Nestling into Nesvizh

So today I went to Nesvizh, which really is just an homage to the excesses of Polish aristocracy.  I would never build a castle/palace on this flat plain between Russia and Germany, but there is probably a reason why I have been unsuccessful in connecting all three seas like the Polish-Lithuanians tried in the 1700s.  All I keep hearing about is how big of a deal the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth was,  but I am always hesitant to really consider them a successful empire, or an empire at all.  I mean, did they have a postal system?  I feel like once you've reached the point where you're able to subsidize a seemingly illogical system to all corners of your contiguous territory, then you've really made it.  Based on Canada Post's inability to deliver me anything, I am often hard-pressed to really put Canada in the "country" category.

Tight sleeve.

Anyway, I took a bus out to Nizhveh which really took me on the Potemkin Village Tour of Belarus.  What a charming and productive countryside!  Everything is so polished and freshly painted and picture-perfect.  I also  stopped to talk to some babushki selling grapes and other bounties of the harvest and they asked why my Russian was so perfect.  Damn these old women know how to play me and empty my wallet.  I immediately started to purchase everything in sight while flushed over with sudden and extreme bashfulness, and they told me that they were impressed and happy that I came to visit.  And then they gave me everything for free!  I don't know what game they are playing but it worked.

There was a beautiful outdoor restaurant at the castle as well and I ordered shashlik, and Georgian red wine, and some potato-based products, and also I had a "salad" that turned out to be just pineapple in mayonnaise which I have decided is just not for me.  A few tables over were also two middle aged women giggling and smoking as they poured a 750ml bottle of vodka into a plastic water bottle, and who giggled even more heartily when they noticed me noticing them and one coyly said, "We have a long bus ride." 

I was also interviewed for a Russian tv show.  Obviously it was in English because my Russian is so atrocious, but they basically wanted to know why anyone, much less a Canadian, was visiting Belarus.  I hope they didn't dub me over with some nonsensical phrases.  Anyway, they told me they would send me the link to the YouTube video but it's been a while now and I haven't heard from them…

Yeah, it's like pretty and stuff.