Most people who travel to France will visit the Arc de Triomphe and the Seine River; if they have the chance, they will definitely want to taste the famous French delicacies: foie gras and French onion soup...
so
Why would Herb take his family to see the French opera
Albert couldn't understand Herb's idea. Maybe the budget was sufficient, or maybe the opportunity was rare. Anyway, it was not a big deal.
Before returning to the UK, the Anderson family took a car to the Bastille Opera, preparing to put a perfect end to their trip to France by watching an opera that had been scheduled not long ago.
By the way, the opera was actually "Romeo and Juliet", which Albert was well aware of.
Albert had seen the movie Romeo and Juliet in his previous life.
As for opera
Anyway, I never watched an opera in my previous life.
With Albert's "help", Herb successfully got the previously booked tickets.
After passing the ticket check at the entrance of the Bastille Opera House, several people walked along the aisle into the auditorium.
The opera house usually closes early, and the Andersons were among the last to attend, with most of the audience already seated.
The four of them walked along the aisle in the middle of the seats and quickly found their seats according to the numbers on their tickets.
There were still five empty seats in that row. In addition to the Anderson family, it seemed that there was another person who did not arrive in time.
To the right of Albert was an elderly couple with white hair. Perhaps noticing Albert's gaze, the old man turned his head and smiled at him. Albert also smiled back politely and turned his attention back to the performance brochure distributed by the opera house.
However, the performance brochure was all in French, and only Albert could understand it. He whispered the contents to his family and discussed the opera at the same time.
Herb and Daisy had seen Romeo and Juliet together before, but they had seen it at an opera house in England, and this time in France, the adaptation and style of the opera might be slightly different.
The opera "Romeo and Juliet" is divided into five acts and six scenes. Albert did not tell the content of the opera. It would be unkind for Nia, who has not seen the opera, to reveal the plot. It is better to keep the expectation.
As the Andersons discussed the opera in low voices,
The audience member in the empty seat next to him also hurried over. He was a middle-aged man in his fifties. The suit he wore gave Albert an inexplicable sense of disharmony.
The middle-aged man seemed to know the old couple. Just after he whispered a few words, the theater bell rang, indicating that the opera was about to begin.
The entire theater fell silent in an instant, the already dim lights went out, and the surroundings fell into complete darkness, with only the light on the stage still on.
“It’s quite atmospheric.”
Albert stopped talking and focused all his attention on the stage.
Honestly speaking, Albert, who knew nothing about opera, changed his perception of opera to using singing and music to explain and express the plot after watching the first act "At the Capulet's House". But it must be said that this opera still has some charm, and one can understand what is being expressed on the stage. It is much better than the concert of Celestina Warbeck, who is famous in the magic world.
The first act of "Romeo and Juliet" tells the story of Romeo and Juliet meeting and falling in love, but discovering that they are enemies. The whole process is filled with the unique French style of lightness, elegance and romance.
Albert glanced at his family in his spare time. Daisy and Herb were already enjoying the opera, but Nia didn't quite understand the opera and was covering her yawn with her hand.
Maybe I feel bored!
This is actually not surprising. If he was just a child, he would definitely be in the same situation.
By the way, the middle-aged man next to Nia was actually in a trance. It was obvious that he had no interest in opera, but he had to watch the opera with his family.
“They have really great voices!”
This was Nia's exclamation after the curtain fell, which made Albert next to her laugh a little, but he still tried hard not to laugh out loud, and just replied softly: "Yes!"
Both Romeo and Juliet are high-pitched types, and as Nia said, their voices must be really amazing to be able to produce such high notes.
The second act did not make the audience wait too long and it was performed very quickly. The location was in the garden outside Juliet's bedroom. Romeo and Juliet actually secretly got married.
Looking at the French version of the performance brochure, Albert explained the story of the previous scene to Nia in the free time after the performance ended and the curtain fell.
"I dare say that they definitely didn't end up together," Nia said after listening.
"If they are enemies, how can they be together in the end? It will definitely be a tragedy."
The third act begins with Nia's muttering...
As for the ending of "Romeo and Juliet", it is naturally a tragic ending as Nia said.
Romeo was sentenced to deportation for killing Juliet's cousin. The two planned to pretend to be dead and get married secretly, but the priest's messenger was delayed on the way, resulting in the failure to deliver the message to Romeo in time, which directly led to Romeo's suicide by taking poison in the fifth act under the soft and lyrical tone of sadness. When Juliet woke up and found that her lover was dead, she drew her sword and committed suicide to be buried with him.
The curtain slowly dropped and enthusiastic applause broke out in the opera house.
"How was the opera? Wasn't it good?" Herb asked with a smile.
"Not bad." Albert thought for a moment and said, "But I still think movies are more suitable for me."
"Where's Nia?" Daisy asked.
"Here, I've been holding her hand." Albert's eyes fell on the empty seat in front. The middle-aged man actually left halfway
When did this happen, and I didn’t even notice it
"Nia, what are you doing?" Daisy frowned and reminded, "We are leaving, hold Albert's hand and don't get separated."
"Just keep up," Herb said again, "Don't push or rush, just follow the crowd and slowly disperse."
"I know that. Let's go, Nia." Albert responded.
After leaving the Bastille Opera House, Nia suddenly asked, "Albert, do you think that if the messenger could get there in time, would Romeo and Juliet be together?"
"No!" Albert said calmly.
"Why?" Nia asked, tilting her head.
"Because the messenger is always late. Even if Shakespeare is not late, he will make the messenger late." Albert said lightly.
"Ahem! Albert is saying that Romeo and Juliet are just characters in a play, so their fate has already been determined." Herb was choked by Albert's words and hurriedly explained.
"What if it was in reality?" Nia asked again.
"They will definitely be together." Daisy comforted her first. She glared at her son and husband with a little dissatisfaction, asking them to shut up and not ruin the romantic atmosphere here. The girls naturally hoped that Romeo and Juliet could be together instead of being buried together after death.
"Nia, what were you picking up just now?" Albert changed the subject.
"Oh, by the way, I was just picking this up." Nia handed a golden card in her hand to Herb, "It must have been lost by a viewer."
"What is this?" Herber was also stunned after reading it. Because this is not a gold card in name only, but a real gold card, a gold card made of gold.
"Gold?" Albert stared at the card made of gold and frowned slightly.
In fact, they all felt speechless. The gold card was just talk, but they didn't expect that someone would actually use gold to make a gold card. How painful that must be.
The world of the rich is really hard to understand, isn’t it
"Please wait here for a moment. I will give it to the staff of Opera Bastille." Herb said, and prepared to return to Opera Bastille with the gold card to give it to the staff there.
"Let me take a look. I feel like the words above look familiar."
Herb found that he couldn't understand the words on the gold card. However, he could understand the image, which seemed to be a pot and a stick.
Just as Albert took the gold card, something unexpected happened. The hand holding the gold card suddenly leaned in a certain direction, as if a powerful force was ready to pull the gold card away.
"What's going on?"
Albert reacted immediately, grabbing the gold card almost instinctively when it was about to slip from his fingertips, and focused his attention on the gold card, using the protective bracelet on his wrist to offset the effect of the flying spell.
"What happened just now?" Herber was shocked. He also saw the scene where the gold card almost flew away by itself.
"A wizard is using a spell to summon it." Albert explained casually, "But that bastard is really causing me trouble."
"What's wrong?" Daisy asked.
"I don't know if the other party's use of the Flying Spell will be blamed on me." Albert muttered. He hated that one day he would become the scapegoat for no reason.
Only then did he decide to take off the gold card. As for the armor spell on the protective bracelet
The magic on magic props will not be monitored by the Ministry of Magic, just like the use of a flying broom, so Albert is not worried about this at all.
"You mean..." Nia asked in a low voice, "the person who was next to us just now was a wizard?"
"Don't discuss these things here anymore." Albert warned in a low voice.
"Return the gold card or give it to the people at the Bastille Opera House?" Daisy suggested. She didn't want an unknown wizard to suddenly come to her house and ask for the gold card.
"Don't worry, everything will be fine." Albert glanced at the runes on it: Extraordinary Pharmacist Association.
If he had not been harassed by the Ministry of Magic's owls, Albert would have returned the gold membership card to its original owner through other means.
If you are really blamed for no reason, wait for the other party to help you resolve the misunderstanding before giving it back to them.
By the way, are these pharmacists all rich people? They are so extravagant that they use gold as membership cards.
Moreover, this gold membership card is actually a magic prop