The extent of her [Catherine the Great’s] knowledge and her appetite for reading made her one of the best-read women in Europe and the most unusual and outstanding woman in Elizabethan Russia.

Its most famous drink is the atomic cocktail—vodka, brandy, Champagne, splash of sherry.

That ice cream tastes very orangish - are you sure it's just passion fruit?

Witty, learned, imaginative, she was conceded to be the best conversationist in any circle.