Ever heard of the Royal Palace of Caserta?

This is the Royal Palace of Caserta.  We were here for meetings and took the opportunity to see the palace.    In 1997, the palace was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  In terms of volume, the Royal Palace of Caserta is the largest royal residence in the world.  What is crazy is that I had never even heard of it!  The political and social model for Vanvitelli's (the architect) palace was Versailles.

This is the Grand Staircase of Honor.  Another interesting fact about this palace is that it was the film set for several movies:  Star Wars episodes 1 and 2 (Queen Jamilla's palace), Mission Impossible 3, and this staircase was in Angels & Demons as the Vatican staircase.

The chapel.  One interesting tidbit about Charles VII of Naples who commissioned the palace:  He never got to sleep even one night in the palace!  He abdicated to become King of Spain so it was carried only to partial completion for his 3rd son, Ferdinand IV.  Goes to show you, don't make grand plans for Heber (I wonder if Tom will catch this jab, or anybody for that matter)

The frescoes were astounding.

The royal palace has more than 40 monumental rooms completely decorated with frescoes when, in comparison, Versailles counts only 22 monumental rooms.

When you tour the rooms, you are almost always looking up.   This is the throne room.

The grounds/park were also amazing.  The fountains and gardens were immense.  We rented bikes and that helped to cover the grounds, but we still didn't see it all.  Mind you it was blazing hot so we stopped a lot to cool off in the shade. (that's me in the center with the red bike)

The park as well as the palace were inspired by the park and  palace of Versailles

Smart to rent bikes!  We had a great afternoon.

This was our hotel in Pozzuoli, just outside of Naples.  It was called Villa Gervasio.  The main function was as an event location.  Indeed, they host a wedding EVERY day!  Complete with fireworks and live music.  The hotel only has 7 rooms and most times they are filled with wedding guests, but for some reason we were able to book our room.  It was fun to be on the terrace and discreetly observe the wedding going on.  If you didn't like all the fuss and celebration then your room was perfectly soundproofed and quiet.  The view from the terrace was magnificent.

Next morning.  All is quiet.  Staff prepare for another wedding.  One a day.  Amazing.  I didn't even know that many people were still getting married these days.  Guess it's not completely a 'tradition' of the past, at least not here in Italy.  Oh, and that is a castle off in the distance near the sea on the hillside.  They are everywhere in this area.  

Pday on the Road

I'm sure Utah has something similar, but if they don't they should do it!  We took a chair lift up to do some hiking.  Turns out this area is big for bikers.  Just hook on your bike to the chairlift and up to the top you go.  You ride down and you shouldn't brake or pedal, just pump.

On the drive through the mountain range there were tons of bikers.  Caught this one at the top of a very steep and long climb.  Reminded me of my biker boys.

Nice view while you discuss your 5 year plan.  And just what is that plan?  Finish the mission and then be flexible!

Yes, the bottom line is that being on the road on your P-day is a real bonus, especially when you are in the Northern part of Italy.  Seth has always maintained that this area is the best in all of Europe.  I think I am starting to lean that direction myself.  I really want to try hang-gliding.  Next birthday/Christmas present.  Hiking in the Dolomites is a real pleasure, especially on a blue sky day.