Okay, Czech opera again
If you've been with me for a while you know that the other time I came to Prague, Frank and I went to an opera in the beautiful and nationalist old Narodni Divadlo (National Theater) whose motto is "We are a nation!" The opera at that time was this thing about how the Czechs went to Osaka and, against great odds and giant Canadian and Russian ice hockey players, brought home the gold medal and also a Japanese girlfriend for one of the team members. It was hilarious, and I think that musically it was even kind of nice. The costuming and especially the set designs were amazing and hilarious too.
So this time, Hana got us tickets to the opera that came up on short notice (a month: that's what she said, but when we got tickets before it was like two days' notice, but I was paying full price for tickets and Hana gets some kind of employee discount thing, or maybe it is a perk that the government hands out or something). She lucked out. We ended up with Donizetti's "The Elixir of Love," (Napoj Lasky in Czech). I knew we were in for a good time when the prelude featured percussion provided by hay bales falling off a grain conveyor. That piece of equipment was the star of the show. The story line features a perverse but intellectual heroine, a self-absorbed sergeant, a depressive hero, a medicine-show charlatan and his limber assistant, and some switcheroos concerning inheritances and army enlistments and deceptions. The music is nice -- not something that haunts you the rest of your life, but really really nice. Did I say the sets were clever? The stage back of the Narodni Divadlo goes on and on and they took great advantage of that, and reused elements of the staging in ways that actively enhanced the comic sensibility of the show.
That was the opera. We have also been to the National Technical Museum, the Museum of Decorative Arts, the Zoo, and some other such sights. Emma, Frank, and Hana toured the underground of Vyšehrad. Myself, I took a nap: remember that "worn cartilage" thing? It's totally a thing and everything hurts after a few hours of walking. Also, a boat ride, during which we got a great view of the Fred and Ginger Building and some other, less explicable, stuff.
I am disappointed in the lack of cabbage in restaurants this time out, but there has been plenty of cucumber and very nice tomatoes, as odd as that may sound.
Will tell you all about Easter and spanking some other time.
So this time, Hana got us tickets to the opera that came up on short notice (a month: that's what she said, but when we got tickets before it was like two days' notice, but I was paying full price for tickets and Hana gets some kind of employee discount thing, or maybe it is a perk that the government hands out or something). She lucked out. We ended up with Donizetti's "The Elixir of Love," (Napoj Lasky in Czech). I knew we were in for a good time when the prelude featured percussion provided by hay bales falling off a grain conveyor. That piece of equipment was the star of the show. The story line features a perverse but intellectual heroine, a self-absorbed sergeant, a depressive hero, a medicine-show charlatan and his limber assistant, and some switcheroos concerning inheritances and army enlistments and deceptions. The music is nice -- not something that haunts you the rest of your life, but really really nice. Did I say the sets were clever? The stage back of the Narodni Divadlo goes on and on and they took great advantage of that, and reused elements of the staging in ways that actively enhanced the comic sensibility of the show.
That was the opera. We have also been to the National Technical Museum, the Museum of Decorative Arts, the Zoo, and some other such sights. Emma, Frank, and Hana toured the underground of Vyšehrad. Myself, I took a nap: remember that "worn cartilage" thing? It's totally a thing and everything hurts after a few hours of walking. Also, a boat ride, during which we got a great view of the Fred and Ginger Building and some other, less explicable, stuff.
I am disappointed in the lack of cabbage in restaurants this time out, but there has been plenty of cucumber and very nice tomatoes, as odd as that may sound.
Will tell you all about Easter and spanking some other time.