12/25 March 1914
On the train

Servants spent the night loading our trunks, and we left this morning in the middle of a snowstorm. Everyone was in a good mood.

The imperial train is like a palace on wheels. There are nine cars, painted dark blue and pulled by a great black locomotive. Papa and Mama have their own car with a bedroom and sitting room, in Mama’s favourite mauve. Papa has his study with a big desk and leather chairs in another car. My sisters and I have a bedroom for ourselves – no camp cots, but real beds! And Alexei shares his room with Derevenko (not the dear doctor or his son Nikolai but one of the sailors who always watches over my brother).

The bathtub is the most cunning thing: It’s specially built so that when the train goes around a curve, the water doesn’t slosh out. All the ladies-in-waiting and Papa’s aides have their own compartments, and the servants have theirs. My sisters and I eat at the long, narrow table in the dining car with our papa and the other guests, and Mama usually takes her little meals with Alexei.