All of us sisters painted, sewed and did other crafts. We even learned how to make jewelry with special equipment that kind Mr. Faberge brought us.

We were busy all the time doing one thing or another. Our mother didn't like to see us with idle hands! You can imagine when we girls were alone in our own rooms we sometimes just laid about and did absolutely nothing for as long as we could. How relaxing!

We had many teachers in all sorts of things. Sometimes famous artists would even come and show us how they painted. I especially liked Mr. Samokish who showed me how his lithographs were colored and let me try for myself in one of his albums.

We sisters painted many things and made our own cards and stationary. Coloring photographs that we pasted in our albums was something for which I thought I had real talent. Who knows what I might have become had I not been a princess...

This is my signature. It's in the Russian alphabet, which is called Cyrillic. In Russian it is pronounced "Anastasiya". Russian is a very beautiful language. Perhaps you will learn to speak it one day... I hope so!

Here's a list of some of the things I like best:

• Playing the balalaika with Aleksey
• Playing my record player
• Christmas with my sisters
• The Millionaire Girl - a book I read
• The swallows in Tsarskoe Selo
• My dogs Shvybzik and Jimmy
• Violette Perfume
• Laying in the sun and doing nothing
• Playing the game "Colorito"
• Taking photographs with my Kodak camera
• Saturday movies in the Semi-circular Hall
• Picnics in the Skerries
• Giving visitors tours of our yacht, the Standart
• Talking on the telephone