Everything is beautiful at the ballet

Last night we went to the Hungarian Opera House to see the ballet version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Like I said, we got the $2.00 tickets, so I expected a horrible performance. However, it was absolutely fantastic. I've been to many ballets, but I've never enjoyed one as much as this. The tickets were inexpensive because we had a very restricted view of the stage. If you sat all the way back, it was impossible to see anything. However, I was the obnoxious girl who leaned over the people in front of me to see the entire show. We had to walk up 6 flights of stairs to get to our seats, and we walked in to find our places when a lady came screaming after us in Hungarian. It turns out we're required to check our coats which was 120 forints. Even if we're doing something as innocent as forgetting to check our coats, it sounds like we're breaking the most important law when being yelled at in Hungarian. It's an intimidating language.

The Opera house is BEAUTIFUL. It's like the Minnesota Orpheum on steroids. After the ballet a friend and I watched the movie version of The Phantom of the Opera, and it was really neat to see the rendition of the Paris Opera House compared with the Budapest Opera House.

A Midsummer Night's Dream really lends itself to ballet. The music was beautifully scored and the dancing...... wow. The flexibility and control of the dancers were unbelivable. Some of the pointe work was beyond belief and the connections between the dancers were much more believable than any American troupe I've seen. Even the corps was believable as a group.

Earlier today we went to a contemporary museum. One of my friends described it as bazaar, and I can think of no better word for it. It was about four dollars to get in because we were students, however I was not prepared for the inside. It was mostly looped movies that were really strange and candid photos that looked like the people fell out of the 1980's. However, it was worth it to walk into the museum because of the first exhibit. It was a HUGE square of ribbons hanging from the ceiling. I'd say it was at least 15 by 15 feet, maybe more, and the ribbons are so dense that when you walk into them, you can't see in front of your face. They're all different colors and it's unbelievably fun to wander through the ribbons getting lost and running into people.

Again, check out my pictures. I haven't added any new ones since yesterday, but the ones I did add are fun.