Please Sire, let it be German

A night at the Opera in Monaco.  Who gets to do that? Only people who wear furs and drive expensive cars and speak with accents and shout things like "BRAVO".  And then you have me.

Dennis took me out to see Salome' by Richard Strauss on the gala night, in Monaco, Monte Carlo.  It is based upon the story of Herod and his wife Herodias and her daughter Salome' right about the time John the Baptist found himself imprisoned and about to lose his head.

So off we head into Monte Carlo in our Mercedes circa 1980...with its rattling muffler and crazy loud diesel engine.  We were fabulous.  After parking below ground we surfaced to Monaco at night by the Casino, the Hotel de' Paris and the Cafe de' Paris. Oooolalala.  Everyone was tux-ed and furred.  It was a PETA nightmare.  I am sorry to say that many animals were killed in the clothing of Monaco that night.  Everywhere I looked there were bejeweled beautiful women draped in dead animals. And men in tuxes and pointy snake skin shoes. The Opera house was gilded and gold leafed, with ornate carvings and paintings of naked women and angles. Naturally.




Now let me just say that this was not my first rodeo. I have opera-ed before.  I was ready or so I thought.  Little did I know that the operas I have enjoyed have been Italian and until this night in Monaco I never knew why it would matter.  Why, for example, would it matter to see an opera set in Jerusalem sang in GERMAN.  mmmmmmm??. Would I even notice?  Yeah..turns out, I noticed.  Sitting in the second row I had an amazing view of the actors as the sang and/or spit their way through a dramatic and passionate performance.  And with the German language, there was quite a bit of spitting. I wonder if the furs were adversely effected by all the moisture in the opera house that night.

But it was breathtaking being there, experiencing the music played so flawlessly and the performance itself was amazing. An hour and 45 minutes long without break or intermission. An incredible feat.

Afterwards, we walked to our new favorite spot, a hotel Dennis knows well, just around the corner with views of the water and live music.  We ate tiny desserts and sipped cocktails while we watched the people and the lights on the water.