T and I went to see The Nutcracker at Christmas, and although I had been to see the ballet as a child, it was The Nutcracker which made me appreciate and love ballet. T didn't come away from the performance filled with quite so much enthusiasm about ballet as I did...
But in my Valentines' card were two tickets to see another ballet: La Lanterne Rouge (Raise the Red Lantern).
But in my Valentines' card were two tickets to see another ballet: La Lanterne Rouge (Raise the Red Lantern).
It was not on until the 21st February - the evening we watched it was the Canadian Premiere, no less - so we had to wait a week to see it, but that meant I had a week to look forward to it!
Performed by the National Ballet of China (NBC), Montreal was one of two Canadian cities they were visiting - Vancouver was the other one - which made it especially interesting to watch them.
Performed by the National Ballet of China (NBC), Montreal was one of two Canadian cities they were visiting - Vancouver was the other one - which made it especially interesting to watch them.
The venue, Les Place des Arts, is just a thirty minute metro ride away from where we live (the joys of inner city living!) At the beginning of the week I had hoped I would be able to wear shoes (oh, the excitement about the prospect of wearing shoes...!) as the pavements were clean and dry; but it began to snow on Tuesday night, and by Thursday morning we had had about 15cm of snow lying on the ground. So my dream of shoes - and therefore being able to wear a dress - vanished. A flimsy dress would not look good with my sheepskin-lined chunky beige knee-high Montreal-winter-weather-proof-industrial boots. You could tell which member of the audience had driven and which had used public transport: those who had driven had dressed up and were wearing dresses, nice shoes, smart outfits; whereas everyone else (ie those who used public transport) was in jeans and winter boots. I reached a compromise and put on a pair of chunky heeled boots rather than my outdoor boots. It was only the second time I had ventured outside in any footwear other than my winter boots this year.
But back to La Lantern Rouge:
Set in 1920's China, the story revolved around a girl who is forced to become a concubine (a live in mistress) to a powerful government bureaucrat, the Master. She however, is in love with her childhood sweetheart, an artist, and when the Master's first concubine discovers her secret liaisons with the artist, she informs the Master. Enraged, he not only sentences the young girl and her lover to their deaths, but the concubine who informed him of the deception too. The two concubines put aside their previous hostilities and forgive each other before being put to death.
A sad story with no happy ending, but the music and dancers were amazing; and it was a very different performance to The Nutcracker. I'm not too sure it has changed T's thoughts on the ballet though...
But that wasn't the only exciting thing we did this week, oh no...
On Saturday we went fishing.
It was not any old fishing, no siree: this was ice-fishing on the Saint Lawrence river (the river which runs through Montreal).
It was not any old fishing, no siree: this was ice-fishing on the Saint Lawrence river (the river which runs through Montreal).
Some friends were going with some of their friends on Saturday afternoon and asked if we wanted to join them. Seeing as it's not something you can readily do in many countries, we jumped at the opportunity. I woke up in the morning feeling more tired than I had done on Friday evening, and the thought of spending four hours outside stood on ice in the snow did not appeal, I have to admit. I was struggling to get warm under a duvet, inside, in a heated apartment; never mind outside in zero degrees (which actually is warm compared to the last couple of months...)
T and I piled on layer upon layer of clothes, and went down to the Old Port and the Clock Tower Quay where the ice-fishing was being held.
There were options at the site as to how civilised you wanted to be with your fishing: outside with no shelter whatsoever, temporary shelters that looked like tents, or wooden huts. To my delight, the people we were with had chosen the deluxe version. Having never met them before, I decided these were my kind of people!
T and I piled on layer upon layer of clothes, and went down to the Old Port and the Clock Tower Quay where the ice-fishing was being held.
There were options at the site as to how civilised you wanted to be with your fishing: outside with no shelter whatsoever, temporary shelters that looked like tents, or wooden huts. To my delight, the people we were with had chosen the deluxe version. Having never met them before, I decided these were my kind of people!
Hiring fishing rods and bait, we also had to buy a fishing licence to enable us to legally catch fish. We hired two free-standing rods for outside, and two to hold ourselves (to be used manly inside the hut!). One of the guys who worked there bored four holes outside the hut for us; drilling through the 3-4 feet thick ice. We placed the outside free-standing rods over two of the holes, and in the other two holes we had a go at fishing ourselves; safe in the knowledge we could duck back indoors when we started to lose feeling in our hands. Half an hour passed and nothing had happened, when the guy who had made the holes walked past. Seeing our despondent faces, he showed us once more how to fish, holding the rod, and instructing us as he went through the motions. Literally two minutes after casting the line, he felt something on the end of it! Reeling it in, we were disappointed to discover it was not a fish, but another line - we had caught someone's cast off fishing line. As the guy untangled the lines there was a shout on the discovery the unmanned line was moving! We had caught something!! We reeled it in - with the resistance on the end of the line, this was one big fish!! Would it be a Walleye, a Perch, or maybe a Burbot?! I had no idea what any of them looked like - I have only ever heard of a Perch before now...
As we reeled it in, the guy gave a shout as the line he was untangling was being dragged back under the ice - what was down there?!! After much tugging, we eventually discovered it was not someone's old line tangled up with our own; it was our unmanned line, and we were just pulling the two back and forth...! No fish, just our lines! D'oh!
We spent another half an hour outside, with our now untangled lines, but failed to get even a bite. Losing feeling in our limbs we headed into the warm hut to continue our fishing. In the middle of the hut floor were wooden lids you lifted to expose a hole in the ice - about 15cm in diameter - in which to fish. There were eight of these holes in the hut altogether, and along the walls were wooden benches to sit on, as well as a couple of fan heaters blowing nice hot air - not only were you dry and warm, but you didn't have to stand either!
Three and a half hours later, our slot was up and we still hadn't caught anything. There was one instance when we thought we had, but in our excitement, we pulled the line up too hard and so the fish got away.
Despite the lack of fish, the luxury heated hut, together with a fun group of people, great food and drink; was definitely my kind of fishing!
Three and a half hours later, our slot was up and we still hadn't caught anything. There was one instance when we thought we had, but in our excitement, we pulled the line up too hard and so the fish got away.
Despite the lack of fish, the luxury heated hut, together with a fun group of people, great food and drink; was definitely my kind of fishing!