Just before our departure from Tsarskoe Selo, Father made each of us sign our names on slips of papers, put them in separate envelopes and leave them in our rooms.
XVII
JOURNEY
It was broad daylight outside but inside, with shades drawn and lights glaring, it might as well have been night. We were all terribly tired and we sat quietly for some time before having our breakfast. No one knew what the other was thinking. Our hearts were heavy and there were tears. Mother gathered us with her eyes. “We are together,” she said. “You are my wealth and I am rewarded by the Lord for giving me such a good family.”
Our train consisted of four or five cars. One car was occupied by us. In the next car were Prince Vasily Dolgorukov, General Tatishchev, Mlle. Schneider, Countess Hendrikova, Dr. Botkin, M. Gilliard, and Colonel Kobylinsky. In addition there were Commissar Makarov, Vershchinin, and another person whose name escapes me.
The other cars were occupied by our household staff and the guard. We were grateful to them all for staying with us, grateful too that Kerensky had allowed Colonel Kobylinsky and Commissar Makarov to accompany us.
Coffee was served to us; it helped lift our spirits. We hardly moved except to go to the dining car for our meals. Mother and Alexei were served theirs in their own compartments. It was very hot, dry, and dusty, especially before we reached Asiatic Russia. The train made a number of stops to take water, usually a short distance from the stations. All the time we were closely watched and guarded by the sharpshooters commanded by Colonel Kobylinsky. It was a grim ride, but Kerensky had made Father believe we were headed for a much safer place.
On the third day we passed the city of Perm and followed a river. The view was picturesque, a typically Russian scene. We felt the change of air as we crossed from European to Asiatic Russia, through the Ural Mountains. The train reduced its speed. Luckily for Mother, the air became cooler, otherwise she might have had heart failure. We passed through Ekaterinburg with its two stations one on each side of the city. No one would have believed then that eleven months later, this Siberian city would become the scene of one of the world’s most atrocious crimes about which many volumes would be written.
Several times along the way and between stations the train would stop, once for one full hour, which gave us an opportunity to take a walk along the tracks under the watchful eyes of our guard. This gave us sisters a chance to pick violas along the track.
Father had been in Siberia in 1890-1891. Consequently, he knew Siberia well, not only the cities, but the locations of different industries and the mining regions, which he had visited during his travels. He pointed to us locations of the most important industries, such as the iron works, paper mills, and gold and copper mines. He was sent to Siberia by his father, Alexander III, with the engineers at the head of the committee for the construction of the railroads connecting European Russia with the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
When he ascended the throne he continued the work entrusted to him by his father, to complete this construction. The Amur line was finished in March 1915 exactly two years before the revolution. He told us that the first stone for the Ussuri line was laid in Vladivostok in 1891, upon his return from the Far East. Several uncles also had been in the Far North of Siberia. The University of Tomsk was inaugurated during the reign of my Grandfather, Alexander III. Father gave to the museum of Ekaterinburg part of its famous Numismatic Department, with its rare coin collection. He also gave large contributions to the Ural mining school in Ekaterinburg. The Ural Society for Natural Sciences was under the patronage of my Uncle, the Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich. The Imperial stone cutting works and the gold melting department which were also in Ekaterinburg belonged to the Imperial family.