Santa Fe Part I

Dearios,
I’ve been in New Mexico/Santa Fe, where I did not have internet access.
Here’s some sketches of my holiday.
Someone forgot to pack a camera, so there are no photos! Bad luck. .

We are in at the Inn of the Turquoise Bear, a marvelous B & B. The owners Ralph and Robert are sensational hosts. It is the place to stay if you come to Santa Fe.

Today we went shopping; there is a lot of art for sale here. We found a marvelous photograph by Ansel Adams for sale. But as it cost 110,000$ we passed it up. Rather I got a few more rubber stamps to add to my collection.

All food has chili pepper as an ingredient; it is a local law.

The Santa Fe Opera is fabulous. It is an ‘open’ house, on a hill, so you see the mountains in the background of the opera. Tonight there were distant lightning strikes, adding to the glamour. Cool breezes blow across the audience. It is fantastic.
We heard “The Magic Flute”. To my happy surprise, the role of Pamina was sung by Natalie Dessay! If you don’t know this French soprano, she is marvelous. We heard her first in “Alcina’ where she stole the show from Renee Fleming. We love Natalie.
The costuming was puzzling; Pappageno was sort of ‘urban punk; while the Queen of the Night and her ladies were Elizabethan. Everyone else was ‘Mozart” except the police in modern cop costumes. We did not get it. But, the singing was good, which is always the most important matter to an opera.

Tomorrow, the real drama; Salome.