Teatro Colon

Tonight, I went to my very first opera.

Danny surprised me with tickets for my birthday (a few months ago) and it was the perfect occasion for us to finally visit Teatro Colon.

Teatro Colon is the elegant opera house in the heart of Buenos Aires.

It rivals the best of the European opera houses and really is a beautiful venue to watch a show in.

My hot date.

And me, all rugged up for the winter cold.

We arrived early (for a change!), only to find there was a long queue to get in.

Sadly, there were no pre-show drinks and canapés and we weren't allowed to wander around the areas of the building.

But the main theatre hall is very stunning by itself.

Before the show, Danny read the program in preparation.

Whereas I got caught up in admiring the theatre and the other elegant opera-goers.

What is this? An opera house for ants?!

(Just kidding!)

We watched a modern opera - Requiem, a new commissioned opera that debuted at Teatro Colon this current season.

It was the final night for the show and there was a full house for the occasion.

To be completely honest, the story line for Requiem was incredibly confusing.  It was about a woman in 1940s Mississippi who confesses to murdering her baby - a crime that her black maid has been sentenced to hang for.  The story flashed back and forth between present and past and blurred into a play at times.

Even though the opera was in English (with Spanish subtitles), I found it very difficult to follow and Danny thought the same.

Next time, I think I will choose a more classic opera with a simple love story where the characters wear lavish costumes and sing Italian love poems back and forth to each other.

After the opera, we went for dinner at Parrilla El Primo back in Las Cañitas.

Thinking we were more hungry than we really were, we ordered the parrillada especial.

A mixed grill of sirloin, flank steak, short ribs, sausages and pork.  And of course, some more unusual animal parts that are quite commonly eaten in Argentina - like chitterlings, kidneys and sweetbreads.

We were happy to try it all - that is, until we realised at one point we were unintentionally eating beef testicles.

Oh bollocks!

So in the end, date night was a bit of fail - but I love looking back on these moments with Danny and laughing about it together!