opera on the water

Yesterday, we went to see La Traviata. But first, a little rant about Aussie businesses.

1. We decided to go to Rockpool Bar to have what some consider the best burger in Sydney. If you look at the website, it says:

     Opening Hours 
     Lunch Monday to Friday
     Dinner Monday to Saturday

Yes. That's it. Not very helpful.

This is true for many websites that I've seen for businesses here in Sydney. For some unknown reason, the opening hours are not actually listed.

2. I was so annoyed by the Rockpool website, which then reminded me of the David Jones website. For those who don't know, David Jones is a major department store in Australia--sort of like Nordstrom. You can shop online--but you cannot do a search. WTF?

Back to the opera. This year, for the first time, the opera was being performed outside, on a floating stage, so you could see the Sydney Opera House in the background.

Do you see that enormous chandelier that hovers over the stage? That is what you see when you first walk into the event. It's impressive.

They built the best temporary bathrooms I've ever seen--nicer than some permanent bathrooms. And the seating wasn't too bad either (except that our cheap tickets were so far off to the side that our necks were hurting from turning to the right).

At the start of the opera, after the intermission, they actually used water taxis to bring in some of the ensemble. It was a great idea to use the setting as part of the production. All in all, I thought it was really good. Then again, I could be biased, since I really love the opera.