Sunday, 1st October (Day Fourteen)
I had a busy morning so wasn’t sure how I was going to fit all my plans in:
- The area Street Festival – Festa del Balon from morning till night
- Any of five museums that will be free (first Sunday of each Month) – I’d chosen the Palazzo Reale since it’s close by and actually sounds the most interesting
Krish popped down to the festival area while I was busy. He said he enjoyed the music so we headed down briefly to see what else was going on. No music and seems quietish. There was a lady selling really cute hoods so I may get onto her Facebook page and buy one. I like a hood that covers my ears and neck and these really fit the bill.
The Palazzo Reale is not very far away so we walked over there fairly quickly. Pop into the ticket office and the first Sunday of each month they’ll hand over a ticket with no fuss at all. The visitors tour is all upstairs and you enter straight up an impressive marble staircase. The walls are lined with statues and the ceiling is painted, like most of the ceilings in here. Paintings on the wall complete the scene and, as we walk through, I recognise one or two. The Children of Charles I by Anthony van Dyck is one and I wonder if this is original – I do know that Turin has a lot of Dutch collections – not entirely sure what the connection is there.
These rooms are heavily decorated with a lot of maroon and so much gilt. Some rooms appear absolutely golden and there isn’t much in the way of furniture. I’m not sure why the museum has chosen to display the rooms like this. Only one room, the dining room, has enough furniture in it to help you imagine it being used.
Where did they sit? What did they sit on? Were there libraries, living rooms, parlours, and I’d love to see the kitchen. The whole thing is very splendid, though. I’ve left Krish way behind – he likes to photograph one thing from many angles and this can take time. I decide to keep going and wait at the end. After many glorious maroon and golden rooms with painted ceiings, the way splits and I choose right. I’m not sure if this means I’ve skipped a whole area! I find myself in the Armoury (Armeria), which is the second museum K said he wanted to see – I didn’t know it was included in the same building! – so it’s a safe bet to go in here and wait.
The Armeria is lined with weapons and suits of armour sitting astride horses – taxidermy? I get a little creeped out at this while waiting, to be honest – I now read that there are weapons here used by Napoleon but I’m a bad museum attendant. I tend to skip through, looking more closely at an occasional eye-catching piece. The palace and armeria together are supposed to take two hours to look through and I guess I’m done in 45 minutes. I am, however, impressed by the fact that some of this armour weighed about 24kg – how do you gain skill at fighting in that? What I’d hoped to see was the apartment of the queen that you pass on the ground level but I don’t know if you can get down there, at least not today.
While I wait – I find a seat! – I start thinking about palaces in general. This one is incredibly opulent. I’ve toured Windsor and it’s very plain by comparison. The love of gold, rich fabrics, heavy ornamental furniture, huge statues and vases – this is all apparent. But what was it for? Obvioiusly, many of the items displayed here – the elaborate gilt clocks and candlesticks for example – must have been gifts of course. But the furnishings in general served which purpose? Is it just a lavish display of wealth, which in turn means power. These families lived with this opulence and must have thought it normal.
What would they have seen and felt touring one of their working citizen’s homes? Were there cosy corners anyway? Did they ever feel comfortable and relaxed in these rooms? I suppose I can begin to understand how revolutions come about? This is a world that’s unimaginable and even inexcusable to the masses. Missing from the walls here are the paintings that might show daily life in the palace. I’ll go looking for that online.
After the museum we head back to the flat and after a short while go back out to catch more music at the Festival.
The deeper you go into the street, the busier it gets.
There are at least three music areas. Apart from scattered food stalls, there’s one large food area which is oddly decorated with stylised American flags – the local area street festival food is mostly burgers, hot dogs and chips! I’m highly amused or should we say bemused? One burger place has a burger display – On top of the meat a good mound of chips before the top bun. Krish thinks it looks awful but I’d be happy to try one, maybe. The music too is American – rock, folk, blues.
However, at the start of the food area is a traditional dance circle. We’ve seen this before at a local festival in the main square. At that time we were fascinated by the fact that all ages danced the traditional tripping dance of the region – children, teens, adults, older people – all dancing in unison, familiar with the steps and the music that was playing.
This was no different if much much smaller. A group of people gather in a circle and one couple danced in the centre. Each dancer is replaced by another randomly. I’ve yet to work out if this is by their choice or someone else in the audience who decides to step in. It seems to work well. The musicians play more or less the same bars over and over and over until they stop and then the dance ends. It could be monotonous but instead it’s fantastic. All sizes, shapes and ages get in there to dance. There seem to be a couple of men who are fixtures but otherwise it’s definitely random.
I’m also fascinated by the clothing style. It’s bold and sort of cheeky. Some of it seems Romany inspired, with the neckerchiefs, the flowing skirts and shawls, and the colour! No shyness here at all. I could watch this for hours.
This is also the first place I’ve noticed the younger style of clothing. So far I’ve said that I couldn’t see a single sign of fashion sense. Here there are many people in their twenties and the style is really interesting. There’s a lot of hair colour – lots of shades. There’s also a lot of Big Hair. One young woman has her entire head of hair teased into a cloud and I like the effect. Amy Winehouse gone wild. There are faded jeans and mini skirts, all closely fitting. There are many ankle and knee boots – chunky, bold. Torn fishnets and bare brown legs. It’s casual and carefree and very different than the London style. I’m very drawn to it but it’s a style I could emulate. Perhaps if I lived here I’d veer towards it in my own way but IF ONLY my hair could do that!
Done! Back to the flat where we cook sausages that exude so much fat we have to pour it into a bowl to set by itself. We watch the new Star Trek and it’s underwhelming to say the least. The poor acting, stilted lines and strange portrayal of the Klingons and their language (where is the humour and the camaraderie I felt before? I know that Klingons have evolved from their original appearance in TOS but this version is jarring. And why is the only Vulcan not really a Vulcan but a human trained by them?) I don’t know if I can get used to this. I fall asleep half way through the second episode.