For brekkers we went down to the restaurant, where we were
informed by an overzealous gatekeeper that the meal was
only for Diamonds and Golds; she couldn't find my name on
the authorized list. We didn't go away, so being eager to
get rid of us, she went to the top of the list and started
reading down it aloud. It didn't require much brain-taxing
- I was in fact first, perhaps hidden before by the clippy
thing on the clipboard (giving her the benefit of the doubt).

Breakfast was surprising, with good custard tarts, good
sausage, good bacon, and good cubed potatoes. I was glad
that Bonnie encouraged me to come down to enjoy it. I had
four custard tarts and two helpings of potatoes, as we
figured to go straight back east after the show.

We had a bit of a digestive stroll about town and then to the
Wadsworth, which has rejiggered its collection since we were
there last. At concert time we found our way to the Great
Hall, where it was noticeable that the orchestra warming up
was not the A-team, so I insisted on sitting as far away as
possible. Sadly, Letitia's boyfriend spied us and invited us
to sit in the prime seats he had saved for us. So I ended up
hearing every scrape and infelicity that the orchestra had
to offer.

Julius was translated into a 21st-century law office setting,
and its originally opaque plot was rendered even more so by
that modernization and also by some draconian cuts designed
to make a 4-hour opera more palatable to a 2-hour audience.
Also it became hard to figure out what was going on, because
all the roles in this production, including Julius, were
played by women, with the arias cranked up an octave as
necessary. Why do directors see the need to fiddle around
with the originals to make them relevant and 21st century?
I figure if it takes that much effort to make them appeal
to a modern audience, basta, put them in mothballs where
they belong.

Letitia sang pretty well as the lead Cleopatra, but the other
singers were also quite impressive. Caesar, a chubby short
girl, sang with verve and skill. On the whole, though, I
found the entire thing missible. Afterward, we did the social
thing for a bit and then had a few minutes to check out the
revamped front gallery, which now is missing its former
centerpiece, the first Dali ever to be shown in the US, in
favor of a number of other works, some (Picasso's Painter, for
example) of considerable artistic and historical importance.

We strolled back to the hotel, getting there about 10 minutes
short of our allotted free 24 hours.

Off on a pretty empty I-84, where we might have avoided the
ugly Sunday evening traffic if we sped all the way back, but
as always the siren call of Rein's detoured us for a snack,
despite our having loaded up at breakfast. I ordered a chopped
liver and corned beef (extra fatty) on unseeded rye, which was
a long time coming, but when it came, it was just as expected,
the beef about 2/3 fat, the chopped beef liver a little too
sweet from both onions and sugar and not quite fatty enough.
Also, they've quit putting minced hard-boiled egg in it, but
maybe I said that in a previous report.

Bonnie had a special of the day "smoked salmon reuben," which
was okay - the fish was insufficiently smoked but overbaked,
and the effect was of a fish sandwich with sauerkraut, not very
Reubenesque at all, and I expected better for something that
cost a couple bucks more than the regular one - they could have
used cold-smoked fish, for example.

She had a glass of wine, and I got a coffee float, which was
necessary because we had an early early flight. Both were kind
of bad, the wine because it was out of a cheap jug, the float
because it didn't have enough ice cream.

When we got the bill, the float was missing, so I called this
to the waitress's attention; eventually, another came, which
had not only a coffee float but also a root beer float, for
reasons that shall remain obscure. Another 10-minute wait for
a correction, and eventually the proper amount was charged and
paid; but coupled with generally slow (but cheerful) service,
we spent maybe 30-40 minutes more there than we had planned.

The result was that we headed back in heavy traffic from the
state line on, and we got back way, way after dark and an hour
and change past bedtime.
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