Day 9 Continued - La Scala concert!

It was a very hot Sunday afternoon in Milano. After the blog regarding our pick pocketing, we decided to burn off some nervous energy with a short walk near our hotel. There is a beautiful canal/waterway with tons of restaurants, gelato bars, pizza joints and other businesses. What a great area! In the waterway there was a beautiful swan leisurely taking the current downstream. As well, the water was pretty clear and at various spots could spot minnows and much larger fish.

We returned to our room to get dressed up and head down to the hotel lobby for our free complimentary drink. Compari and fresh orange juice which we took outside onto the rear garden area. Plus, loaded up on some free bar snacks.  ;-)  Very enjoyable sitting in the shade and enjoying a relaxing time.

Next, we had the hotel call us a taxi which arrived pretty quickly. It was a 14 Euro ride (with tip) to the Teatro all Scala and we were there fairly quickly and early. Arrived around 7 pm for the 8 pm concert. The piazza that is across the street from La Scala was literally full of people. Plus, lots of people around La Scala itself. Most people were very dressed up with some in suits and very fancy dresses. It is opening night for the new season at La Scala and the concert is Verdi "Concerto Orchestra Sinfonica G. Verdi". Very exciting! You can feel the energy from the crowd. Given all the time we have, we decide to explore the surrounding area which is full of historic Milano buildings.

Statue in the piazza of Leonardo da Vinci. Very impressive and surrounded by concrete benches and trees. Some younger Italians sitting eating MacDonalds food.

 The outside of La Scala - doesn't look very impressive from the outside. An old provincial type architecture with cobbled street in front.

 Galleria Vittorio Emanuele an ancient and glamorous arcaded shopping gallery. Lots of Indians selling toy devices and tons of people milling around.

 Il Duomo di Milano. Wow, what an impressive piece of architecture. Thousands of people in this piazza. The picture does not do it justice.

OK, time to head into La Scala and take our seats. The tickets cost 87.60 Euro each that I purchased many weeks before we left for Europe. It is not an opera tonight, but a symphony. Once we entered basically impossible to find your seat without assistance. Our ticket reads Palco n. 1 Ord.1/Des Posto n.2.....Hmmm....The ushers were dressed in impressive historic costumes - suit coats with neckless of medallions and those were the men! We are sitting in a box right behind the base cellos on the right side of the orchestra. We could reach out and touch them. The picture below is from an internet site and gives a great perspective on the theatre.

Here we are right behind the base cellos. The red material is velvet and encases the box. We sat on chairs which we could move around.

 Close or what? We can read their sheet music! As you can see the first piece was the 1812 Overture.

 This is the view directly from our left. 

 Our perspective looking out on the concert goers. This place is incredible.

 Seats 3/4 (they sat or stood behind us). Gib and Linda Anne from Gig Harbour outside of Seattle,Washington. Very nice couple who enjoyed the concert like we did.

The concert was two hours with two pieces and an intermission after the first piece. When the base cellos were playing solo it was if we were playing the music and could hear every note. In fact, the whole concert felt like the music was coming from us as we were right beside the orchestra. The conductor was super tiny, but highly energetic and animated.

The orchestra were incredible musicians and there was a standing ovation at the end.

A concert to be remembered. An adult choir sang during the second piece and a youth choir stood below and occasionally joined in. As well, there was a tenor and a soprano soloists. The quality of the sound was awesome in the opera hall. We had good chats with the Seattle area couple who provided some historical information on the opera house as they had been on a tour earlier in the day. We hope to return to La Scala sometime in the future.

We found a taxi stand on a side street near La Scala. Driving through the downtown streets of busy Milano many people still eating dinner/snacks after 10:30 pm. In fact, lineups at the gelato bars. The weather is perfect as it is still warm, but not humid. After arriving back at the hotel, we decide to head back to the canal area and enjoy the ambience and get some water and a beer.

Yup, this area along the canal was absolutely packed with people of all ages. We didn't leave the area until around midnight and it was still very busy. We found a bar that had water and I purchased a Moretti beer. Talked and people watched from the outside table. Nice walk back to the hotel and our air conditioned room. We had lights out around 12:30 pm after a very eventful day!