The minibus dropped us at Catherine Palace. It stretched away in both directions.

Three stories of blue, white, and gold.

A line ran along the side of it.

We joined the end.

\~

Snow blew down from the roofline.

The schoolchildren behind us built a snowman in the grass.

The Chinese tourists ahead kept stopping to take pictures of themselves in front of the palace.

Each time they stopped, the line stopped with them.

We shuffled forward.

Stopped.

A move few feet more.

We stopped again.

Eventually we reached a fence and a turnstile that separated the real line from everyone trying to join it.

The line moved faster after that until we reached the entrance.

Then discovered another line.

Tickets.

Then another.

Cloakroom.

Then another.

Security.

We split up. Dani held our place while I took our coats to the cloakroom.

The woman behind the counter looked exhausted. Coats covered every rack.

I handed her ours.

She looked at the pile.

Then at me.

Then back at the pile.

She pointed toward the racks.

I smiled.

She sighed, took our coats, and disappeared with them into the back.

When I returned, Dani was at security.

The guards searched our bags. They found our water bottles and frowned.

After some discussion, they put the bottles into a milk crate beside the metal detectors.

“Go,” they said. And they pointed us through.

On the other side, we took our audio guides.

Then another security checkpoint.

The guard asked for Dani’s receipt.

She dug through her bag.

It was in her coat.

I ran back through security, to the cloakroom.

The woman sighed again. Back at Dani, The guard opened our backpack.

He pulled out our sandwiches.

He pointed toward a trash can.

“Eat them or throw them away.”

We sat on a bench.

We took a bite.

Another attendant appeared.

“No food.”

Dani stared at her.

We moved again.

By the time we finally entered the galleries, Dani sat down on a bench.

“Give me a minute.”

I sat beside her. Her fists were clenched.

After a few minutes, she stood.

“Okay.”

We went inside.

\~

The audio guide led us into the Study.

Paintings covered the walls.

Warships filled the dark blue water. Cannon smoke spread across the canvases. One painting showed the ships maneuvering into position.

The next showed the battle.

The final painting showed ships burning and sinking.

The recording said Catherine had commissioned the paintings to commemorate a Russian naval victory over the Ottoman fleet.

Then it told us how the artist had painted the battle from an eyewitness account.

He had never seen a ship explode.

So she arranged for one of her own ships to be blown up.

For the painter.

Dani looked at me.

“She did what?”

I laughed.

The audio guide continued.

I looked back at the paintings.

The smoke.

The fire.

The ships disappearing into it.

\~

We followed the guide through the palace.

Room after room.

In one room, Baltic amber dripped from every surface—the walls, the ceilings, the tables, and the candle stick holders.