Chapter Fourteen

Roots

“Lisa….wakey wakey eggs and bakey.” Mandy’s voice sounded in my ear as she attempted to wake me up for the tenth time today.

“Ugh, no, I just want to sleep.” I said with sleep still slurring my voice.

“Lisa, you’re going to miss the tour that Mr. Poloski is taking us on.  We only have like four hours before we have to get ready for the dinner tonight.” Mandy said as she opened up the window curtains making bright white sunlight flood the room, and completely waking me up now.

“Only four hours? What…what time is it?” I said as I jumped out of the bed and grabbed my clothes before shutting the bathroom door.

“It’s a little after one. The guys are already downstairs, waiting for us.” She said loudly through the bathroom door, causing me to get dressed a little bit faster.  And I’ll admit, for as jet lagged as I was, I was pretty impressed with how quickly I got ready.

“Aw, well don’t you just look cute and touristy.” I said as I looked over at Mandy before finding my shoes. She had her hair pulled back in a low ponytail and had on a pink and white sundress that went down to her knees, making her white Toms fit perfectly with her outfit.

“Well, thank ya, but I must say I love the skirt.” She said with a smile as looked over at me. I giggled back, she was actually the one who picked it out for me, and I must say the dark, lilac purple skirt with the white ruffled tank and brown belt did look great against my dark auburn hair and skin.

As we came out of the grand elevator of the hotel my eyes seemed to take in every bit of architectural detail.  I guess I was too tired last night to notice all of this when we had first arrived, and today it was like a dream coming true.  Even seeing Eric and Mr. Poloski over by the lounge area waiting for us kind of made today feel a bit like a dream.  We were in Russia, and today I was going to learn more about my family, at least visit some of the places where they once lived.

“Well good morning sleeping beauties, I’m so glad you’ve decided to wake up finally.” Eric said with a smirk as he stood up and walked over towards Mandy and me.

“Sorry, I was just so jet lagged.” I said with a shrugged as looked at Eric standing by Mandy.  So, she liked him, but if he kissed me just a few days ago could he still be interested in her? Did I truly want him to like her? My mind randomly started to wonder. I quickly shook my mind, trying to become focused to more of what was going on now instead of trying to figure out the soap opera of Mandy and Eric’s love life.

“Well, if we want try to do tour of the Catherine Palace, we need to go now, otherwise we’ll miss the last tour time.” Mr. Poloski said as he stood up looking at his watch then at the three of us.

“Will we have time though?” I asked, remembering thanks to Mandy, that we were having dinner with Mr. Poloski’s uncle, or my cousin, Count Dubrov.

“Yeah, if we go now, we will. Dinner isn’t until seven tonight, but it will take us a little under an hour to get there.” Mr. Poloski said as he started towards the doors, leading us towards the car that he was providing for us for the entire trip.

On the way to the palace, my eyes tried to take in all the scenery that we passed by.  From the people on the streets, to the cars that turned or went passed us, to the parks, and buildings, all of it was completely fascinating to me.  Mr. Poloski in the passenger seat up front would call out some of the landmarks as we drove past them, causing all three of us to turn our heads quickly, and causing Mandy to snap pictures.  Why didn’t I think about bringing a camera? I thought to myself. However the more I thought about it, I guess it was a good thing, because then I would have to try to keep up with it, and I was just fine going through the streets of St. Petersburg without a purse, which meant I hopefully wouldn’t be a target for muggers or thieves, at least that’s what I told myself in my mind. I had no idea how this city was, was it full of crime on the streets to innocent tourists, was it peaceful, I had only decided to go along with what both Nunna and my mother had said, “be safe”, and I was sticking to it.

Just a few minutes later, the car stopped along the sidewalk of a breathtaking light grey, almost white, and blue palace.  As I got out of the car, my eyes just couldn’t take in all of the details fast enough; there was just so much beauty and amazing pieces of this palace, not to mention the gold cupolas on top of the highest towers of the palace, as Mr. Poloski pointed out right before we began walking towards the main entrance to the guided tour area.  The palace was just breath taking, anyone who has ever seen pictures or been there in person would probably agree with me, when I say that it was all very heavenly looking.  The gold trim around the exterior façade was just incredible, and what really kept throwing me for a loop was all of this was for my family.

“Yes, four adult tickets of the palace please.” Mr. Poloski told the lady at the ticket booth in his fluent Russian.

“Would you like to also purchase the tickets for the grounds as well, it’s only ten dollars more.” She said in her elderly voice.

“I’m afraid we won’t have enough time, perhaps another time though.” Mr. Poloski said softly with a smile.

“Very well, here are the tickets and maps of the palace and gardens, if you will please walk towards the right and follow the path, it will lead you to tour guide who is waiting for you. Please note that no photography will be allowed, any cameras found taking pictures will be confiscated. I hope you all have a pleasant time.” She said with a smile as she handed Mr. Poloski the tickets and looked briefly at the rest of us, too bad I was the only other one besides Mr. Poloski that understood what she was saying.  Poor Mandy, I thought briefly to myself.  She was only going to be allowed to take photographs outside, which don’t get me wrong they were still going to be great pictures, but she was going to have to resist the urge to take pictures inside.  I guess this was another good thing that I didn’t bring my camera; I would’ve probably completely forgotten the “no pictures” rule.

“Man, I can’t take any inside?” Mandy exclaimed as she took the ticket from Mr. Poloski.  I could really feel her disappointment.

“It’s okay MJ, you can go for four hours without taking pictures, I know you can.” Eric said as he put his arm around her shoulders as we began to walk to meet our tour guide, and gave her a tight side hug.

“Well, sure I know I can but ugh I wanted to take pictures, wait well since I can’t take pictures inside let me get it out of my system now.” She said as she pulled away from Eric and began to take so many pictures as we continued to walk, making us stop and take a semi-group shot, and then paring us off to take photographs.

“Welcome.” The middle aged tour guide said in fluent Russian.

“Hi, Hello, Hi ya.” Were all said by the four of us, except only Mr. Poloski’s greeting and mine were in Russian.

“Ah, where are you all from?” The tour guide said in his foreign accented English.

“We are from The States.” Mandy said with a proud smile.

“Oh I’ve been to the Big Apple before, beautiful, but busy city.” He said with a smile as Mr. Poloski handed the tickets over to him.

“Ah okay, well, we are just going to wait a few moments longer so that if we have any other stragglers they can join us on the tour. Until then, would you like a group shot?” He asked as he reached out towards Mandy’s camera.

“Oh that would be great, thanks so much.” Mandy said as she handed him the camera quickly and got us in position with our backs towards the palace.

“Alright, one, two, three, say cheese.” He said with a smile as he took the picture.  We all smiled and then laughed a little as after he took the shot. “Oh that is a good picture.” He continued to say as he inspected his photography skills by looking at the picture.

“Thanks so much, so can I really not take any photographs inside?” Mandy said with a little bit of a sad, puppy dog eyes, face.

“I’m afraid not my dear, we as employees can’t even take pictures inside. It’s to protect the art work inside.” He said and briefly continued to explain.

“If you want to, afterwards there’s a table with a book of photographs that were professionally taken inside earlier this year, and you can purchase it.” He said with a smile and talking in his salesman voice now. My ears were only half hearing what he was saying as he was making small talk with Mandy, Eric, and Mr. Poloski.  I just couldn’t get over the site of the palace with all the different colors of blue, gold, and white-grey.   It was truly hard to imagine my family, Nunna, running around on the grass, to imagine that I was about to walk the same pathways, hallways, staircases as my ancestors once did.  It made me feel so much more connected to them, and it made the true facts of me being the Grand Duchess of this beautiful country and estate that much more real.  I was so caught up in my thoughts and studying the architecture of the building that I didn’t hear my name being called out, until Mandy reached over to grab my wrist to pull me along with them.

As we walked and toured one room to the next our tour guide, which he finally told us to call him Andrei, began to explain the history of the palace, and point out all the many different features of the rooms.  One thing I just couldn’t get over was that all the beautiful features was because of  Elizabeth's reign and it took over one hundred kilograms of gold to decorate the palace exteriors, an excess that was disapproved of by Catherine the Great when she discovered the state and private funds that had been used on the building. Not to mention all the gold that was used within the interior of the palace, basically as a summer home for Elizabeth, it definitely showed that she wanted to make this her favorite home.  As we came to the Portrait Hall, dozens of portraits lined the elegant amber walls, and among the portraits hung very good resemblances of both Catherine and Elizabeth, which both Eric and Mandy both decided to softly agree that I had quite a few facial similarities. Everything was spectacular, a little familiar, and yet something inside of me was saying that this wasn’t exactly home.

“Um, excuse me, may I ask, was this the main home for the Romanov family?” I asked softly to Andrei, who had just stopped explaining about the history of the throne room, which was completely amazing to look at, as well as a little intimidating.

“Ah, a Romanov question, I was wondering when one of you were going to ask.  Ever since that animated movie came out in America, everyone from The States always seems to ask me the same questions about them.  However, to answer your question; no this wasn’t the main residence of the Imperial Romanov family.  That would be the Alexander Palace just a bit of a ways from here.” He explained as he pointed towards the direction of the palace. This wasn’t home yet, my mind confirmed my feelings. I hoped we had time while we were here to visit the other Palace. I had to feel, and touch where my family once was, not just where my super, super great grandmother once lived. My eyes quickly glanced over to Mr. Poloski who was looking at our tour guide as he spoke, then feeling my gaze, I caught his attention, yet it was weird because without me saying anything Mr. Poloski just simply nodded, as if he already knew what I was going to say or ask. At least I hoped he fully understood what I was going to ask of him, which was only to set up a tour for the Alexander Palace.

Several hours later, the tour ended outside near a few advertisement tents.  In a way, I was a little glad we were done.  I was still so jet lagged, and was so exhausted and bored from the constant history lessons.  In away tours were ten times worse than Mr. Poloski’s World History class, because you had to interact, and when it became awkwardly silent someone was bound to ask a question to just ease the silence, when we could’ve just went on to the next room.  Don’t get me wrong, the tour was amazing, but I think it would’ve been a lot better than Andrei trying to impress Mr. Poloski with all his Russian knowledge.

“Well, it was a pleasure guiding you all through this estate.  I sure hope you have time to tour the grounds, which are absolutely breathtaking, and a lot better than what you’ll find at the Alexander Palace.” Andrei said with a smile, going back to his salesman voice.

“Thank you, however we have another engagement.  Thank you for the tour, it was quiet interesting, at least being a history teacher myself, as I said earlier, I thought so.” Mr. Poloski said as he shook hands with our tour guide.

“Well, I’m pleased you all enjoyed it.  Miss Peterson, I do hope you enjoy touring the Alexander Palace, since you are so fascinated by it.  It was a pleasure meeting you.” Andrei said in his thick Russian, causing me to smile.

“Thanks so much.” Was all I could say fluently as I smiled and shook his hand, which he brought to his lips to kiss gently, before doing the same to Mandy.

“Thanks dude.” Eric said as he gave Andrei a firm handshake before quickly letting go.

“What, you don’t want a kiss on your hand, Eric?” I said with a giggle in my voice.

“Nah, I’m good.” He said with a smile as we all walked towards the sidewalk where our driver was waiting to take us back to our hotel.

As soon as we got into the car, we were all talking about the tour and about the palace, yet it was when I began thinking about where and what we were about to go do, that I started to get super nervous.  In less than two hours I was going to meet my first of my extended family, my cousin Count Dubrov.  I didn’t know a thing about him except that he was Mr. Poloski’s uncle.  So does that make him an enemy since he was related to Rasputin? I thought to myself, as I began going through more and more questions and remembering the etiquette lessons that Nunna was so cleaver to make me learn right before this trip. I totally have to thank Nunna when I get back, I thought quickly as the car finally arrived back at the hotel a few moments later, and we headed up to our rooms to get ready for the dinner that could possibly be one of the most life changing meetings of my life.  Two things echoed in my mind the entire time as I got dressed and my nerves began to build and build, and that was don’t trip, and the words of Nunna, I am a Grand Duchess of Russia, so act like it. One thing was for sure, this was going to be an interesting dinner.

______________________________________


Author's Note: Hey Yall, I hope you enjoyed Reading! Please take a moment to click the orange VOTE button that's on the left hand side of the screen. Thanks so much for all your support.