NERD ALERT: My Romanov Obsession

NERD ALERT.

I am unashamed of my nerdiness.

We've already established that I was anything but a normal child with my affinity for memorizing state and world capitals and random birthdays at a young age. I also had an insatiable appetite for "devouring" facts found in almanacs, encyclopedias, travel guide books, and biographies. Besides playing Oregon Trail and Where in the World is Carmen San Diego, reading non-fiction was pretty much all I did for "fun".

Can you say "home-schooled"?

It was for the hours of unsupervised time spent pouring over the World Books that I developed such unhealthy and unnatural infatuations with world topics, such as Henry VIII and his six wives, the Middle East, mobsters, planning backpacking vacays, Edwin Edwards and the very corrupt political history of Louisiana, Adolf Hitler (was he really Jewish?), Cuban political exiles, the American South, crime & punishment, and various other matters.

Paramount among these was my obsession with Russian history, particularly the Romanov dynasty. I checked out every book in our library system remotely related to the Romanovs, the Bolshevik Revolution, Ekaterinburg, Alexandra & Rasputin, Anastasia & Anna Anderson, and hemophilia. I remember when I was around 11, I was fascinated to hear that my dad had a Russian co-worker. If only I could interview her, I thought. (I was also overly-fascinated with interviewing people). Imagine my excitement when she gave me an old, tattered copy of Nicholas & Alexandra. It was my prized possession; I think I read it in a single night, only to re-read it countless times.

All of this is to say, my ears still perk up at any tidbits related to the Romanovs. According to the video clip below, it seems as if the 90-year old mystery as to the remains of Anastasia and Alexei has finally been solved. That's right...Anna Anderson is a pretender! (although we know that DNA already proved that years ago.)

Although it is safe to say that I am probably the only person who finds this interesting, you should still check it out!

Russian Mystery Solved?