After close to two weeks in the Czech Republic, I had done a good bit of soaking up some culture.  Some of that culture was food-based – pork knee, fried bread and beer cheese still dance in my dreams.  Some of it was liquid-based – the pilsners were devine.  Some of it was even of the soccer hooliganism type.  I’m not a cultural elitist, but even I felt like some more high-brow culture might be in order.

So, on the second last night of our trip, we made it to the opera at the State Opera house in Prague:

We’ve only been to one other opera, that in Zurich a couple of years back.  With Swiss prices being what they are, we opted for el-cheapo seats in the back row.  When we booked our tickets for Prague, we decided to go all-in on a box.  Even with this great view, the seats were less than $80 for both of us:

The opera house itself, originally opened in 1888, is truly beautiful.  There really isn’t a bad seat in here.  If you’re among the lucky 1,000 people inside, you’ll have a pretty good view of the stage:

The opera we chose was Madame Butterfly, the only one which really fit into our travel plans.   I’m not an opera aficionado, but I really enjoyed it.  The music, singing and acting were all strong.  At intermission, we took a minute in our box for a very “un-opera” thing – a selfie:

There was a strict no photography policy during the performance, but as the characters came out for their curtain calls at the end of the show, I snapped this as Madame Butterfly took a well deserved bow after a great performance.