The Alba Chapter: Venaria Reale.

Bus trip
Arrived (after blocking numerous intersections with our large bus) at Venaria Reale, a hunting lodge/palace/castle of the Savoy family which caused Versailles to be built in response (rivalries, etc.). The palace is huge and gorgeous but served as a military barracks for 200 years and was subject to a lot of damage and vandalism so the interior cannot really compare with that of Versailles. Not as covered in gilt and luxuriousness as one might think. It took 10 years to restore the palace in "the largest restoration project in Europe" claims the brochure.
We came to Venaria Reale for the Knights exhibit which followed the concept of the knight from its conception during the Crusades (Templars) through its relative obsolescence after Napolean's reign. Of course, there are still "knights" today but they are drastically different from the Templar Knights of the Crusades.
After that exhibit we had time to find lunch among the small shops surrounding the palace. The school gives us each 10 euro to spend on lunch whenever we go on these field trips and I always try to stretch it as far as possible. Today people wanted to sit down and be waited on but that's expensive and takes a lot of time so I ended up having to go my own way. I went to four different places and definitely spent my money on many small things: 2 small muffins (one sugar, one chocolate) for breakfast before we went inside the palace, a foccacia panini with tomato, cheese and prosciutto, a small pizza (about the size of a cereal bowl), 3 small pastries (2 chocolate cream and one fruit tart), and gelato (fragola and trifle [called "English soup"]). Yum!
Then I had some extra time so I walked around but most of the stores were closed for siesta so I ended up sitting on a bench.
After lunch we walked around the palatial gardens, designed in the French style to loom as if they go off into infinity. They are still being restored, as are many parts of the estate. From the gardens I could see the massive stables and covered riding area though they aren't in use today, of course.
Then we go to go inside the palace and walk through the musuem. It was full of exquisitely-detailed sculptures and tapestries and furniture inlaid with bone/ivory. Pretty beautiful stuff. Most of the original architecture is gone but a few rooms still had the original, ornate ceilings. Very stunning.
Then we hopped back on the bus and got back to Alba by 6.
Dinner at Vin with Laura, Erin and Jordan. The boys got apertives upstairs but we ate downstairs. I got a veal steak with delicious steamed vegetables. A nice deviating from the normal.
Bed time.