a dose of culture

For those of you that thought I didn't have a cultured bone in my body, I went to the opera last night.

First time, of course, and I saw Rigoletto at the Statni Opera. The building, opened some 120-odd years ago, was amazing, humblingly ornate with gilded walls and ceiling, extravagant statues... It was everything you would imagine an opera house to look like. And conveniently for some, subtitles were projected on a screen above the stage. Only, they were understandably in Czech, so I didn't entirely follow what was happening. But we all know the story - an affair, a Duke and a hunchback jester, a case of mistaken identity, a storm, a death. The performers' voices were unlike anything I had heard before in my life. It's unbelievable that a sound like that can come out of a person...

So yes, the tickets were free from work, but it was an amazing - and cultural, no doubt - experience.