Freaky Tuesday

Another incident from Marie's and my walks home from school. Today we decided to re-enact Freaky Friday, thus changing roles. Practically, that meant that we swapped places on the pavement - I am usually walking next to the road as being near it frightens her. The following conversation (drawing on our daily routines...) developed:

Me (as Marie, with a high-pitched wailing voice): I'm huuungryyy (always her first line)!
Marie: You can eat at home. But then you have to do your maths homework and have a bath...
Me: I am huuuuungryyyy!
Marie: There is nothing I can do about that.
Me: I am tired. I can't walk that fast (holding her hand)!
Marie: Well, an I can't pull you all the way home!
(I put on a sulking face and dropped my head. Dramatic silence.)
Marie: You're not very talkative today (imitating precisely my tone).

At that point we burst out laughing and I quickly changed places with her, as the whole thing was feeling scarily real...

How to turn a walk home from school into an adventure

I'd like to share a game with you that Marie and I sometimes play on the way home from school. The idea is very simple: She closes her eyes and I lead her home. BUT we don't just walk down the streets, but travel to foreign places, mostly highly dangerous jungles. We encounter elephants (squeezing ourselves through their legs), monkeys dragging at Marie's jacket, deep rivers that we have to cross balancing over a log or a shaking chain bridge and over have to evade obstacles, bending low or jumping out of the way of passing herds.
Marie absolutely indulges in the game, playing her part very well, getting very excited with many Oh's and Ah's.
It is hilarious to watch other people on the streets watching us. Once a group of old ladies excitedly whispered "She has her eyes closed!" when I led Marie three times around a lamppost. Must be quite a strange sight, admittedly...:)

(picture taken in the park on the way to school)

"The Nutcracker" at the Royal Ballet

Is there a better way to spend a wet, gloomy and cold evening than to let oneself be absorbed into the magical world of the Nutcracker?
I was quite in a rush as I raced to Covent Garden from Leicester square in my horribly uncomfortable high heels (bought for my oxford interview knowing that they were killing me but were my best option) in the rain without an umbrella.
But once one has entered the Royal Opera House, one seems to have left all this discomfort behind the doorstep.
I left my coat at the cloakroom and made my way to my standing place in Stalls circle right. I could not have made a better choice! The view is fabulous due to fact that the auditorium is generelly not the bombastic (the orchestra stalls seem really small compared to e.g. the munich state opera house or the Berlin opera. We were standing behind armrest right behind the people sitiing paying 80 pound for their seat having the same view.

The nutcracker is probably one of the most well-known traditional ballets. The beautiful score by Tchaikovsky is just perfect.
The stage design was magnificent - quite changes, impressive props, a huge christmas tree in act one, a lovely living room scenery where the family celebrates christmas eve and a breathtaking palace for the sugar plum fairy.
The costumes were equally traditional with incredible attention to detail.

The performance itself was first class as well. Quite a few children were involved who showed impressive professionalism, Drosselmeyer did quite a few stunning magic tricks and the different dances were sometimes funny (the chinese dance) as well as simply beautiful in their perfection. I had seen the leading pair (sugar plum fairy/prince) in Romeo and Juliet and was impressed once more.

The audience was sadly just as stiff as always, literally ceasing to applaud when the curtain closed for the first time, but the dancers reappeared so quickly that there was no real chance to escape clapping - very clever. Funnily the dancer of Clara got a far bigger flower bouquet than the sugar plum fairy, Roberta Marquez.

To sum it up, a magical, lovely evening that again demonstrated the world class standard of the Royal Ballet.

PS. I definately recommend the hand-made icecream sold during the interval - the best strawberry icecream i've ever had and apparently chocolate is supposed to be even better!

(picture shows the snowflakes)