For the Love of Opera

Last weekend I went to 2 nights of opera at the Harpa. The recitals were wonderful and soul-filling and inspired this post.

Opera makes me happy, and it has made me happy since I was very young. The seeds must have been planted by my dad, who made us listen to it on the radio Saturday mornings (and boy did I think he was a genius for knowing what they were singing about even though it was in another language). But my true love of opera bloomed when I watched the end of Madam Butterfly on KBYU with my Grandma when I was no older than about 6 years old. Learning the reasoning behind the frightening silhouette of the dagger rising and falling made me horribly sad (but in a sad-is-deep-people's-happy sort of way). It was most likely my first exposure to a tragic love story, and it was something I thought about for years-- not quite sure how to voice the turmoil, internal anxiety, and fascination the narrative brought me. But then I learned I didn't have to. When I familiarized myself with the arias a few years later, I realized words alone were not a fit medium for description, and the best way to illustrate how the story made me feel was through the music that always had accompanied it. Experiencing the glorious sounds that make up Un Bel Di in particular was the perfect cathartic baptism that offered me closure (and closure, and closure, and closure). The younger version of me learned something awfully remarkable from this: sometimes life is really not fair, and often times it is very sad, but we can turn that horribleness into beauty to make others feel not so alone.

So far in my 24 years of living, I still haven't quite found a better interpretation for certain emotions than opera listened to with headphones in and eyes closed. I appreciate much more than I will list here, and I really don't care if any of you opera snobs out there poo-poo my somewhat cliché selection, but these songs are important to record as a great value to my life so far.

For longing and hopeful loneliness, it's Un Bel Di Vedremo from Madame Butterfly by Puccini.

For love at first sight, it's O Soave Fanciulla from La Boheme by Puccini.

And for the excellence that is a Bromance, Au Fond du Temple Saint from Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles. This song is more or less an operatic "bros before hoes".

Ah, everything just feels so beautiful after listening to opera. :-)

A Tourist in Reykjavik

On Wednesday, H suggested I spend the day in Reykjavik while she was at work and S and R were at school. It was a lovely chance to play a bit of tourist.

I got there pretty early in the morning before most of the shops were open, but I found a nice juice bar named Happ with a warm and cozy nook I could drink my delicious green breakfast in while I browsed language courses on my iPad. I must also note I made my first annoying/stupid tourist mistake here. I am still pretty lost when it comes to the conversion rate, so I just pulled out what seemed like a normal amount from the ATM (jokes on me!), and then tried to buy my $2.00 juice with the equivalent to a $40.00-ish bill. Wah-wah.

I then made my way up the street to the Hallgrimskirkja, a beautiful and unique Luthren church near the center of the city. It's quite big compared to the other buildings around, and you can see the clock tower from miles away.

This is what it looks like on the inside. It's very modern feeling, but was designed in the 1920s or 30s. It took them nearly 40 years to complete building it! (Hey SLC Temple, is this your Icelandic BFF errr whatevee?)

You can go to the top of the church and look out all around Reykjavik. This is a shot of the main touristy part of town (I LOVE the smattering of bright buildings here and there). I ended up walking around basically this entire picture the rest of the day.

There is quite a bit of graffiti around Iceland, which surprised me, but also some great street art (which didn't surprise me). Here is one design I saw a few different places.

I then stumbled upon this really crazy skate park (or something?). Icelandic Rufio Rufio Ru Fe Ooooooooo?

It looked much crazier in person. These pictures don't do it justice. There was also a place (you can sort of see it in the bottom left corner of this picture) that said "FREE STUFF" and had a bunch of shoes, coats, gloves, random things for people to take.

By this time, I was getting a little hungry and was excited to eat out for the first time since arriving. I was thinking of getting some traditional Icelandic fare, but then the words "doner" and "kebab" next to each other on a sign caught my eye. My heart pounded from excitement!! Could it truly be!?? Doners are my favorite food in the whole entire world. I get them everywhere I possibly can when traveling around Europe (though Heidelberg, Germany is my favorite I've tried!). Unfortauntely, it was not a real doner kebab, but some mediocre imposter (though I did see another more authentic looking place on the other side of town I'm going to try another day).

After my disappointing lunch (it was OK, just not really what I was hoping for with every fibre of my being), I headed out to the bay. This is the mountain range H particularly likes, though I cannot for the life of me remember even a few letters of the name (so I guess we can just call it sldfksddfsdkljfe, because that's what ever word looks like to me). So far Iceland has had the most beautiful lighting and clouds EVERY DAY I've been here. I've been lucky!

I walked along the water until I got to the Harpa concert hall. Guys. This place rocked my face off. It's some of the greatest architecture I've ever seen in person. I definitely recommend anyone ever visiting Iceland to check it out FOR SURE. Plus, their hot chocolate was alarmingly good!

While exploring the Harpa, I came across these little cuties in their costumes. Iceland has a holiday a lot like Halloween (except no macabre theme), and instead of saying "trick or treat" the kids have to sing a song to shop owners to get candy. It was ridiculously adorable to walk through the streets hearing all sorts of songs being such by groups of children in costumes.

 Icelandic Self-Portrait #2 - Harpa

I walked around to the other side of the city which had a huge beautiful pond. "This is where the ducks live." (x1,000,000 for those who get that excellent reference)

I found it really beautiful how the sky reflected off the water and ice. 

After the pond, I met this delightful statue I liked very much.

And on the way back to meet up with H as she got off work, I found confirmation that Icelanders DO leave their children out in their strollers while they look into shops! (Yes, there was a bundled up baby in there!)

After H and I picked up S and R, and we went around to a few shops so they could sing for candy, she took me a bit south of Hafnarfjordur to a stunning area just as it was getting to sunset. Unfortunately, my camera was dead (I started the chilly day off with one bar, like the prepared photographer I am...). I will never forget the inspiring scene of pink and orange above a rough volcanic tundra. And really, sometimes things are better left un-photographed to cherish the memory more.

Bless bless!