Hello again from rainy Bordeaux! We've been enjoying another relaxing week since I wrote to you last. Brenda was only needed for two rehearsals since last blog day, one of which was her final dress rehearsal last night. The show looks great, by the way, and the audience loved it (there was an audience because opera companies often give tickets to performers to give to their friends and family for the final rehearsal). They particularly enjoyed the scene where the tenor is singing a difficult aria while being upstaged by people dancing around with animal masks over their heads. I have to admit, the bear on roller blades was rather funny.
During the intermission I was able to sneak past an usher to get up to Brenda's dressing room. On my way back to my seat, however, the usher wanted to have a word with me about going backstage. He said something to me in French, and I responded in French with a phrase Brenda taught me, "My wife is Brenda." It was clear to the usher that my French wasn't adequate to understand what he was saying, and it was clear to me that he didn't know who Brenda was. He managed to tell me in broken English, which was miles beyond my French, that I wasn't allowed to go backstage. Oh well, I guess I'll have to drink a glass of wine during the intermission tomorrow night instead of going backstage. Or maybe Brenda should come join me in the lobby in her costume. I'm sure the audience would enjoy that!
Brenda in one of her costumes for The Magic Flute.
A festival began on Friday along the Garonne river. Brenda and I mostly avoided it over the weekend due to the throngs of people, but we did take a picture of this pirate-like boat. And we ate a Nutella crèpe.
We also took a picture of this impressive fountain. If you look closely, you can see that the water is actually coming out of the horses' nostrils.
Another day we took a long walk along the river and ended up stopping for a drink at the halfway point.
Brenda's drink was clearly healthier than mine - it had fruit in it! The pretty orange colored fruit is called a Physalis (aka groundcherry).
Brenda and I stumbled across a burrito place that proved to be a more than adequate Chipotle substitute. You may not know this but Brenda's singing is burrito powered. It's kind of like Popeye's relationship to spinach but much tastier and not as healthy.
While I write this, Brenda is hard at work preparing the premiere gifts she bought for her cast-mates for their first performance tomorrow night. She got a bunch of flute-shaped bars of soap at a cute soap shop around the corner from our apartment, and she is attaching notes wishing everyone good luck for the performance. She's giving gifts to 28 people, so she's going to be at this for a while. By the way, Brenda did a fantastic job speaking in French to the owner of the soap shop. The owner even complimented Brenda on her French skills and was especially impressed by her pronunciation. Brenda went on to tell the owner that she was singing with the opera, which caused the owner to give us a free, non-flute-shaped bar of soap. So if you ever find yourself in Bordeaux, we can recommend a great soap shop.
I am constantly amazed by Brenda's language skills. She's conversational in French and Italian and excellent in German. I've studied French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Latin and I can only say "My wife is Brenda" in two of those languages. Either Brenda is a genius or I've got a hole in my head that leaks foreign language knowledge.
That does it for this week. I'll let you know next time how Brenda's first two performances go. Until then, I hope you all have a great week!
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