Tales of Hoffmann

My friend Tao got PC and I tickets to the National Center for Performing Arts' production of Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann.

The building ITSELF is a star.  Part titanium (right) and glass (left)

The NCPA is located just to the southwest of The Forbidden City and right next to the Great Hall of the People.  It's a fantastic juxtaposition!

The "Egg" as it is often known is surrounded by a pool of water (great reflections).  You enter on the north end and the hallway leading into the area below the actual halls (opera, music and theatre) has glass windows on the ceiling so you can look up and see the water.

The all-Chinese cast sang the opera in its original French.  The green lights on the side were Chinese subtitles and the white above were in English.

Any idea what's going on here?

Harbin Snow Sculptures

It's not just the ice festival in Harbin....it's the Harbin Ice and SNOW festival.  Out on Sun Island, in the middle of the river, is the huge snow sculpture park.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

The Songhua River -- FROZEN

So, I've realized that the best way to travel in China (Asia for that matter) is to arrive in town and find a cab driver and hire him for the time I'm in town.  Our cab driver, it turns out, was a distant relative of the actor Jackie Chan. Our cab driver, in the know, took us down to the Songhua River for ice activities.

PC and Tao standing in the middle of the Songhua River.

The ice on the river was over a meter thick.  This picture doesn't convey the beauty of the ice.

Dog sled rides on the ice. 

This one rail train bridge was the first to cross the river in Manchuria.  It was built by the Russians to connect Siberia to Vladivostok.  The Japanese had control over this bridge during its occupation of Manchuria.

This being modern China, a high speed train bridge is being constructed right next to it.

Ice fishing!!  Unfortunately, the guys we met didn't pull up any fish that day.

CRAZY swimmers!!

The river is a "highway."  Whenever we wanted to cross the river, our driver simply drove down to the banks of the river and drove across the frozen river!  It was amazing.  Also, we say people using parasails but instead of boards on the water, they used their boards on the ice.  I'd be interested in trying this.