Tanks at the Winter Palace

Winter Palace used to be part of the Romanov family real estate in St Petersburg. In 1917, ownership was transferred to the people, and the Romanov family shortly needed a place to live neither summer nor winter. The escrow process was a messy one, but the Winter Palace eventually became the Hermitage... and now houses one of the world's top three art collections.

Fast forward a few decades. St Petersburg had temporarily become Leningrad, and in 1942 the Third Reich mounted a huge campaign against the city in an attempt to conquer and annex it. After a horrific 900-day siege, with uncounted casualties and mass starvation among the citizens, the German siege was defeated. As our local guide put it “no family was untouched in the siege”, and the end of the siege is recognized each year as Victory Day with celebrations and military parades.

So there we were in the Winter Palace, the day before Victory Day, as tanks rumbled up the streets outside and parked surrounding the Palace. Gave us at least a little sense of what the Romanov's must have felt.

The Hermitage is amazing, as is its counterpart – the Summer Palace, or Peterhof, just outside the city.

FWIW, the official residence of the current country top dog is just down the road from the Peterhof. Looks like a pretty nice place. Full circle in just 100 years?

Not fine cabinetry... floor. 

Tanks outside Winter Palace / Hermitage Museum, 2018

Interior panorama, Summer Palace / Peterhof Museum

WWII era armored vehicle

Romanov tableware, Summer Palace

Czars and Czarinas liked their gold leaf