Night Life



 



The city of Skopje is most picturesque at night. And the area around the Opera House is lovely, with the lights reflecting off the river. 









The past three Wednesday nights Stephen and I went to the swanky Opera House on the river and saw, yes, an opera ! It was a Verdi opera that I had never heard of "The Lady of the Camellias. I had read the libretto earlier but still couldn't follow the story, uncultured lowbrow that I am....




The following week we went back to the opera house -- this time to see a   jazz performance. The musicians were fabulous... maybe a 16 or 20 person big band ensemble. . The theme was "Frank Sinatra".  It was a little disorienting to hear the singer rattle on in Macedonian for a few minutes, apparently sharing anecdotes  or history of a song  and then say the words "Fly me to the Moon" in perfect English before belting out the tune. We were very close to the front of the venue and the music was fabulous, even if you are not a Sinatra fan.










The third week we saw a ballet, which was beautiful and tragic. This time we had the last tow in the venue and it was extremely hot. There were a lot of kids in the audience so initially we thought it might be a kids ballet performance. But it was not. Very professional, beautiful, and long...And I was so underdressed compared the rest of the patrons, especially after I stopped down nearly to my underwear, it was so hot!







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