Going Separate Ways

Today, Jeremy got up early to catch the train to a nearby town where they had a locomotive museum. Florence and I declined his kind invitation to join him (he will provide his own post on his day) and instead went to the Planetarium to purchase tickets for the evening's performance, then walked up to the Royal Palace. Completely shattered during WWII, it has been restored to its former splendor. And splendid it was! The floors were all beautifully laid in marquetry work, the furniture was lovely, and the marble work was sublime! Plus more gilding than you can shake a stick at. Plenty of portraits (I'd imagine most of these had been tucked away during the war for protection) that actually were from the 1700s, and so on. A delightful visit!

Next to the bridge, these are stairs down to the lower level

Loved the stonework!

They had sandboxes and play areas near the river

Part of Old Town. The castle is the building to the right with the tower.

The castle staff setting up for a concert in the courtyard

Private chapel

Every room had a different flooring pattern

Loved the plasterwork in the staircase

The marble on the table is lovely!

The throne room. During the occupation,
German soldiers tore off every single eagle and destroyed all but one.

A state meeting room

Complete with amazing ceiling

Never seen a doorknob like this one...

The king's bedroom. Back in the day,
they advocated sleeping upright, as it was considered more healthful.
Perhaps it helped stave off pneumonia or help with TB?
Or maybe just their myth.

We spotted this right away as being Florentine work

Have I mentioned yet that it's raspberry season here? You can get a very decent-sized container of fresh, plump, perfect berries for not a lot of money, so it's clearly our obligation to take advantage of that (raspberries are essentially impossible to get in Todi...when you can find them, they're expensive and pitiful). So, in the course of our peregrinations, raspberries would figure largely into the plot.

Gradually heading back to Centrum to meet Albert (a friend's cousin), we also took in the Chopin House Museum, which was interesting in its way but actually somewhat sparse on the basics of his life...which of course I'd forgotten. There were a few little plaques with some descriptions, but more things like poorly reproduced photographs of paintings and some original letters. That said, the house was pretty, so it certainly wasn't a waste of time.

The Chopin House Museum

And Centrum! Florence found the most adorable pair of shoes ever, and I managed to get a new phone to replace the horrid one that I'd hated since I bought it, and which had succeeded in dying our first day here. So this was definitely a win. Albert then accompanied us to a lovely street, still intact, on the other side of the river. Wide streets, sidewalks equally wide -- which permitted restaurant dining outside -- and architecture from the 1920s. The architecture was actually really interesting, because it made me think of sort of modernist 1960s/70s concrete construction in the states. Some of it was blocky, but many of the structures had curves and interesting lines.

We tried to get into a specific restaurant Albert had in mind, but it was unfortunately full. A quick car ride away, and we reached the riverfront near the planetarium. At the riverfront there are a number of different stand-up dining opportunities, and our cicerone heartily recommended the Thai. He wasn't wrong at all...delicious!

Off to the planetarium for our concert. Live piano music with swirling stars and planets and constellations. It was a really interesting and enjoyable performance, as well as being relaxing after our long day (I worked it out later; we ended up walking about 6 miles today, and I got a really nice blister as a souvenir); I may or may not have drifted off once or twice.

Dessert at a chocolate specialist, and time to get back to the apartment!

Love,

Alexandra