Adventures this Week

This week we had some small adventures but did not do too much because we would be leaving on Thursday for a conference. My favorite opera is Carmen, and there was one more showing of it here in Budapest. I had checked for tickets a few times but it has been sold out. On a whim I checked the website about 45 minutes before the show this Sunday, and there were two available tickets! I got dressed really quickly and ran out of the house (after of course asking JonPaul if it was okay for him to watch the kids—he isn’t into opera). This was held at a different theatre that is smaller from the Erkel, but my seat was great.

I didn’t realize that this version was updated to be set in present times—or at least during the 20th century. The main character had an amazing voice, and the cast was huge. At times there were more than 125 people on the stage! Apparently nudity on stage is not an issue here in Hungary, because at the beginning of the third act during the entr’acte music a character came on stage (on the program he was named “a bull fighter”), stripped down out of all his clothes, and did a naked bullfight practice. It was…interesting to say the least. I was glad that I had decided not to bring Zoey to this show!

On Wednesday we went farther into town to try a new restaurant. I had seen some pictures on Facebook of a neat-looking area and wanted to check it out. It was a great day to be there because for two nights there was a wine and jazz festival in this area. The streets were set up with tables from the local bars with options to purchase a glass of wine. It was sprinkling so there weren’t too many people out, but it was still fun.

We ate at Jamie Oliver’s restaurant, and sat in the outside area. There were plastic rain panels that were down and heaters were on, keeping the area nice and warm. Right outside the restaurant was a singer, so we got some nice music while we ate.

As we walked down the pedestrian street after we ate we passed an old-fashioned arcade. The kids’ eyes lit up huge and they had to go in and look around! We didn’t play anything today, but we promised them we would come back sometime while we are in Budapest to play at the arcade.