In Europe, 76 destinations off the beaten path

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Arezzo, ItalySalina, ItalyCrete, GreeceRoquefort, FranceKvarner Islands, CroatiaTaormina, ItalyBonn, GermanyMonschau, GermanyCanterbury Cathedral, Canterbury, EnglandSt. Albans, EnglandCambridge, EnglandBrighton, EnglandCarnac, FranceCotswold Way, EnglandIstanbul, TurkeyGiglio, ItalySpain's Basque CountryAlbaniaAndorraViennaArdennes, BelgiumHay on Wye, BritainGiant's Causeway, Northern IrelandScotland's Tweed ValleyBulgariaZagreb, CroatiaHvar, CroatiaOsijek, CroatiaKladska, Czech RepublicTallinnHelsinki, FinlandBarbizon, FranceVerdun, FranceLourdes, FranceBeaujolais, FranceLyon, FranceChâteau des Milandes, FranceMillau, FranceLacoste, FranceMunich, GermanyIceland's countrysideGalway City, IrelandSkibbereen, IrelandCampania region, ItalySiena, ItalySperlonga, ItalyCinque Terre, ItalyPuglia, ItalyGenoa, ItalyPiedmont, ItalySicily, ItalyLipari, ItalyCastel del Monte, ItalyRiga, LatviaJurmala, LatviaLiechtensteinVilnius, LithuaniaLuxembourgMoldovaMonacoMontenegroOslo, NorwayTransylvania, RomaniaDanube River Delta, RomaniaSt. Petersburg, RussiaSan MarinoBelgrade, SerbiaSloveniaCatalonia, SpainSegovia, SpainIcehotel, Jukkasjarvi, SwedenZurich, SwitzerlandVals Valley, SwitzerlandCappadocia, TurkeyLviv, UkraineVatican City

With 350 exhibition rooms and 3 million items in the Hermitage, the guidebooks said it would take seven years to view everything there, even with spending only one minute in front of each piece. So Molly and I decided to visit exhibits that could be seen nowhere else.<br>
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For 3 1/2 hours, we walked through history, entering and exiting the palace's elegant throne rooms, living rooms and bedchambers. In the White Dining Room, we saw the mantle clock that is still stopped at 2:10, the early-morning hour in 1917 when the Bolsheviks entered the room and ousted the leaders of the fledgling Provisional Government, changing the course of Russian history.<br>
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-- Don Drake<br>
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Read more: <a href="http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-trw-stpetersburg23sep23,0,2275547.story">Roaming Russia: St. Petersburg, with guide and without</a><br>
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<i>Pictured: Visitors walk through Palace Square under the Alexander Column of the Winter Palace.</i>

St. Petersburg, Russia

( Dmitry Lovetsky / AP )

With 350 exhibition rooms and 3 million items in the Hermitage, the guidebooks said it would take seven years to view everything there, even with spending only one minute in front of each piece. So Molly and I decided to visit exhibits that could be seen nowhere else.

For 3 1/2 hours, we walked through history, entering and exiting the palace's elegant throne rooms, living rooms and bedchambers. In the White Dining Room, we saw the mantle clock that is still stopped at 2:10, the early-morning hour in 1917 when the Bolsheviks entered the room and ousted the leaders of the fledgling Provisional Government, changing the course of Russian history.

-- Don Drake

Read more: Roaming Russia: St. Petersburg, with guide and without

Pictured: Visitors walk through Palace Square under the Alexander Column of the Winter Palace.