Having a Ball on the Island of Elba

Yesterday we had one of those experiences you know you can't get many places. We participated in the reenactment of a Ball, held on the Island of Elba. To prepare for this we took five 1.5-2 hour dance lessons at a dance school called Atelier de Danse with a number of local Italians.

We left early in the morning to catch a bus out to a port on the Mediterranean. It was about a two hour ride, where we then hopped on a ferry for about an hour over to the island. On the way we passed the island of Monte Cristo, if you're at all familiar with the story The Count of Monte Cristo.
	From Empire Ball, Island of Elba

The ferry ride was fun, and the water was incredibly blue. It was a fantastic day in terms of weather, and it only got nicer. We got to the island, and then slowly made our way to the Palazze Napoleone (plural in italian for Napoleon Palaces). This was the place where, after being captured, Napoleon was sort of "confined" to, or you could go so far as "imprisoned", but I tell you what, if I were basically under house arrest for the rest of my life, I would not mind it one bit being there.. (not to mention he sort of became king of Elba, so not much of an imprisonment)

	You can see the pictures. It's a palace that sits on a cliff over-looking the Mediterranean sea. Absolutely beautiful, with a very nice garden, and you get a great breeze coming off the sea. Honestly, we could've just sat and stared at the sea, it was amazing.
From Empire Ball, Island of Elba

Later we all were called in to get into our costumes. Jane Austen fans, it was a dream-come-true. After getting ready, we went back down into the garden to enjoy the weather, take some pictures with our time-period-inappropriate cameras, along with allowing other museum visitors to take pictures. We were even noticed by the local news! Watch Video

So into the building we went, and made our way through Napoleon's household, which are now museum exhibits. They let us inside the roped-off areas to allow visitors to take pictures, as if Napoleon himself were entertaining visitors. We did, after all, have someone dressed as Napoleon. Talk about an experience, being able to get so close to pieces of artwork, furniture, and other things which actually sat in his palace.

Finally, we made our way into the ballroom, where we began performing. At that moment, a rush of visitors to the museum came in, so we ended up for a bit of an audience for a while. After dancing for some time, we stopped to have tea and some small sandwiches, after which we finished up our dancing, since the museum was closing.

So now it was about 6:30 PM, and we all changed back into our regular clothing, and said good-bye to the Palazze Napoleone, and that awesome view over the sea. We headed to a local restaurant for some dinner, and then made our way back on a ferry again. This time, however, there were very few people on board, so we made use of it by dancing some more on the deck!

All of us were pretty exhausted on the bus ride home after reaching the mainland, and we finally returned to our apartment sometime around 1 AM I think. It was a long day, but I tell you what, it was a lot of fun.

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