L'Opéra

A night at the opera sounds so elegant, doesn't it? I can't help but imagine all the women in long, glittering gowns and the men decked out in black tie. I imagine velvet chairs and those fancy little Galilean binoculars. I sort of imagine the scene straight out of the Disney movie Anastasia, where they go to the magnificent Palais Garnier, the opera house of Paris.

Of course, my night at the opera wasn't quite so elegant, but it was pretty darn close.

Yesterday afternoon, one of the Holy Cross girls suggested going to see Cendrillon at the opera house in Strasbourg. So the group of us walked over to the box office, and there were still a few tickets available for that night's performance! A Tuesday night opera! I've never before been to an opera, and with the clearly romanticized image of a night at the opera in my head, I was super excited.

While I was not in a gown, I still got dressed up a bit, just to feel a little fancy. I met the other HC girls on the steps of the opera house (minus Kat and Marissa--they both had to babysit, unfortunately). And we had our night at the opera! No one I saw was using the theater binoculars, but the Opéra Nationale du Rhin does have those plush red velvet seats that I imagined. The inside of the theater was richly decorated as well, with gold embellishment swirling across the balconies and a big chandelier glittering up high.

The opera itself was a performance of Cendrillon (in English you all know it as Cinderalla). Although it was a bit different from the Disney version (no fairy godmother, no pumpkins turning into carriages, and certainly no talking mice), I still enjoyed the different twist on the fairy tale. The voices of the singers were amazing as well, although the entire opera was performed in Italian, so I didn't understand a word of it. Luckily, there was a screen above the stage that had all the lyrics of the opera translated into both German and French.

While Cendrillon began at 8 pm sharp, the first act didn't finish until almost 10 pm. Needless to say that it was an extremely long production. I was exhausted, as were the other Holy Cross girls, so we actually left during intermission. This wasn't meant to be rude, but I was tired and I still had homework to do. I mean, it was a Tuesday night!

Even though I didn't quite stay for all of it, I immensely enjoyed my first opera experience. I loved how casual and yet fancy it seemed at the same time. It was such a spontaneous decision to go, but when I mentioned to my host parents that I wouldn't be home for dinner because I was going to the opera, they just nodded and told me to enjoy! Like it's no big deal for anyone to go to the opera on a random Tuesday night! And it was pretty full, there were tons of people there! Just getting cultured over here in France....

Oh, and one of the best parts? A ticket only cost about 5 euro. Yes. Only FIVE EURO for a ticket to a world-class opera performance. That's the same price as an average lunch here in Strasbourg! I will definitely be going to the Opera again.