We booked our tour of the grand Colon theater two days ago, and now it was time to set out and see this magnificent building. Since we had a little time before the tour, we went, close by, to the jewelry district to buy a pair of earrings for Kathy. She had managed to leave the few pieces of jewelry she was planning on bringing on the trip back home.
The tour started off in the main lobby of the Theater and we were given a history of the building by an earnest guide whose thick accent made it hard to understand her. What we did get was that the building was built in the early 1900’s and the first Opera was Aida. Much of the interior marble was imported from Europe. The entrance rooms were impressive and eventually we were led into the theater proper, with its five balconies. One problem though, the opening of Romeo and Juliette was upcoming and the lighting crew was working on stage lighting, so the theater itself was dark! What a letdown! The highlight of the tour was the theater itself, and we had to take photos of a lit stage and a dark theater. Fortunately, you would never be the wiser if I didn’t tell you, as I was able to recover 4f-stops and turn the inside of the theater from pitch black to bright as day!
