Picture Post -- street scenes

And this is the result of hanging out downtown yesterday, among the snow and the pre-New Year excitement.










Arbat, one of the central streets well-known for its street artists (and souvenir shops):










And the very well-fed street dogs, remarkable for their quiet dignity and evolved urban lifestyles:

Picture post -- Tsaritsino 2 (Interiors)

Fun fact: Tsaritsino used to be a village called Black Mud. It was renamed by an imperial decree, because Catherine the Great sure as hell wasn't putting that on her return address labels. ("Tsaritsino" is derived from "tsaritsa", the female form of "tsar").

Here we have a few interiors of the palace. The first photo shows some of the original brickwork, and the rest are various staircases and halls. It's a diverse and beautiful space; sadly, we couldn't go to the Golden Hall (the main ballroom of the palace) because they were hosting a children's New Year-themed matinee there. Well, can't begrudge them that.








In addition to all the historical fun, there was also an exhibit of Roman Antonov's paintings. The exhibit was themed around kindness. I adore his cats and rabbits. Well, see for yourself:

Picture post -- Tsaritsino 1

And here's another park/museum, located in the former residence of Catherine the Great. Who, by the way, being an empress and all, had a military title and had a dress modeled after an officers' uniform.



As well as a few other dresses. Here's an especially awesome one -- just for Genevieve.





So here are a few exteriors:













As you can see, it was snowing today.



Interiors are coming in the next post!

Picture post - Kolomenskoe

Some pictures from today's trip to Kolomenskoe with my dad -- it's a large historic park/museum. Incidentally, it was a significant place in The Secret History of Moscow -- for example, the small wooden building (my dad is next to it) is Peter's the Great house. Also, crows and jackdaws are numerous. Enjoy!