As you might recall from my first post of 2013, a year ago yesterday we planned to drive the 132 miles or 212 Km from our ranch to the city of San Antonio to celebrate our anniversary with a fancy dinner at ‘nao‘ a CIA restaurant. Ever since tasting the culinary offering of our favorite restaurant, the Café Appareil in Bay City, Michigan, some twenty years ago, we’ve been great supporters of the CIA. The other CIA, the Culinary Institute of America, of course. Last year’s endeavor fell short by 94 miles when our borrowed car died on the side of the interstate. I’m happy to report that this year’s trip to San Antonio was decidedly more successful!
Leaving the ranch before noon, we first drove to the At&T Center, a venue which usually sees the SA Spurs, a pro basketball teamin action, but was dedicated to music, loud music, for just this day.
Way back in September, still in Costa Rica, Barry had purchased tickets for the “Lost Christmas Eve” matinée of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. We arrived well ahead of time, just to stand in line in the soft drizzle with a few thousand other potential revelers until the powers-that-be decided to open the doors to the Center. But we quickly made new friends and chatted back and forth, inside as well, where the queuing continued for some more time. I don’t have extensive rock concert experience – my last concert was one of the original ‘Hair’ productions in Zürich, Switzerland, roughly 44 years ago – but apparently, they don’t start, when advertised and people come and go throughout. Very interesting!
We had great front floor seats, practically in the middle of the action, and there sure was a lot of that!
The French have long been famous for staging ‘son et lumière’, ‘sound and light’ productions in and around historic sites. Boy, could they learn from this TSO mise on scène.
The show was fantastic & hypnotizing & great fun. Nevertheless, we were very ready to proceed to nao for a comparatively quiet dinner, after two hours of mercilessly amplified sound, accentuated by pulsing strobe lights.
Soothing delightful chocolate to crown a delightful day!
NOT IN A STRAIGHT LINE by Photolera Claudinha 
Happy anniversary and happy blogging in 2014.
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