A night at the opera – the Prague State Opera – perfect seat : 4th row from the front smack in the middle. Puccini has not been in my top of the pops of composers, but after tonight, he has moved up the charts, a lot. I find Puccini to be a “tune tease”. Tonight I appreciated the complexity and tunefulness of this opera and the fact that Pinkerton is Puccini’s “Don Giovanni”. A sailor has a girl in every port, although I do believe some sailors enjoy tying up with a buoy.

As always I ask myself would I do the ironing to the music? Perhaps more so than a week ago.

The Opera theatre is the ultimate in Baroque design! The theatre itself originally opened in 1888 as the New German Theatre and from 1949 to 1989 it was known as the Smetana Theatre. More recently it is known as the Prague State Opera.

As I had wandered the streets of Prague from 10 am till curtain up at 7 pm, I brought a crisp new shirt for $15. Surprisingly the theatre was only 2/3 full.

The auditorium

I am led to believe its genuine bohemian crystal.

The Opera Theatre

The adjacent National Museum , this older section is presently closed for renovations.