Russia 2012: St. Petersburg Winter Palace & Hermitage Museum

Even the floors are beautiful.

Throne - it was an amazing feeling to be in the room where the Tsars used to rule Russia.

Anna with a sample of the treasure that can be found in the Hermitage.

Winter Palace stairs. Magnificent.

Anna in the throne room of Winter Palace.

Hermitage Museum.

Winter Palace staircase. 

Kate in a Winter Palace ballrom.

The family in front of Winter Palace.

Alexander Column and Winter Palace - one has to back-up quite far to get the whole palace into a photo.

Painting commemorating the defeat of Napoleon; center is General Kutuzov.

Throne room in Winter Palace.

Alexander Square in front of Winter Palace.

St. Petersburg was the capital of Imperial Russia from Peter the Great's rule in 1713 until 1918. As a result, it is the home of the Tsar's palaces. We visited Winter Palace, Catherine Palace and Peterhof. All of these palaces have unique histories, but they are uniformly beautiful and reflect Russia's desire to position itself as a global power. Winter Palace was the official residence of the Russian monarchs until 1917. It is enormous - over 800 feet long, 100 feet high and containing 1,500 rooms, 1,786 doors 1,945 windows. It now also houses the Hermitage Museum.