So after I served and cleaned up breakfast and got the twins dressed, (almost no tantrums- great morning!) my host mom, Alessandra, asked if I wanted to go on a bike ride with her. It was the first day without rain, so I agreed, and she took me down the street to the Villa Reale.
The Villa Reale used to be the summer villa for the Austrian and Italian royals in the late 1700s-1900. It was abandoned when King Humbert was murdered there (eek- ghosts in Monza) but now is used for occasional art exhibitions, school grounds for those training at Dolce and Gabbana, and the site of an annual rose competition.
This place is literally 2 blocks from the apartment, and it's like I stepped into a movie. I can't wait to go back a take pictures, but they won't do it justice. It is GORGEOUS and the park that's attached to it is littered with picturesque cottages and lush fields and running rivers so that the guests of the royals could frolic all summer long. Tours were reserved for certain dates, so I could only peak into the grand salon, but seeing the grounds by bike was fabulous.
Speaking of bikes, even on the days when the weather wasn't nice this week, Italians are out on bikes in droves, and I mean droves. Today, hundreds of men in cycling gear were speeding down the roads next to cars (not sure I'll be trying that during my stay...) and dozens more people were biking on the walkway that parallels the street. What is it with Italians and their bikes? Alessandra says cycling is the second most popular sport here, save for football.
Ho una gomma bici bucata.
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