How did you become bitten by the Romanov bug

[Sweet_Angel]

I was hooked when I saw the family photo from 1913 in my history book when we read about the Russian revolution, I never read about so much as I never get a chance to do so because of my grad in history so I never got the chance to learn about every kind of bad things that happened more then I read about. Then I saw the cartoon movie Anastasia and became more intrested in the Romanovs so I start to search and I still do.

[AnastasiaAutumn]

Oh my...

Pathetically enough, I cannot remember when the bug first hit me. I remember watching the animated ANASTASIA after it came out on VHS. I was about five then. I remember boycotting the movie for several years; it made me angry due to its historical inaccuracies. It also brought intense waves of sadness. (The Once Upon a December sequence; the Alexander Palace looked rather realistic!) A steady flow of the Massie/Kurth books followed...I remember being eight-years-old...reading the N&A sequence about Alexei screaming for his mother to help him during a bout of hemophilia. I was profoundly shaken, seeming to hear his voice echoing in my head for years to come.

But then...my interest slowly drifted away from them. Tudor England, another passsion of mine, reigned supreme. But this past Thanksgiving, at the age of fourteen, I caught the last hour or so of Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (w/ Amy Irving) on TV. My blood boiled. I knew the movie was made before DNA testing and such, but it still bugged me. I tore all my Romanov books of their shelf, then proceeded to expand my collection and rant to anyone who will listen about Imperial Russia.

It's my first post on the forum, and I'm glad to be back after so long!

[tom_romanov]

Well It was around 2004 and I was 10/11 and I remember watching a CD-ROM on the 20th century and it came up with the famous 1913 photo of the family. I guess I was drawn in by Maria, so I went on google and typed in 'Russian revolution family' and sure enough it came up with the Romanovs and I remember writing down their names and printing off a picture. I also remember my first visit here in 2005 and looking at a post about Maria pictures.

Then after watching the cartoon film Anastasia and seeing Nicholas and Alexandra ( I remember first seeing a picture of the Governors house in Tobolsk and saying " No, in the film it was a cabin, not a mansion!") and my interest has continued from there.

[Olga Maria]

Maria really is the one who caught my eye first, too, Tom! Is that 1913 photo you're talking about this:

[tom_romanov]

Yes! that's the one, looking back at it now, I think I was drawn to Maria because, well, all the others look quite glum but Maria has the little smile 

[Yelena Aleksandrovna]

My mom loves to watch history programs (I love them too), but when I was a girl I didn't like them.
She watched those programs the Sundays at night, when I was ten years old (Long time ago) she
watched a program named "Anastasia, alive or dead", I really liked it very much and I become fan
(Not only of Romanovs) of History.