Crooked Streets and Lustful Tales.

Finally, at 6:55, we find ourselves standing, breathless and a bit flushed with heat generated from fast walking and the anxiety of being lost, in front of the Estates Theater ready for Don Giovanni, Mozart's acclaimed masterpiece.

We had been wandering the crooked streets of Prague for the past 45 minutes, searching for this theater. 

We asked 3 different sets of people -- one laughed in our face.  One sent us in the wrong direction.  One was overly helpful.

Clearly, dumb American was plastered on each of our foreheads as we "Where's Waldo-ed" our way through the city.

But alas, we made it.

And, it was also my first opera ever.

However, our tumultuous, confusing walk was a definite prequel to our experience with the story within the opera.  Don Giovanni is a love crazed man, whose theme song seems to be "Toot it and Boot it."  He preys on the hearts, minds, and bodies of young, beautiful women, promising them love, but ending the affairs as soon as another lady appears in his world. 

Full of sex, ballet, masquerades, murder, rape, identify theft, comedy, and pretty girls, Mozart created a masterpiece {of confusion for me}.

We were able to follow pretty well through Act I and II but were gone for good in III.  Later, I looked up the story, and had the startling realization that, in truth, I understood almost none of the falling action or resolution.  But still, the music and dancing and performances of the players were not only noteworthy, they too encouraged the feeling of "getting lost" of being "carried away" -- of forgetting the current moment.

And so, we left the theater, more flushed and breathless and lost, than when we entered.

But, if we had read a bit about the story {and our map}  before hand, we would have been totally fine.
And for only 130czk {about 5.01 eruo and 6.25 dollars}, it's sort of hard to regret choosing an opera night in Prague.