just found this, Dukey, and have enjoyed your travels so far very much, despite your stoically -endured disappointments. WE've been to a few operas in funny foreign places but never any of these so it's particularly interesting to read your experiences.

<<We are thinking about taking our grandkids (they live in the UK). From their point of view am probably most concerned about popular rides being closed. Of course would check first but it's not always predictable.>>

Cathinjoetown - does it HAVE to be Disney? your british grandchildren might enjoy Parc Asterix which is just south of disney/land Paris; our kids [perhaps because they had been to Disneyworld already and were up for something new] enjoyed it a lot.

annhig,

I think the parents (our children and their partners) are more Disney-mad than the grandkids!

If we do this it will be a one-off family gift so pretty much settled on Disney. I went to Disneyland as a child and loved it, Disneyworld as an adult and enjoyed it although probably would not have gone if I hadn't been in Orlando on business.

What is the Asterix Parc like? I don't know the comics or books at all and I suspect no one in the family does. Suppose that wouldn't make a great difference.

http://www.parcasterix.fr/en/home>>

it probably wouldn't matter that your g/kids aren't Asterix fans; however ours weren't mad about it but certainly knew about him and had read some of the stories. it is really just a big theme-park but with a french slant and it has to be said, MUCH better food than disney - at least when we went there were choices like wild boar stew and steaks cooked to order for reasonable prices, much to the astonishment of an english coach driver who was queuing for lunch at the same time as us.

We still have the pictures of our kids being hugged by Obelix which is a great memory.

However, if your kids are dedicated Disney fans, they might see it as a poor second.

Thanks again, everybody, and will endeavor to answer all the questions.

First, as to the A/C IN the Platzl. Works fine in the bedroom and our room is on the opposite end of the building from the Hofbrauhaus so no noise issues at all.

As you might (stereotypically) expect, efficiency is the order of the day. The hotel is immaculate and the staff are very friendly, cheerful, and helpful. Huge breakfast room with a great spread. This morning we slept much much later than normal for whatever reason and didn't go eat until 10 AM (it starts around 6:30) and I thought we'd be alone. Wrong!! lots of folks eating.

And now for the opera. Scheduled to begin at 6 PM and we arrived around 5:30 or so. The auditorium doors were closed so we waited and managed to get one of the few places to sit while doing so. Shortly a young woman sat next to me and we started talking. She had flown in from Amsterdam specifically to see the "Tell" tonight. We chatted about A-dam and how we had just been there, the newly-opened Rijksmuseum, etc., etc. Then she brought up tonight's performance and mentioned something about "the Nazis and why do they need to bring all that up?"

I had no idea what she was talking about...stay tuned.

The patrons tonight were really really dressed up and the place looked to be sold out. The artists, among others, included Michael Volle ( I hear a fab Wotan) in the title role, the American Brian Hymel as Arnold, the Russian soprano Evgeniya Sotnikova as the son, Jemmy, Erika Grimaldi as Mathilde, and the Irish mezzzo Jenifer Johnston as Hedwige.

The staging was by Antu Nunes and the piece was performed in modern dress.

IMO the set which consisted of a group of gray columns which rose and fell and moved all sorts of ways was often more of a distraction than anything else.

The singing was strong and I mean really robust. At one point I was beginning to wonder if they should have sub-titled it, "A bunch of tenors and baritones take over Switzerland." No yodeling here. Both Hymel and Volle were wonderful IMO and the audience loved them both. Grimaldi as Mathilde appeared in some sort of 1930's hairdo which seemed a bit strange but what a voice! Jennifer Johnston sounded as if she was about to lead the Valkyries and Sotnikova absolutely bewitched the audience as "the kid."

Now for the "Nazi" part. There were lots of uniforms at one point and more than a few jackboots. The Gessler role was portrayed by a blond baritone right off of a Hitler Youth (grown up) poster and I assume that was a blond semi high and tight wig but believe me, it set the tone as did the overcoat and jackboots. At one point there were a few boos from the audience but only once.

If you are going to stage an opera that sounds more German than anything else and is about nationalism, etc., etc., some might say what better city to do it in than here. Sweet and romantic Puccini this is not.

Lots of curtain calls and stamping of feet; even more enthusiastic than last night. Great experience overall. Next up: The Flying Dutchman.

And absolutely no comfort issues in the opera house itself, either, and I tend to sweat a great deal as a matter of course.

Dukey - I saw a performance of Macbeth once where the eponymous "hero" was dressed in jack boots and nazi uniform, and the murderers of MacDuff's wife and children as IRA men. i can't say that it added much to my understanding of the play. When Banquo's children arrived on stage on stilts and wearing ku-klux klan type robes I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry.

umm.. Dukey: no, "sweet and romantic Puccini this is not". Of course not, Guillaume Tell is Rossini's last opera.

Yes, Raspberry, with IMO emphasis on "last."

We've now had two days of rain in Munich and this morning it is not only raining it is also more than a bit chilly. We were thinking of traveling down to see Hohenschwangau which is the only Ludwig "build" we've never done but given the rain may decide to stay in town and do the Alte Pinakothek.

As to last night when the "Flying Dutchman" seems to have interestingly enough landed in a Munich fitness center I have decided that despite having see the Ring, been to Bayreuth and all the rest of it that in the end, Wagner just isn't my favorite kind of evening.

Unlike some who have decided that we are supposed to like this or that composer and that if we don't we are some sort of stupid rube from the cornfields, I think folks should be allowed to judge, and enjoy, for themselves.

The production last night, designed by the somewhat controversial Peter Konwitschny and which the Bavarian State Opera website absolutely urged everyone to think is a "must" see, was, for us, less that satisfying emotionally, artistically, etc., etc.

No Nazi-like portrayals in this production, and given Wagner's well-known anti-semitic feelings, it is just as well. The production was done without intermissions and began in a traditional "storm-ravaged" landscape, then moved to a fitness center, and ended in some sort of local drinking establishment.

We were in the 10th row center and despite strong voices they were sometimes drowned out by the orchestra. I noticed the two harps from the "Tell" orchestrations of two nights prior were long gone. Typical Wagner stuff with lots of brass, strings, and drums.

Overall, it was interesting to see and I am usually more interested in the quality and <B>nuance</B> of the singing; IMO unless the settings are terribly distracting I almost don't care where the action takes place.

The company has staged this production before and to mixed reviews. Who is correct when they actually SEE and review these productions? Everybody. As they say, "Time passes; art alone endures."

We leave for Verona tomorrow morning. Hopefully I'll have something else to report on from Munich next time.

Thanks for the review. I saw this same production a couple of years ago and didn't like it, either. And I'm a big fan of Wagner. The gym scene was particularly annoying and back then the production received a loud boooh-storm.

I've always found the acoustics in the Nationaltheater in Munich problematic, especially with Wagner, Verdi etc. - and if there's a conductor like you had, the orchestra will drown the singers.

Ingo, thanks for your comments. Overall I think the acoustics in the "room" <B>in general</B> seem pretty good, i.e., you can hear stuff. But despite the big voice from the Senta it was sometimes hard to hear her; the men's voices were somewhat less troublesome.


I'll be very aware of this acoustics thing (and doing mental comparisons) tomorrow night when we see our first performance in Verona (where we have been before).

Overall we are glad we came back to Munich for these performances as this was our first time in the house so that alone was of interest. I always like watching the whole "crowd behavior" thing and again, last night, I noticed everybody seemed to roll in the doors of the auditorium in the last few minutes.

I'm also not exactly sure why they keep the doors closed as long as they do as well as keeping them closed between acts.

Rail ride from Munich to Verona earlier today. The train was pretty much full so happy we made seat reservations. I always enjoy this trip which we have taken several times. Scenery between Innsbruck and just beyond Trento a pleasure to see.

We shared a compartment with a family of four from Australia who are spending about a month on vacation. This is their first trip to Germany (Berlin and Munich) as well as to Italy. They will see the production of "Carmen" tonight here and then go on to Venice, Florence, and Rome.

We enjoyed talking to them and hearing about the sights they have seen so far. Lots of subjects came up from Australia supplying resources such as coal to China while at the same time trying to limit Chinese majority ownership in certain Australian entities, to the lack of Starbucks' success in Australia to how (dis)satisfied Americans are with Congress!

We arrived in Verona during an afternoon thunderstorm although the weather has cleared somewhat by now. Once the Arena performance begins tonight if the weather turns then we are simply SOL in terms of seeing the work in its entirety as well as getting a refund (you don't) so we hope for the best

Meeting other interesting people is part of the train travel experience - fun!

I'll keep my fingers crossed for the performance tonight.

I am a bit surprised that there are still trains with compartments in Western Europe, but I must admit that they were a very interesting part of my travels in the past.

Dukey, thanks so much for your "blog" report. I'm loving it and hope weather cleared for tonights opera (especially considering your bad luck in Paris). OooLaLa-Carmen. Saw it "live" for the first time as part of my Met subscription 2012-13 season. What a pleasure.

WeisserTee, wow, thanks for that Baden-Baden info that I've kept for future reference. I've been toying with a Chrismas Market trip - perhaps 2016 - and would definitely factor in a stop in Baden-Baden.

Re the compartments on the train. The rolling stock was from Austria and what was interesting was the Australian family's initial reaction when they got to the compartment.

As a preface to that, we have been riding the rails in Europe long enough to know that whenever possible, and especially when we are boarding a train at an origination point, it helps to be on the platform and ready to board as soon as the train is pushed or pulled into the station.

This is what we did in Munich. We had the two facing window seats and we stacked our luggage on the rack above one of the two seats so it would take up as little room as possible.

When the Australian family got there and with all of their luggage they stood in the doorway of the compartment with a deer-in-the-headlights look on their faces. We helped them lift their suitcases up, etc., and after doing so there wasn't any room left to stick much of anything.

When we were talking later they indicated this was the first time they had encountered this sort of seating configuration in Europe.

As to the performance last night, it began at the usual 9PM. I am not exactly sure how many people the arena holds for the opera performances (we have heard 15,000 in the past) since one end is taken up with the stage and orchestra "pit" so that all the seats behind that are blocked off. Regardless, there are plenty of attendees although last night's performance (except for the Parkett/Orchestra section) was not sold out.

The Arena's usual bold-faced "warning" in their e-mail about "formal attire [being] <B>required</B>" in the orchestra section was, as we have seen in our past years' attendance, ignored by many. This fact may be influenced by the 188 Euro each price for the most expensive seats ("at this price I'll wear what I want to" I suspect comes to some folks' minds) and last night, in particular, the weather.

I'm not exactly sure how warm it was last night but it wasn't nearly as warm as it was when we attended in July last year. We brought along windbreakers and were glad we did. By the first intermission the women selling those blankets to the audience members were doing a pretty brisk business. The orchestra members all in black as usual were definitely prepared with jackets, sweaters, etc.


It was partly cloudy as the performance began and the pretty much full moon had arisen amongst the clouds and over the stage but I was a bit concerned that it might start raining but as the evening progressed the sky cleared somewhat. Anyway, it was a very romantic setting.

As in many opera venues one of the "fun" things is that not all of the "characters" are on the stage and this seems to be especially true here. I saw a couple of familiar figures from previous years who arrive in some of the most outrageous and flamboyant attire. One gentleman reminds me of Yves St. Laurent without glasses but with a bad hairpiece; another (a woman) came looking as if she might be hoping that if the "Carmen" diva took sick she could rush up onto the stage and do an understudy number since the clothing, hair, and make-up were definitely at the ready.

We were in the 2nd row close to the center aisle (they have one here and that is a good thing given the number of people who attend but even with that open aisle getting in and out takes time) and, as usual a tour operator had bought up a lot of the first-row seats where folks were enjoying pre-first act complimentary champagne, etc. The tour operator rep was a character in and of himself with the long hair, the tux, as he soothed those who had paid several thousand Euro based on either two or three-night packages including hotel (transportation extra).

The orchestra looked to be the usual at I'd estimate around 100 members. Despite fully electrically illuminated music stands and microphones everywhere we continue to rely on old-fashioned clothes pins to keep the music in place. What is telling about the Verona orchestra is the composition. Of those musicians, fully two thirds are string players of some sort and that does/did not include the five harps used during last night's performance.

This "Carmen" was the Zeffirelli version first done I think some 25 years ago originally. We enjoyed the mezzo Sanja Anastasia's portrayal; very earthy and vampish (the eye makeup and the big boobs help). Don Jose was sung by the Italian tenor Mario Malagnini but his voice, to me, didn't seem all that great but that's obviously subjective. I think both of them "acted" their roles fairly well.

The audience seemed much more taken with Carlos Alvarez as Escamillo and Carlos Alvarez was very much taken with himself at the first curtain call but that's what makes the opera, opera.

The soprano Tatyana Ryaguzova's Micaela brought the most enthusiasm from the audience but let's face it: so pure, so blond, so unfortunate, so unlike that nasty Carmen (cue those violins).

The so-called "fourth act" which meant another 20-minute intermission lasted, of course, just long enough for Carmen to get the knife in the chest and then it was over at around 1 in the morning.

The performance, which we saw here two years ago was fun to watch and what makes it that way is the whole situation, the masses of people on the stage, the horses and other animals, the moon, the clouds, the music, etc.

Tonight is "Masked Ball." Everyone have a wonderful day and thanks again for reading.

>> was very much taken with himself at the first curtain call but that's what makes the opera, opera.>>

Ain't that the truth! I am loving this report. I'm seeing Carmen in a couple weeks, and your report is really getting me excited about it - haven't seen it in years. Mind you, it won't be Verona, but still...

YankyGal,

no worries about it not being Verona and I hope you enjoy the performance.

Earlier today we took a bit of a walk around the city. There are parts of Verona that look like they should be on some stage or movie set somewhere. The area around the Piazza Erbe is one of the best examples. And on that piazza itself which is surrounded by the colorful buildings is a combination of the usual fountain topped by some "saint" or perhaps it is Our Lady; bunched around that are vendor stalls with people selling fresh fruit, drinks and treats made out of that fruit; sandwiches, etc; some man fashioning leather belts; refrigerator magnets of every sort but all about Verona and saying "hand made in Italy" along with Venetian carnival masks, baseball caps and so forth. Grouped around the perimeter are the various cafes and eating places under umbrellas and awnings.

Weather today delightful and not too humid; the town seems so much more manageable than bigger cities like Rome somehow.

Around the arena are people dressed as Roman gladiators using cell phones; every possible mode of dress appears on visitors including some guy in a polo shirt, shorts, and wearing a scarf!

Tonight is as I mentioned upthread "Masked Ball." The arena pretty much has commandeered the spaces adjacent to the structure for sets and scenery and a lot of what surely is for "Turandot" (we see it tomorrow night) is all over the place: Chinese figures and temple facades, etc.

And it appears that get these pieces in and out of the arena itself, and they are huge pieces, they are using a large crane to lift them over the walls and lower them inside; the many portals of the building simply are not large enough.

The city, at least the parts we have been in, is loaded with visitors. As we ate lunch and watched the passing show I was reminded by the <B>oft-heard</B> plea from people who want to know if somewhere or other is "too touristy?"

Answer: pass right on by to Venice to the east or Florence to the southwest; otherwise jump right in.

Last night it all came together despite the fact that I had to return to the hotel because we had walked to the arena with the wrong tickets in hand.

Beautiful evening with low humidity and almost cloudless skies. The costumes and sets for "A Masked Ball" were in a word, stunning. Despite the change in usual locale from the royal palace in Stockholm and King Gustav III to "eighteenth century Boston" and the governor's residence along with some unfamiliar character names, it mattered little. This thing was pure Verdi melodrama and even the full moon got involved as it rose over the stage at the end of Act I.

"Ball" may not have a triumphal march with slave girls, elephants, and a theme played forever, but last night what we saw were fabulous costumes and what we heard were wonderful voices in all the key roles.

Francesco Meli sang a classic tenor as the Governor and Luca Salsi's rich baritone in the role of his secretary was what everybody stereotypically thinks of, I suspect, when they think about opera.

The wonderful Hui He sang Amelia and Serena Gamberoni scampered about as Oscar the page(boy).

Elizabetta Firoello was all hair braids, devilish costume in red and black, and sinister as the fortune-teller who predicts the governor's coming assassination.

The maestro last night was the 27-year-old Verona-born and raised Andrea Battistoni who literally leaps up and down on the podium as he directs.

This piece is fun and was wonderfully over-acted. You know things are good when members <B>of the orchestra</B> stand up and applaud at the curtain calls. And yes, you just have to have been there and I am sorry you could not have been. My reporting hardly does it justice.

Wonderful, wonderful!

As an opera fan who also loves Verona, I am filled with a combination of joy for you and screaming envy!

Right now we are having a big thunderstorm but it is only 20 minutes to 6 in the evening. Hopefully the rain will stop before the curtain time at 9 PM tonight. Really want to see "Turandot" done here and if the show goes on hopefully the voices and the costumes will be as good as they were last night.

We had a somewhat late lunch around 2 PM in a small place a few blocks from the arena. Ate outside in the wonderful 80-degree weather which has been surprisingly dry humidity-wise. The storm clouds were beginning to gather but it didn't dampen our enjoyment of the food. A delicious and thick vegetable soup to start followed by chicken breast in lemon sauce; no capers just the sauce and parsley.

Food is not particularly cheap in some places here which I suppose is to be expected given the number of visitors.

Somehow i am not particularly looking forward to our final two days in Rome but think they will be better if we end up doing something totally new sightseeing-wise. No operas on tap there, unfortunately.