Removal of thread "The Empress Alexandra Fights Back"

[Alixz]

griffh - Thanks so much for the information on the Russian Tea Room!  I remember that it did close (I can't remember when) but it is good to know that it is now back and from your link looks a vital as ever.

The last time I was there was in 1981.  A friend took me there for my birthday.  I had been there before, but that was such a special occasion that I have never forgotten it.  This friend surprised me by ordering a bottle of Dom Perignon! I absconded with an ash tray as a souvenir and later when I heard that the Tea Room had closed, I was glad to have that object as a memory.

That day we had visited the Forbes Collection and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (to see real moon rocks).  That might also have been the time we went to the top of the World Trade Centers, but we went so many times (we used to go several times a year) to see Broadway Shows that I have probably confused all the trips in my memories.

I have been to NYC many times since 1981 but that trip was magical.  I can't believe it was 30 years ago.

[historyfan]

I just can't quit this thread...

Robert and Aleksandr pavlovich thanks so much for the update on the Faberge Eggs as that is very reassuring.  I can't help remembering reading that little book by H. G. Wells, which was either his Six Weeks in Russia, 1919, or Russia in Shadows in which he describes how Gorki had insisted that the looting stop and demanded that everyone was to bring all their bounty to the Winter Palace. 

Apparently many of the looters obeyed because Wells remembers being taken by Gorki through room after room of treasures which were carefully labeled as to who the owner had been, even the piles of fur coats were all carefully labeled.  Though Stalin sold off so much of Russia’s heritage, it is encouraging to know how carefully it was preserved at first and it is so important that these treasures are returning home.  The nation needs so much to know how magnificent its heritage is. 

Alixz you will be glad to know that the Russian Tea Room is alive and well!!!   

Here is the Russian Tea Room’s link:    http://russiantearoomnyc.com     

My sister and I were just there last May and had a wonderful time with Margarita and her husband who were visiting NYC on their whirlwind tour of Europe and Canada.  The Doorman at the Russian Tea Room is still wearing his smart red livery and it is still an enchanting place to dine and meet friends. 

I think the highlight of our luncheon at the Russian Tea Room was when Margarita ordered a Rasputin and then told the waiter that they needed to change the description of Rasputin.  It was the greatest moment and I must say that the waiter held his own fairly well but Margarita clearly won in the end.  All I remember about the drink is that there were gold flakes floating about.

Hey Alixz I just wanted to add that, like History fan and Holly, I loved your story about Fortunoff...I am always embarrassed after I share stories because they all end up sounding so snobbish but they are just family memories to me.

On the Russian Tea Room, to quote Liz Lemon in "30 Rock": "I want to go to there!"

I love the story about Margarita's debate with the waiter about "the Rasputin"!

Griff...never...NEVER stop sharing your stories!  : )

[Alixz]

 
 Since "Alixz" humorously mentioned "The Orange Tree Egg," I heard recently, that THAT specific egg allegedly has had more owners than any of the other eggs, since leaving the Imperial collections!        Regards,  AP.

I mentioned the Orange Tree Egg because it was the one that made the biggest impression on me as to how dirty it was.  All of those beautiful leaves were dusty and the little bird that popped out of the top had what looked like webs on it!  I was always so disappointed that Malcolm Forbes took the time to collect the objects but not the time to keep them clean and at their best.

[historyfan]

 
 Since "Alixz" humorously mentioned "The Orange Tree Egg," I heard recently, that THAT specific egg allegedly has had more owners than any of the other eggs, since leaving the Imperial collections!        Regards,  AP.

I mentioned the Orange Tree Egg because it was the one that made the biggest impression on me as to how dirty it was.  All of those beautiful leaves were dusty and the little bird that popped out of the top had what looked like webs on it!  I was always so disappointed that Malcolm Forbes took the time to collect the objects but not the time to keep them clean and at their best.

That is terrible.  : (  I have a neighbour who collects classic cars.  Another guy up the street has one also, but he doesn't maintain it - it sits out all winter without a covering, never mind a garage.  I always think my neighbour is going to have a stroke whenever he goes past it.  Why bother collecting such fantastic (and historically important) objects if you don't have time or desire to maintain them?

[aleksandr pavlovich]

  Re "historyfan" and your Post # 63:  IMO, for some people, just knowing that you HAVE/OWN it, is enough.  There are "collectors" and then there are "acquisitors."  I suppose the thrill of the hunt has ALWAYS been in the chase.
  Despite insurance, to some degree, I frequently feel as if I am  an "acquisitor," since obviously small, expensive objects (such as Faberge items, early military decorations, etc.) are best kept in safety deposit boxes, not in a dwelling/apartment in an urban area.  However, I have the satisfaction of knowing they're THERE (and safe). And yes, I frequently DO remove items to display and enjoy from time to time in my home, thereby NOT falling into that dreaded third category:  "hoarder."  But I think that now we/I are potentially OT.  Regards,  AP.

[Alixz]

AP - I think we have been OT for a long long time, but it doesn't really matter because this thread has turned into a collection of Russian related things and subjects.

Malcolm Forbes opened a "museum" to show off his Faberge acquisitions and since he was showing them to the public (at first for free and then, if I remember correctly for a small fee) I just thought that he should have maintained the collection better.

Actually as to a fee, I actually don't remember, but I know that when he added his train layout and collection, the whole exhibit was handled much differently.  I only went there twice after he added the trains and it was many many years ago.

[griffh]

Hey thanks historyfan for your remarks.  I think that my writing is establishing a way to identity myself that has until now been caught up in memoires of my Mom's family, etc.  It is funny but I now come to Alixz thread to relax from my writing and to see what is going on.  Best to everyone...Griff   

[Alixz]

I like the idea of sharing personal "brushes" with the Romanovs.  Like seeing the Forbes Collection or going to the Russian Tea Room.

Meeting people who either made us laugh of smirk.

Also, these occasions happened here in the USA and while not everyone lives close to NYC, so many do have access to the city that it is possible for many to do these things in person which is far better than on line.

The Metropolitan Museum has so many great exhibits.  I saw some Faberge there as well as an exhibition of clothing from Imperial Austria.  Dresses that Sisi wore with her incredibly tiny waist.

Anyone with personal stories of Romanov of royal history interest should share them here.  Not just those of us who can get to NYC because I am sure that other large cosmopolitan cities also have their own exhibits and interests.

I have always been glad to live near Yale Beinecke Library and to have seen and handled Anna Vyrubova's albums.  I am not sure that it is possible any more because some idiot cut up a few of the pictures with a razor, but when I went it was a way to touch the past that I had never imagined possible.  I know that the collection is available on line, but to actually sit down with the albums and turn the pages was amazing!

[Holly]

I enjoy reading this thread and all of your stories. I'm very envious of you, Alixz, for handling Anya V's album! I can't imagine. I saw one of their albums but it was behind glass, unfortunately.

I remember for my thirteenth birthday all I wanted was to go to New Mexico for the exhibition Nicholas & Alexandra: At Home with the Last Tsar and His Family. After much pleading I got this present and spent a week in Santa Fe, NM for "Russian Summer", as they called it. The hotel I stayed in had paper dolls of the IF on the main desk. There was Russian everything in the city all centered on the exhibition which had a lot of the family's clothing, children's toy's, notes, artwork, photograph albums, Fabergé works, and home movies playing on a screen. The day I visited I walked around for hours until a guard came up to me and asked, "Are you bored here? Where are your parents?" I then got into a debate with a couple of much older women about how to pronounce "Tsarskoe Selo".

I somehow always get into some kind of trouble in these Romanov "brushes". I believe I can safely say I've been scolded by guards in every palace possible to enter in St. Petersburg for touching things I wasn't allowed to touch, the worst being in Peterhof. On my trip to Tsarskoe Selo last summer I was anxious to see the Alexander Palace and the park. The man showing my group around was a professor in St. Petersburg named Timofeev and his wife that visited my university and knew us well. He was annoyed to be taking me there and the whole walk over was telling me it was the most uninteresting place in Tsarskoe Selo. The moment we got to the AP I broke away from everyone and went off into the park. They looked for me for around an hour before my friend told them all I was probably exploring and Timofeev told her I couldn't because of the dogs and guards standing post at the front of the palace at the time. My friend could only tell him that he "didn't know Holly."

[bestfriendsgirl]

I can relate ... I've been scolded for being a Romanovphile myself. When the Nicholas and Alexandra exhibition was in Wilmington, DE in 1998, my brother and his now-wife were living in Washington, DC, a reasonable driving distance away. I cashed out some frequent flier miles left over from a former job and dragged my husband up there. We all drove to Wilmington on a Saturday and entered the exhibit mid-afternoon. I, of course, was totally lost in my own personal Romanov wonderland and finally made it to the end, only to find my husband, brother and now-sister-in-law, all of them absolutely fuming ... they'd been waiting almost an hour and the exhibit hall was about to close! They finally hauled me out of there and back to DC - I could have easily spent another three hours or so!

[Robert_Hall]

I tend to do these things solo, unless I have a friend  who is mutually interested, rather than drag anyone else through an exhibition they would be bored with. Fortunately, my partner is mildly interested in Faberge, so he is OK with that, but he has seen more than his fair share of royal mausoleums so I am sparing him the dead Romanovs when we get to St..P.

[bestfriendsgirl]

Actually, both my husband and I are very much museum people; it's just that I get so totally over the top with the Romanovs sometimes. We've passed our love of history on to our older son, a college student, who is thinking of declaring a second major in history to go with sports journalism (strange, I know, but strange works ...  )

[Holly]

so I am sparing him the dead Romanovs when we get to St..P.

Ah, this made me laugh. Thank you, Robert.

It is a good idea not to bring anyone not interested with you to such events. They tend to take away from your joy..

[Alixz]

I have often wondered why Yale Beinecke allowed visitors to the library to actually "handle" the photo albums.  As I said, some idiot had taken a razor blade to some of the pictures and when I got to look at them, the cut and scored pictures were still in the books.

It occurred to me to take the chance and go to Yale to at least try to see the albums when I read the picture credits in Nicholas & Alexandra and found that Beinecke was listed.  All I did was drive to New Haven and walk onto Yale campus and ask students, "Where is Beinecke Library?"

That was in the late 70s and then I went again in the early 80s.  I would bet, though, that security has been tightened a lot in the last 30 years and, of course, since 9/11.

For those not familiar with New Haven or Yale, it is a juxtaposition of Ivy League and "arm pit" New Haven sprawl.  When one drives into New Haven from Whalley Avenue (Route 63), one drives directly onto the Yale campus.  It doesn't sit apart from or along side the city of New Haven as other big universities do.  Yale is very much a part of New Haven as Harvard is to Boston and Columbia is to New York.  The actual university campus can't actually grow anywhere and one of the major libraries is under ground.

Yale dormitories face the New Haven Green while the New Haven Superior Court sits across the green and the trial of Joshua Komisarjevsky the notorious Cheshire, CT. home invasion case, goes on inside.

New Haven is no sleepy little university town.

[griffh]

Well I am taking a break from my writing....


And just to say I also went to the Wilmington Delaware exhibit.  In my overly dramatic way, I decided to wear one of my grey suits as a silent half-mourning tribute to the Empress and her family.

It was the very first time I had ever seen the Tsar's watercolors, or letters, or the furniture, or the gowns and uniforms.  I was literally transfixed.  

Of course I started crying immediately and as I worked my way through the exhibit I worked my way through an entire tissue box as well.  Thank Goodness it was so crowded that no one really noticed my sobs.  

I think one of the things that struck me the most forcefully, were Olga and Tatiana's court gowns with the extremely simple pastel ruched and rosetted designs that decorated the front panels.  It was as if everything I had ever read about Olga and Tatiana was being repeated by the gowns.  

It is funny what one is struck by.

I don't exactly know when I left the exhibit but I do remember buying every book in the bookstore and making my way to my car.  The experience was so overwhelming for me that I lost all tract of time and sat in the front seat of my car for five hours without realizing it.  I got home in NJ sometime in the early morning hours and actually the drive was quite pleasant.  I didn't know at the time that I was seeing some of the furniture from the Lower Palace in Peterhof and now when I see vintage photos of the Lower Palace I can recognize several pieces that were in the exhibition.