Claire and I were glad we'd seen the place. I wouldn't mind going
back to see the gardens and property in general in winter, when
everything is covered in snow.
On our way back to
Moscow, we texted Angela so all three of us could have a last dinner
together at a Korean restaurant in the city. Yum. This restaurant was
the first place we shared a meal as a trio, so it seemed perfect as
the last place we shared a meal. As we seem to do quite regularly, we ate too much, and walked out feeling more than full.
The next morning
all three of us were up early, then I sent the ladies away in a taxi.
They headed to the airport, to start their journeys home in other
countries. I was pretty surprised at how gutted I felt after they
left. I'd definitely gotten used to being around them during most of
my explorations, especially during weekends.
A little after noon
I went out for a walk, as the weather was good. I started by walking
to Petropavlovsky Hotel, which is impressive. It was originally built
as a palace where nobles and royals could stay and freshen up after
their journeys from St Petersburg.
I wasn't able to go
in the hotel, as the whole thing is surrounded by a fence, which has
security gates in a couple places. I didn't try, but I'm pretty sure
I couldn't get in without a hotel reservation.
The hotel was
across the street from a park, and on the other side of the park was
a small church with pretty gardens. Earlier in the walk I had seen a
Lenin memorial, I'm pretty sure I'll never be able to see all there
is of that man around Moscow.
After wandering around outside for a while, I decided to keep exploring something that is definitely on my checklist: the metro system of Moscow. Petropavlovsky hotel was pretty close to Dinamo metro station, which is on the northern half of the dark green line.
I hadn't seen most of the stations on the northern half of the line, so this seemed like as good a time as any. As usual, some of them were more aesthetically pleasing than others. That being said, all the stations were clean, and smelled normal. That is, they didn't smell bad.
The metro system in Moscow really is a museum all by itself. Incredible.
This is the way I
like to explore: start out with one or two specific places to see,
then wander around the area, and see whateva strikes my fancy, or
seems at all interesting. Moscow has soooo many areas to visit and
explore!
No comments:
Post a Comment