One of the episodes associated with Shuvalovsky Park (St Petersburg) is the romantic and sad story of the life of one of its owners – Countess Varvara Petrovna Shuvalova.

🔻Princess Varvara Petrovna first married at the age of 18 to Count Pavel Andreevich, who was 20 years her senior. The Count was a hero of the War of 1812. The marriage was happy, and two sons were born. But in 1823, Count Shuvalov died. Varvara Petrovna grieved, and went abroad.

🔻Three years later, she met Adolphe Polier, a handsome Swiss man, and married him. The couple loved each other and were happy. Adolphe put the estate's affairs in order, inspected the extensive holdings in the Urals, and discovered a diamond deposit there. But after this trip, he fell ill and died in 1830.

🔻The Countess's grief was immense. For the burial of her husband, a crypt in the Gothic style was built in the park in the same year, designed by the architect Bryullov. In the summer of 1831, a church was laid. Varvara Petrovna grieved for several years, to the point that her lifestyle began to be considered eccentric.

🔻This continued for several years. During this period, Adolphe's Alley was created in the park, and a bridge, the Polier Bridge, was built across the stream on this alley.

🔻After mourning her beloved husband for three years, Varvara Petrovna leaves St. Petersburg and goes to Europe. There she meets her new chosen one, the German Georg Wilding, Prince Butera, but her third husband also died five years after the wedding.
Varvara Petrovna died and was buried in Wiesbaden in 1870.

🔻There is a legend that Varvara Petrovna made a vow at Adolphe's grave, but broke it by marrying a third time. Therefore, she could not find peace, and her ghost appears near the crypt at night.

#brief_and_interesting
#StPetersburg

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The most epic shower curtain ever was found on online marketplaces.

• Эпичный (masc.adj.)
[i-pich-nyj]
Epic

📎 Shut up and take my money!

#ShutUpAndTakeMyMoney
#useful_vocabulary

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Did you knоw that the smallest shot glass in Russia was called 'Муха' [mu-kha] (a fly) and held 15 ml?

🔻The history of this shot glass is tied to the emergence of the first taverns. They were opened in Russia by order of Peter the Great. Taverns were meant to to become places where visitors could not only drink but also eat.

🔻To attract visitors to the taverns, Peter I ordered their owners to serve the first shot for free, with the expectation that guests would then order additional drinks and snacks at their own expense.

🔻Knowing the habits of their guests (to drink the first shot for free and then leave), the owners of drinking establishments made small shot glasses, holding 10 to 15 ml of liquid. It was because of this small volume that the shot glass received the popular name 'Муха' (a fly).

🔻But those who liked to drink for free found a way out of this situation: throughout the day they would visit different taverns. After a few free Муха the tavern guest would leave in good spirits.

🔻And the expression:
• Ходить под мухой
[kha-dit' pad mu-khay]
Literally: to walk under the fly began to be used in reference to tipsy (slightly drunk) people.

▶️Ходить (imperf., 2nd conjugation)

#brief_and_interesting
#phraseology
#spoken_Russian

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