We wanted to do something that could wrap up the entire project and bring it to some kind of logical close. Lisa had spoken to me early on about her friend Boris's 99-year-old great grandmother, Maria Mikhailovna, who speaks about her life in pre-revolution Russia as though it were yesterday. We plan begin our story with this extraordinary woman's remembrances then continues to weave through Russian history by introducing you to her 73- year-old daughter Lia Mikhailovna, Boris's 53-year-old mother Nina Alexeevna , Boris himself and finally Vanya, Maria Mikhailovna's six-year- old great, great grandson.

The result we hope will be an engaging overview of the last century through the eyes of one Russian family.

We spent the afternoon speaking to Boris's great grandmother who lives with her daughter in their comfortable apartment in the southern part of St. Petersburg. Except for the fact that she is extremely hard of hearing, Maria Mikhailovna speaks with a surprising clarity and force. We then combed through hundreds of old photos but had little luck finding any pre-revolution photographs of Maria Mikhailovna which is what I was really looking for. Her daughter told us that photos do exist but she is not sure exactly where they are. She thinks they may be at a small datcha just outside of the city