‘Nothing gives so much breadth to the intellectual horizon, nothing has so much influence on the character, as immediate and living contact with the life of other lands’. The tour to the East by Tsesarevich Nicholas in 1890–91 was an important part of the education of the future emperor, following on from Peter the Great’s grand tour to Europe. The itinerary was devised by his tutor, General G.G. Danilovich, and took the Tsesarevich from Russia via Vienna to Greece, Egypt, India, Singapore, Java, Siam, China and, finally, Japan, from where he returned to St Petersburg via Vladivostok, travelling by land right across Russia. There had been the intention for Nicholas to journey to the United States after Japan, but an assassination attempt in April 1891 led to his trip being cut short.