Sunday afternoon in Cardiff
We booked tickets for Welsh National Opera in Cardiff ages ago, and had noted the date in the calendar. We thought we were going to see an evening performance of Cav and Pag at the new Millennium Centre, but on closer inspection, we see it was a 4pm show of La Traviata. Hmm!
It was a beautiful, clear day - blue skies and sunshine, though rather cold. We decided to set off in plenty of time so that we would have an opportunity of looking around the Cardiff Bay area before going into the opera. We snooked into one of the last four car parking spots nearby and walked amongst crowds of people along the waterfront. Of course, it's Mothers Day, people were gathering for the opera and there was some canoe polo going on too.
We dropped into the gallery Crafts in the Bay and enjoyed looking around whilst listening to some intriguing music by the Gotan Project We spotted some embroidery we both admired by Sue Atkins - unusual for us to find embroidery for sale that satisfied our taste and our standards!
The area outside the Millennium Centre itself was open and reminded us of the Centre Pompidou Plaza in Paris - just right for an outdoor performance of some kind, though it would have been chilly to have sat and watched anything today. The Centre itself stood comfortably in its space, and we were very taken with the slate walls of shades of lavender, teal and grey. It was still a bright and sunny afternoon, and the copper fascia with the inscription was impressive - though it took us a little time to work it out!
Inside was a little chaotic. Since it is still rather new, many of us were there for the first time, and finding our way around was not easy. In search of a cup of tea, we did as many others were doing, and paid a visit to the downstairs "One", joining a long queue of people wanting variations of tea and coffee - much to the anxiety of the girl behind the counter, who tried (in vain) to explain that "this is a bar not a coffee shop". We discovered the "real" coffee shop at the opposite end of the foyer sometime later, but it was also very full.
We found it a challenge to reach our seats - in the Circle, and up what seemed like far too many flights of stairs. We navigated rather too many bottlenecks, where people standing waiting for a lift were in the way of the through passage of people going to the next floor by way of the staircase. Our favourable impressions of the exterior of the building were gradually being overtaken by less favourable experiences inside, where everything seemed to be cheek-by-jowl and rather small and mean, not at all as expansive as we'd imagined. Sitting in row F, we watched as some people persisted in using the side doors and pushing their way through the front row of the circle to reach their seats in the centre block. So unfair - and we both agreed that we would find it incredibly irritating to be sitting there and have this happen. Seats in the centre block were clearly signed to be accessed from the rear doors but it involved another flight of stairs up, and then down again. Rather awkward - as it proved once more after the opera ended and the building emptied.
I'll leave Mark to write our thoughts on the opera itself, and the auditorium, which was not at all what we expected!
It was a great time to go to the opera though - 4pm on a Sunday afternoon gets our vote every time!
(Originally posted by Gill)
It was a beautiful, clear day - blue skies and sunshine, though rather cold. We decided to set off in plenty of time so that we would have an opportunity of looking around the Cardiff Bay area before going into the opera. We snooked into one of the last four car parking spots nearby and walked amongst crowds of people along the waterfront. Of course, it's Mothers Day, people were gathering for the opera and there was some canoe polo going on too.
We dropped into the gallery Crafts in the Bay and enjoyed looking around whilst listening to some intriguing music by the Gotan Project We spotted some embroidery we both admired by Sue Atkins - unusual for us to find embroidery for sale that satisfied our taste and our standards!
The area outside the Millennium Centre itself was open and reminded us of the Centre Pompidou Plaza in Paris - just right for an outdoor performance of some kind, though it would have been chilly to have sat and watched anything today. The Centre itself stood comfortably in its space, and we were very taken with the slate walls of shades of lavender, teal and grey. It was still a bright and sunny afternoon, and the copper fascia with the inscription was impressive - though it took us a little time to work it out!Inside was a little chaotic. Since it is still rather new, many of us were there for the first time, and finding our way around was not easy. In search of a cup of tea, we did as many others were doing, and paid a visit to the downstairs "One", joining a long queue of people wanting variations of tea and coffee - much to the anxiety of the girl behind the counter, who tried (in vain) to explain that "this is a bar not a coffee shop". We discovered the "real" coffee shop at the opposite end of the foyer sometime later, but it was also very full.
We found it a challenge to reach our seats - in the Circle, and up what seemed like far too many flights of stairs. We navigated rather too many bottlenecks, where people standing waiting for a lift were in the way of the through passage of people going to the next floor by way of the staircase. Our favourable impressions of the exterior of the building were gradually being overtaken by less favourable experiences inside, where everything seemed to be cheek-by-jowl and rather small and mean, not at all as expansive as we'd imagined. Sitting in row F, we watched as some people persisted in using the side doors and pushing their way through the front row of the circle to reach their seats in the centre block. So unfair - and we both agreed that we would find it incredibly irritating to be sitting there and have this happen. Seats in the centre block were clearly signed to be accessed from the rear doors but it involved another flight of stairs up, and then down again. Rather awkward - as it proved once more after the opera ended and the building emptied.
I'll leave Mark to write our thoughts on the opera itself, and the auditorium, which was not at all what we expected!
It was a great time to go to the opera though - 4pm on a Sunday afternoon gets our vote every time!
(Originally posted by Gill)
posted by Mark at
12:40 pm
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