Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Aug.12, Monday

Woke up to cool weather.  Wore jeans & jackets as we headed to downtown Santa Fe.  We toured the St. Francis of Assisi Basilica & then had coffee in the park square.  Watched the people & birds.  Interesting assortment.  Ended up bringing home a western straw hat for me, a long sleeve t-shirt for him & a variety pack of sea salts from the olive oil shop.  Everyone we visited with knew something about the Opera, when we answered their questions as to where we were from & why we were visiting here.
We walked through many shops & then enjoyed a glass of Fess Parker Chardonnay @ the La Casa Sena outdoor courtyard restaurant.  A great way to spend a retirement Monday!  Home for a nap, a quick supper & then headed to the opera again for the evening performance of "Oscar".  The opera house is about 20 minutes north of Santa Fe.
Every night before the opera they have prelude talks at 6:00 & 7:00 about the opera being performed that day.  We went to the first one (which really helped us enjoy the story being portrayed later) & then joined the other folks tailgating in the parking lot.  Yes, tailgating!   Many people had tables & chairs, some had white tablecloths with crystal wine glasses, flower bouquets, and other frills.  The opera house has picnic tables along the sides of the parking lot also, these allow the diners to enjoy incredible landscape scenery while they are dining.  The best we could put together for that night was beer & chips.  But we did sit on the tailgate of our car!
Then, in to the opera house.  In "Oscar", Ben was cast in several roles & so was on stage many times during the production.  WE thought he was outstanding and he received accolades from many others as well.  It was a powerful story about the late part of Oscar Wilde's life through prison & after his release.  After the performance, we went backstage to see Ben and got to meet many of the alumni from Michigan that had created the opera.  Bravo!

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