Tour of Teatro Colon

We read about the Teatro Colon but the season was over the end of December and doesn't start again until March-April.  However, it is open all year long for tours so we headed over to the hop-on-hop-off bus stop thinking we could use the last of our 24 hrs pass to get there but it would have been an hour's wait for the first bus so we looked at the map and set off on foot - just a little over 2 km away.  We had a few drops of rain along the way but it quickly dissipated.  At the theater we bought our tickets (110 Arg pesos/person) and had to kill an hour before our tour time in English.  They limit the number of people to 30 on each tour.

Well, the theater really is quite spectacular with gold, marble and more gold.  It's over 100 yrs old and was built by 3 separate architects at different times - Italian, French and German.  They each did their own thing but it worked for the most part.  The theater was closed for 4 years - 2006-2010 - for renovations and cleaning.  Our guide pointed out a couple of places where the original dirt showed and the difference was significant.  He also pointed out that for 90 years, smoking was allowed in the theater.  The pictures do not really do justice to the theater - no flash is allowed and it was a bit dim.  But, trust me, the theater was magnificent.

 The best part, is that the acoustics here are nearly perfect - maybe the very best in the world - or so they claim.

Another interesting tidbit of information was that the main chandelier in the theater dome above the main floor is lowered once a year to be cleaned and all 500 light bulbs are replaced at that time.  (see picture below)

We are so sorry that the season is over - we'll just have to come back some other time between April and December.  They have opera, ballet and concerts.  Tickets for opera sell for $10 US up to $300 US while concerts and ballets have lower prices at the high end.  There are six or seven levels of balconies.  Many of the most famous opera stars have sung here.  When Pavarotti was asked what he thought about the acoustics he said that they were TOO perfect.

The tour lasted about 50 minutes and was well worth the time and money.  The guide invited anyone in the group to sing inside the theater to demonstrate the acoustics but unfortunately, no one was brave enough to volunteer.  Too bad our friend Bill K. was not along - he certainly would have volunteered and it would have been lovely.

We left the theater, checked our map and headed for another restaurant we wanted to try - Rigoletto (appropriate don't you think?).  John was hankering for some pasta and figured this would be the place.  They had a 3 course special with several choices of mains.  He chose the raviolis and I chose the escalopes (didn't know what the scallops would be but was willing to give it a try).  We had a tasry little bruchetta as a starter and cold beers.  My scallops were beef (again) - with a nice mushroom sauce and cubes of potatoes.  The beef was a little on the chewy side but tasty nonetheless.  John's spinach raviolis were pronounced just o.k.  However, the dessert - chocolate mousse - was delicious.  Total bill was 138 Arg pesos - less than 30 US.  Now we were ready to be home with about a km to walk and tired legs.

Link to more theater pictures here.