I am away on a short summer vacation, but where exactly am I?
Clues: The picture to the left shows one of the best known opera houses in the World. The picture on the right shows the unusual branded ATM outside the opera house.
The performance season is only five Weeks each year, there are about 54000 tickets for each season, and the typical waiting time after applying for a ticket is between five and ten years. The price for a seat with a view of the stage is between 155.00 and 280.00 Euro. There are “listening only” and “restricted view” seats which cost somewhat less.
I actually took the pictures on a past visit to this town, much earlier in the year. The trees are a lot greener now. Here is nother one of the same opera house, from a greater distance, taken with a long telephoto lens. You can tell by comparing the pictures that it is sitting on a hill.
The first correct answer out of the hat after I return (July 21st) wins a No-Prize…
Update: For a while, it looked like nobody was going to claim the award. Immediately after my return, though, I had several calls, all of them with the correct answer – so, I decided to award all of them a No-Prize, three in total.
I was in Bayreuth. The opera house is the “Festspielhaus”, donated entirely by King Ludwig of Bavaria to Richard Wagner for performing only his operas. Wagner’s fund raising skills also convinced the King to build a rather beautiful villa for him… I thought the Wagner-branded ATM is a nice cryptic reference to all this.
