It is finally cold her in Florence, and with this crisp fresh air, the feelings of Christmas are starting to fill everyday with joy, excitement, and hope for a great holiday season. I have, as one of my Christmas traditions, a trip with my mother to see the University of Georgia Orchestra perform their holiday concert every year. Since it is obvious that I will not be attending this years show, I decided to recreate this joyous experience here in Florence. Back home I secretly had my brother and his fiance accompany my mom to this years concert so that she could still enjoy this Christmas tradition with them just as she does me every year. For myself, I searched for a local orchestra or concert hall in Florence, and was pleasantly surprised to find the "Teatro Verde" which is Florence's answer to a great opera hall. I looked through their program and found that the famous "Nutcracker Ballet" was playing on the 21st of December and knew that it would be a wonderful show to see here in Italy. I did not want to attend by myself, so I invited a friend of mine that was also staying here in Florence for the holidays. Rachael was very excited about going with me, and I was equally excited about going with her. We both got dressed up, not quite knowing how serious the Italians might take the Ballet, and were glad we did. This occasion was quite formal and was just how you might imagine the Ballet to be. We both got a laugh out of one lady who chose to wear red from head to heals. Red glasses hung below a crimson cap and right above bright red lips, which were directly above a "Georgia Bulldogs" red dress and matching purse, gloves and shoes. As the lights began their preshow flicker, we went to find our seats, but were met with quite a challenge. Like most things in Italy it seems, the numbering system was not exactly what you would call straight forward, and took quite a bit of ingenuity to figuring out. Sadly we both lacked such a skill at the present moment and settled for just trying to get lucky. We later figured out that I had purchased two seats, that online appeared to be together, but were actually on two separate floors. We decided to just find two empty seats in a balcony box and hoped that we could remain together for the length of the performance. Maybe five minutes before the play was to start, the rightful owners of the box suite appeared and we had to play the classic "dumb Americans" excuse as we looked first looked confused and then slipped out appearing humiliated. Underneath however we were quite tickled as these expressions turned to laughter as we walked down the hallway. We found another booth with empty seats and a lovely Italian mother with her two girls who spoke English who offered us seats with them. We thanked her and her daughters and began to chit-chatted until the curtain began to rise and the lights went black. The opera house itself was quite beautiful, trimmed in ornate wooden carvings and moldings, dappled in warm candle light, covered with plush red velvet draperies and tapestries embellished with tassels of fine gold thread. The play or ballet itself contained no words so no language barrier hindered our enjoyment of the show. Throughout the ballet the old familiar songs like the Toy Soldier March and the Flight of the Sugarplum Fairies brought back memories of past orchestral performances back home at UGA. I was so glad to share this opportunity with a good friend, and to find a new way of celebrating a holiday tradition. Can't wait to get back to Athens and see my Dawgs play though!
No comments:
Post a Comment