Sunday, January 13, 2013

Janurary 13th - 11:00pm

Back to staying up entirely too late. I had hoped to sleep in a bit this morning but as usual, was awake at 6:05. Made myself go back to bed but my 9:30 I was flat out awake. So got up and decided to spend some time in the city today. Took the bus to Plaza Italia then the subway to 9 de Julio. Walked on 9 de Julio for a bit before heading over to the opera house. Ever since I saw the opera house I have wanted to see the inside and go on a tour. So today was the day! Bought my ticket ($110 pesos compared to $30 if I was a resident!) for the english tour and did checked out the buildings nearby while waiting for the tour to start. The justice building, an old school and some other beautiful buildings were in the same plaza so wandered around and checked them out. Took a lot of photos too!
The tour was great and the building as beautiful inside as out. They had done a resturation a few years back that took six years(!!) for the main building (and is still going on at the lower levels) so everything was stunning.
A few random things of interest:
There are three lower levels and all are larger than the top one. The extend under 9 de Julio.
All the outfits, scenery and the like for the operas is made on those lower levels.
The design has a lot of French inflence with some places looking exactly like opera houses in Europe.
Three different designers helped built the place so at various places the design changes. Like the columns on the first and second floor.
I spotted 5 different types of marble in use. But honestly there are probably even more types there.
It is one of 5 opera houses in the world with almost perfect acoustics.
To get to the stage you have to pass through three sets of curtains.
The floor can be moved up or down. Same with the musicians pit.
The statue of Venus and Cupid is carved from one block of marble and absolutely no one knows how it ended up in the opera house. Origionally done by a German artist.
Im sure there are more interesting tidbits but that is all I can remember right now!
Afterward I walked around a bit more then grabbed some lunch. Then the subway back to Plaza Italia and bus to Moreno! Hung out at Petrobras for a bit enjoying their AC and diet coke before heading to the farm. All in all a good day. Now to get some sleep and tackle a busy week next week!

And I took a TON of pictures today that I will upload tomorrow. Going to take some time ti do that.

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