And last, but certainly not least...

Violet.

According to that age-old love poem, it's a blue flower. In Peanuts, it's the girl that refuses to even entertain the notion of giving Charlie Brown a Christmas card. Or it is, as even the most oblivious window shopper in Europe can tell you, this season's color.

It's everywhere--walking through any European city, I see it in the store windows. Purple sweaters. Purple dresses. Even the background for cell phone displays in store windows is purple. People have just gone hog-wild for purple.

And it doesn't end at the stores, either. Even walking around campus I see women wearing purple boots, handbags, jackets, scarves, hats...all ensembles must include purple.

It's entertaining, as well, because you can, for the most part, see who caved into the pressures of being chic and broke down to buy that matching scarf, glove, and hat set for twenty-five euro. It also makes me wonder if the girl who bought purple boots will ever bother to wear them again. It's all a little ridiculous, really.

The only purple thing I own is a fleece headband that I wear when I'm running. This fleece headband has been in my posession since the first grade, and, these days, allows me to exude an even stronger sense of fashion while gracing the Rhein river with my spandex and Middlebury-themed running gear. That may not mean much to you. But I think we all know how much value I have for fashion (especially while running on Wacky Wednesdays).

No comment.

Last Monday Hannah and I went to the opera in Frankfurt to see Die Zauberflöte, better known to you folks in America as The Magic Flute. It was a sea of purple. But, more importantly, it was also my first opera. I absolutely loved it, and spent the remainder of the evening gracing Hannah with my vocal talents while repeating the phrase "Papagena, Papagena, Papagena!" over and over again on the train ride home.

What I couldn't sing, I whistled. For example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42iDww63iI4

I mean, I didn't want to break any glass or anything.

Hannah and I continued to put our Kulturgeld to good German use and bought tickets for another opera on Saturday before she deserted me for the good ol' US of A--this time the opera was in Wiesbaden, and the story had a special meaning for both of us, since both of us have taken the beloved Roman Graf's Märchen (fairy tale) course at Middlebury. You may have heard of the story--it involves two children, an evil witch, and, of course, an edible house. Here's a photo to help you get the hint:


You guessed it: Hänsel und Gretel. Starring Amanda Quinlan, Michael Williams, and an oversized pair of binoculars. Oh, the things I did for German class.

I have to honestly say that Die Zauberflöte appealed to me a lot more than Hänsel und Gretel, but of the two theaters, Wiesbaden's was easily the favorite. Frankfurt's theatre was very modern and simple, but Wiesbaden's was a little bit older and more extravagent, decked out in a lot of gold and red.

The Opera in Wiesbaden

Needless to say, it didn't match very well with all of those purple people.

Peace, love, and O, Tannenbaum,

Amanda

[Royalties for the title of this blog are due to Amber Quinlan and Kristen Harding for their news special on prisms and the colors of the rainbow, published ca. 1992]