September 11th, 2013

Well the day began as always with my falling asleep for the first hour of Czech class, eating a wafer during break and then being fine for the rest of the day.  After I struggled through another day of weird letters and nonsense sounding words, I actually did something with my life!  Today we got to tour the Prague Castle and then go to the opera!  Prague Castle is amazing and our guided tour was very informative, but sadly I don't remember anything substantial enough to pass on to all of you.  So do a little research and then you will probably know more than me.  Since I have no information to share, I'll just share more pictures than normal to make up for it :)

(National Library)

(Entrance to Prague Castle)

(Entrance to Prague Castle)

(Entrance to Prague Castle)

(Entrance to Prague Castle)

(St. Vitus Cathedral)

(St. Vitus Cathedral)

(St. Vitus Cathedral)

(St. Vitus Cathedral)

(St. Vitus Cathedral)

(St. Vitus Cathedral)

(St. Vitus Cathedral)

After our tour of the castle, it was off to the opera for the first time for me.  The theater was amazingly beautiful and our seats were equally good.  The show was called Madame Butterfly and it was about a Japanese woman who marries an American soldier.  Soon after their marriage he leaves never planning to return but not telling his wife.  Little does he know while he is off on his quest to find an American wife, his Japanese wife is having his baby.  Three years later he comes back with his new wife and finds out about the child.  The Japanese wife is still in love with the soldier and believes he is coming back for her.  When she finds out he is remarried and plans to take the child to raise with his new wife, she commits suicide.  Overall not a very happy plotline but it was very well done.  I would not say the opera is my favorite thing ever, but it was an amazing cultural event for sure.

"The State Opera (Czech: Státní opera), is an opera house in Prague, Czech Republic. It is part of the National Theatre of the Czech Republic, founded by Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic in 1992. 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 was known as the Prague State Opera."

(Státní opera Praha)

(Státní opera Praha)

(Státní opera Praha)

(Státní opera Praha)

(Státní opera Praha)

 

(Státní opera Praha)