The Hermitage

On Saturday Sveta took us to see The Hermitage, which is one of the biggest museums in the world. Part of it is housed in the Winter Palace where Nicholas II and Alexandra lived - along with their daughter who you may have heard of. Yup, Anastasia.

The palace is gorgeous. I would definitely have been willing to live here. The best parts were probably the ceilings. Incredible. 

This is the entryway. Talk about grand.

Here is our group in the entry:

This is the main throne room:

The palace has several large malachite vases, which are quite stunning.

And so many chandeliers!

It is hard to see here, but this whole case contains a peacock clock that belonged to Catherine the great. It is incredible. The whole thing is gold and the peacock moves its neck like it is alive.

All of the floors are gorgeous wood mosaics. 

The museum houses 2 paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, 2 by Raphael, and one sculpture by Michelangelo. It is called Crouching Boy. It is slightly unfinished, but so beautiful.

Apparently Catherine the great loved Italian art so she had this hallway made and decorated to copy the Vatican. It is gorgeous.

This is one of the da Vincis:

These are some doors in the da Vinci room that are decorated with parts of turtle shells.

This is the hall of statues:

One of my favorites that I saw was this one, The Three Graces:

Here is our group in the old entryway:

The Gold Room:

The Red Room:

In the Concert Hall we heard a group of men sing acapella. The acoustics were incredible in the room and the music was hauntingly beautiful. 

The group again:

We were all hungry after our 4 ours in the Hermitage, so Sveta took us to get blinis again. This time I tried one with chocolate and bananas. It was fantastic.