Chapter Sixteen

A Palace of Memories

The next morning I woke up early, at least before Mandy was up, and when I went downstairs to the lobby I didn’t see Eric or Mr. Poloski.  I hadn’t really slept at all, and yet my body felt wired. My mind was still being flooded with questions, assumptions, and even possibilities from last night’s dinner.  Was Ros really able to take the throne if he wanted to?  Did I care if he did or not? If Ros is a Romanov, then could his parents know how to connect Nunna’s family with her, or did I even want to risk it?  These were the common thoughts and questions going through my head all night and even when I sat at the hotel’s restaurant to eat breakfast.  I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t notice Mr. Poloski walk up with a plate and sat down in front of me, causing me to snap out of my daydreaming thoughts.

“You’re up early this morning Lisa.” Mr. Poloski said as he took a sip of his steaming coffee.

“Sorry, I was lost in thoughts. Yeah I couldn’t really sleep. You’re up early too.”

“Lisa, I’m a teacher, most teachers have to be up by five and six to be at school before the school doors open.  Anyways, how are you feeling about last night’s meeting?  I apologize; I didn’t know that Ros was going to be there.” He said as he started putting jelly on a biscuit.

“Last night, last night was interesting.  It was amazing meeting them, I was honestly a little mad that Ros would take my throne…I mean the throne that rightfully belongs to my great grandmamma and I. And then again in a way it’s almost refreshing to hear that he could take it, because you’re right, I’m not prepared for that kind of life.  And he’s really my cousin, he’s a Romanov?”

“Yes, he is. And it really pleases me to hear you talk about the future, because Lisa, I thought we would have more time to really think and discuss this but I need to lay out some of the facts for you, before we go to the Alexander Palace today, and definitely before you meet a lot more of your extended family later this week.” He said as he took a sip of his coffee before continuing in a much more hushed tone. “Lisa, your great grandmother’s time is almost up.  She didn’t want you to worry about it before you left for Russia, because she knew how important it was to you, but last week when I met with her during my lunch break, she broke the news to me.  She doesn’t know exactly how much longer she has, but she knows that she is dying.  It could be weeks or months, perhaps another year or so, but either way she has formally renounced her claim to the throne to me and Bishop Udeze, which means that you are the only rightful heir to the Russian throne now.  Ros can only claim it, if you formally renounce it, but before you decide or take action or  anything please think long and hard about it.  Once you give it up, you can’t take it back.  If this is the path you truly want to go down, then I will help you.  I’ve studied a great deal about Russian government and laws, and I believe that we could create a peace between you and the prime minister, like your cousins in England have done.  Just take some time today as we tour the palace to really connect with your family’s past, and then make a decision. Just keep in mind; we don’t know how much longer we have.” Mr. Poloski finished saying before finishing his breakfast, leaving me to slowly process everything that he had just said in my already chaotic mind. So not only was Nunna dying, but now I was on a time limit to decide the most important decision of my life that would not only affect my life and my family’s life, but also my friends’ lives, and perhaps the entire world, as well as Russia, the constant thought echoed in my mind as I just stared at my plate then back up at Mr. Poloski who was studying my reaction to the news. However a thought that had started to creep up in the back of my mind that was starting to scare me to death was could I do it?

“Um, why does Lisa look like she is about to hurl all over the table? Is the food that bad this morning?” Eric asked as he came over to the table and sat down with his plate of food, looking from me to Mr. Poloski; his voice distracting me, thankfully, from the daydreams and thoughts of me actually becoming a queen.

“No sorry, the food is fine; my mind is just chaotic right now.  How are you this morning?” I asked Eric as he began stuffing his mouth with cheesy eggs.

“Good, I slept like a rock.” He said with a mouth full of food, causing me to giggle just slightly.

“Good thing we aren’t in front of royals anymore.” I said with a smile as I took a sip of my apple juice.  My body was becoming much less tense from the conversation between Mr. Poloski and me.

“Well, technically you are still in front of royals.” Mandy said with a smile as she sat down next to Mr. Poloski before pouring syrup over her French toast.

“Yeah, but I know yall.” Eric said with another full mouth.

“So, what’s on the agenda anyways, Willy?” Eric asked Mr. Poloski as he took a sip of his glass of milk with a grin, as he knew Mr. Poloski didn’t like to be called Willy.

“Eric, how many times…oh never mind, I give up on that lost battle. Today’s plans are to take a tour of the Alexander Palace, and then I figured you all can go explore the square.  I have a meeting later this afternoon, and won’t be able to escort you all around the city today, but we can do that tomorrow. Perhaps you three would want to do a little bit of shopping today.” Mr. Poloski said as he put on a smile, but I couldn’t help but wonder who was he meeting and what was it about?

“Oh, can we? I have wanted to do some shopping since we got here. I’ll have to remember to get maps and everything, and money for cabs.” Mandy said enthusiastically.

“No need for a cab, I’ll have our driver take you to places.” Mr. Poloski said as he began to stand up from the table before continuing, “Okay, meet me back here in thirty minutes okay?  We’ll have to do an early tour.”

Thirty minutes later we were filing into the black town car and heading off to the grand palace.  My mind was spinning still with thoughts of what Mr. Poloski said earlier, and I knew I was going to have to really thing long and hard about this, not to mention to pray that God would show me the right path to take.  The question was if God did show me the right path, would I know it right away or would it be like a billboard sign written in a language that I couldn’t read or understand? Then there were the questions in my mind about who Mr. Poloski was going to meet today, were they part of the royal family? Was it some of his old professors? Why did he have to have a meeting today?  More and more questions spun in my mind as we drove, but it was when we stopped and I looked out the window again that everything in my mind went silent.

“Welcome to the Alexander Palace, folks.” Mr. Poloski said as he lead us towards the guided tours area. I could feel my eyes wide, filled with excitement and questions as I heard Mr. Poloski’s words and I took in the sight of the grand palace. This, this was the Romanov home, this is where Nunna lived.  My mind reassured me as I continued to follow everyone.  Even though the palace didn’t look as luxurious grand as the Catherine Palace that we saw the day before on the outside, somehow to me, it felt much more incredible, it gave off a much more homey feel.

“Welcome to the Alexander Palace, the summer home of Alexander and the permanent residence of the last Tsar Nicholas II Romanov and his family.  My name is Victor, and I will be guiding you all through this Tour of the past.” The tour guide said with a smile in his best English with a Russian accent before continuing, “First, would you four like a photograph before we enter?”

“Oh can we not take pictures inside here either?” Mandy said with disappointment in her voice.

“Only a few rooms, mostly just in the parade rooms and service rooms, other than that, we do not allow it.” Victor said as he extended his hand for Mandy’s camera before telling us to smile, as he took a few group pictures.

“Thanks so much.”

“Not a problem, now, shall we start the tour?” Victor said with a smile as he started leading us towards the entrance of the palace and began to give us the history lesson of the palace.  Even though I was hearing what he was saying, my eyes and mind couldn’t get over the fact that I was walking, touching, and seeing the same things that Nunna and the rest of my family had.  That this all belonged to me, in a way.

“The Alexander Palace was built by Giacomo Quarenghi on the orders of Catherine the Great as a present for her favorite grandson Alexander Pavlovich, who would become the future Alexander the first, to mark his wedding.  The Alexander Palace was completed in the year seventeen ninety-six and is considered one of the finest neoclassical buildings in all of Russia, and in my opinion the entire world.” Victor said with a smile before continuing, “Quarenghi, who originally planned the building for St. Petersburg, was encouraged to simplify his designs for the more relaxed surroundings of Tsarskoe Selo, and the result was a beautifully harmonious building with sparing but exquisite decoration. The northern facade is particularly impressive, with a fine colonnade of Corinthian columns in the centre, and protruding wings on either side, as you can see.” Victor explained and pointed out as we toured around the front of the palace before entering.

As we entered inside to what was called the main Parade Room, Mandy was taking a gazillion pictures, which I’ll be grateful later for, but I was just trying to mentally take pictures. I wanted these images to last in my mind for as long as I lived.  Before I knew what was happening as we began walking from one room to the next, I began walking back in time, most of everything was the same as it was when the Romanovs had lived there, at least that is what Victor began to explain to us about.

“Alexander himself spent little time in the palace, and once he ascended to the throne he in turn presented to his brother and future heir, Nicholas the first. Nicholas was particularly fond of the building, and made extensive improvements to the interiors and the grounds. It then became a tradition for the Alexander Palace to be the summer residence of the heir to the throne, and thus the building was regularly renovated and modernized. The Alexander Palace is most famous, however, as the permanent home of Nicholas the second, his wife Alexandra, and their children. The family had one wing of the palace completely redecorated to create a luxurious private residence, and Nicholas also commissioned some fine Art Nouveau state rooms later in his reign. After the October Revolution, the palace interiors were preserved untouched as a museum to show the proletariat how the Tsars had lived. This experiment was soon seen as creating too much sympathy for the ousted monarchy, however, and the museum was slowly dismantled through the nineteen-twenties and nineteen-thirties.” Victor said as he paused to allow us to take in the grand interior of the first room few rooms of the palace, which were called the Parade Rooms, before entering in the Portrait Gallery part of the palace during the tour.

One portrait after the other, my ancestors began to file into my mind.  Each person and their name began to echo in my heart and soul, however it was when we reached the portraits of the last Tsar and his family, that I about lost it.

“And here we have the last Tsar Nicholas the second and his wife and children.” Victor said as he presented the painting and several black and white photographs on the wall. My eyes traced over every detail of the pictures, one of them was the same that I had seen in the book “Russia Bleeds Red” and other history books, of the family sitting down together. Yet it was then that I saw the auburn haired young girl that stared back at me with intense eyes; the same eyes that I had seen every Thursday during my entire life, the eyes of Anastasia Nicholaevna Vasilieva Romanova, Grand Duchess of Russia, also known as Nunna to me.

“Ah I’m sure you know the story about the Lost Princess, right?” Victor said over my shoulder causing me to jump back into this reality.

“Yes sir I do.” I smiled as I turned around to look at him as well as the others.  However, the smiles quickly faded when Victor stepped back from me and went to go stand next to Mr. Poloski who had a smile spreading across his face.  My eyes went from him to Mandy and Eric who were glancing from me to a portrait above me, the portraits of the young seventeen year old Anastasia with her two sisters and younger brother.

“I say, dear child, you look just like the young ladies.  I knew you looked familiar but it’s like glancing into a mirror.” Victor said as he glanced from me to the young girls above me.

“Oh, weird, I just have one of those faces I guess.” I said as I became nervous, but turned back around to look at the young duchesses.  I didn’t really think I looked like them much, at least from the small pictures that I saw, I didn’t really see the resemblances, but with the huge painting in front of me, it was clear as day that somehow I was related to them, but what I hoped Victor wouldn’t guess or ask was just who I was related to.  I glanced back at Mr. Poloski, trying to beg him with my eyes for us to continue to tour, so that Victor would try to forget how similar I looked to the Romanov family, luckily with one glance he nodded and asked in fluent Russian to the tour guide if we could continue on our way.

As the tour continued, we learned that at one point in time the palace had become a military school, and then turned back into a museum; however my mind kept going back to the Portrait Gallery.  Seeing everyone that I was related to and to see how I did look very similar to them, only made the fact that I was a Russian Grand Duchess, even more real.  I began to wonder as we walked up the grand staircase towards the Children’s Floor of the Place, how many times Nunna went up and down these exact stairs?  How many times and who actually walked these hallways, touched these walls and banisters or even saw the almost same images that I saw throughout the rooms?  When I entered into the room that was labeled on the Tour Map of the Palace as Maria and Anastasia’s Room, my entire body seemed to feel at home.  Nothing had been moved or changed for over ninety years, only dusted and cleaned off, but other than that this room had been completely persevered by time.  I looked up towards the ceiling, and on the wall there were purple and grey butterflies that were painted, which only made me smile, as my own room back at home had butterflies as the border of my walls. 

One thing after another, I began to see similarities to the items that had once belonged to Nunna and her sister, to what I liked or owned.  I began to picture in my mind what life must have been like in this room, my Nunna and her sister waking up on the large bed in the center of the room, and going over to get dressed in front of the elegant mirror or looking out through the windows to see who had just arrived to greet their father, so many different memories and thoughts entered in my mind, and it was as if I became engulf in the animated movie “Anastasia” when she enters in the palace and began singing “Once Upon a December”, I too began to think of a familiar song, a song that I had not thought of since I was a small child when I first remembered going to see Nunna at the nursing home.

“By the long road” I sang softly to myself in Russian, without really thinking about it; however I guess it wasn’t as quiet as I thought because Victor turned around for a few seconds glancing at me, before asking, “You know of Dorogoi dlinnoyu?  You know that the song lyrics were based off of the young Russian princesses’ favorite poets, Konstantin Podrevskii?” He stated as he gave me a puzzling look. Was that really the song that I was just randomly singing in my head?  It sounded familiar, and the tune of it had always been in my mind at random times throughout my life, but I never could think of where I first heard it.  Did Nunna sing this to me when I was little? I began to wonder.

I didn’t know how to respond, one thing after another I felt as if Victor was trying to find similarities between me and the Romanov family, even when we toured the other rooms of the palace, and it didn’t help when I asked if any of the Romanovs did escape or where there close family members still alive, even though I knew the partial answer.

“Yes, as a matter of fact there are some, but they would be cousins to them.  The eldest daughter of the Romanovs, however, did have a child, and her great grandson was just recently acknowledge a few years ago, and he is now a representative for the House of Romanov for the government, as well as a good friend to the Chairman of the Government of Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin. However, there has been speculation that news of Prince Rostislav Rostislavovich Romanov claim to the Russian throne was denied because he is second or third in line to the throne.  That there are one or two others that are the rightful heirs to the thrones, however no one seems to know who, of course that’s just all speculation.” Victor said as he smiled and winked at me before finishing up the tour by taking us out through the last few Parade Rooms downstairs, and then back out the main entrance.

As we said our goodbyes, like the last tour guide at the Catherine Palace the day before, Victor shook Mr. Poloski’s and Eric’s hands before turning to kiss Mandy’s hand and then mine.  However he paused when he kissed my hand, and I froze.  I had allowed him to kiss my left hand, the hand that I wore my Romanov crested ring.

“Where…where did you get this?” Victor asked as he slowly looked at me with an intense gaze.  Hold on did he think I stole it? I wondered to myself.  To be honest I would rather him think that I was related to the Romanovs than to think that I would steal. So, I tried to play it off.

“Oh this old thing?  Oh this was just a gift from one of my family members.  Why?” I said honestly, trying to make it sound like it was no big deal that I wore an authentic Imperial ring that was handed down to me by the real Grand Duchess Anastasia.

“Sorry, it’s just this ring looks identical to the Romanov Imperial ring, and with you looking just like those portraits earlier….who…who are you?” He asked softly as he stared at me, my hand still in his grasp.

“I’m just Annalisa Peterson, sir.”  I said as I smiled, and tried not to make a big deal at the fact that this guy was really trying to figure out who I was, and his grip around my hand was becoming tighter. I looked around to get someone from the group’s attention, but everyone had their backs turned.

“Lisa, is there a problem?” Eric came over finally, after he quickly glanced back seeing my face of awkwardness.

“No, no problem.  I apologize.  I see many people come through here, and have researched the Romanov family, and you ma’am are the first to actually look identical to them.” He said as he finally let go of my hand, as Eric started to put his arm around my shoulders as a gesture for the tour guide to back off.

“I guess we all have a twin huh?” I said with a smile as I tried to end the whole conversation, this guy was trying way too hard to figure me out, and I didn’t like it one bit.  I wasn’t ready for others to know about me, was I?

Finally Mr. Poloski came over telling us that it was time to go, and to my relief, that got the whole conversation to end.  The tour guide slightly bowed towards us wished us well on our trip, but before I turned got into the car with the others, I glanced back one last time at Victor, who was still staring at us, but was talking to someone on his cell phone with a serious face.  Was he talking to someone about us, about me? I wondered.  I just hoped that it would be last time someone got that close to recognizing me, and asking too many questions, before I was ready to become public knowledge.

All I knew as we drove back to the hotel for Mr. Poloski to get ready for his important meeting that he was leaving us to go to, is that I was in a serious mood to go shopping.  I needed to distract myself from the seriousness of Victor and his brief interrogation. However, Mr. Poloski was right; I needed to think about the important, life changing, decision that lay out before me.  Things were about to happen, I could sense it, but the question was, when?

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