here there be whales... and valkyries

If you are finished pondering this, then I will tell you about out second opera, called Die Walkure. Remember Fafner or Yardstick? Well, now he’s a dragon. It opened with a stranger outside a woman’s home. The woman’s name is Sieglinde, and her husband is Hunding. She invites the stranger in, and when Hunding comes, the stranger, called Wehwalt, tells his tale. It involves a girl, a forced marriage, and ends with him being chased by soldiers. Hunding tells him that he was one of the soldiers, and lets Wehwault stay the night, but tells him to prepare for battle in the morning. Wehwalt has no weapons, and Hunding ties his foot to a pole so he can’t escape. Sieglinde comes out and unties his leg, and says that she has drugged Hunding’s drink. Wehwalt says that his father told him he would find a sword in his hour of greatest need, aka, now. Sienglide pieces together pieces of Wehwalt’s story, and realizes that not only are they passionately in love with each other, but they are brother and sister! She says at her forced wedding, an old man came and thrust a sword deep into a tree. She gives Wehwalt his REAL name, Siegmund, and after a long, pronounced aria about spring (which personally I thought was unnecessary), Siegmund grabs the sword and the lovers run off. Meanwhile, in Valhalla, Wotan calls for Brunnhilde, a Valkyrie. He tells her to let Siegmund win. Brunnhilde jumps on the table and sings the fabulous Valkyrie war cry “to jo to ho”, and if you don’t know what that is, YouTube it. Anyways, Brunnhilde leaves and distressed Fricka comes in. She pleads with Wotan to let the Volsung (Siegmund) die. Wotan finally gives in. He calls Brunnhilde, and Fricka leaves. He tells Brunnhilde all of his secrets, and Brunnhilde begs him to let Siegmund live. Wotan refuses. Brunnhilde goes off and tells Siegmund to follow her after he dies. He won’t, and so Brunnhilde promises he will live. Next, a pack of gorgeous German shepherds runs across the stage. They were SO cute with their little doggy tongues sticking out. During the battle, Wotan arrives and shatters Siegmund’s sword, and then kills Hunding. He cries by the body of Siegmund, his son, and Brunnhilde runs off with Sieglinde. Brunnhilde arrives at the Valkyries’ landing place (they parachuted onto the stage), then tells Sieglinde to flee to the east and tells her to name her child Siegfried. She gives Sieglinde the shattered pieces of Siegmund’s sword and tells Sieglinde that he will be a hero. Sieglinde leaves and Wotan comes in, furious. He tells Brunnhilde that he will put her, asleep, on a rock, take away her immortality, and the first man who wakes her will be her husband. He shoos the other Valkyries away. Brunnhilde begs him to surround the rock with fire, and he agrees. He regretfully puts her to sleep, surrounds the rock with blazing flames, and walks away from his favorite daughter heartbroken.

I thought the opera was amazing, and Brunnhilde was the best character. I liked the flame surrounding the rock at the end. All of it was great, except for the spring aria. It’s like, Come on guy! Pull out the sword already! How much do you think she poisoned her husband to sleep? And he can’t be that bright either. I mean, the sword appears I the ash tree, and he doesn’t get up, he says, “What is the brilliant light in the ash tree?” but that part was pretty funny.

The next day was great…except for the waking up and some other things I will mention later. We went to the Starbucks and then journeyed to the whale tour boats. We admired the sea stars and the orca weather vane, and then we boarded. First we saw a sea otter with his little flippers and tail bobbing on the surface. Next we saw the fins of Risso Dolphins, and some Pacific White-Sided dolphins that played with the boat. They were really tiny and were so cute!

Then we saw several humpbacks. It was then that I got seasick. I upchucked over the side of the boat. Now, I have never been seasick EVER in my life, so this was a surprise, but at least none of it got on the boat. I felt sorry for the deckhand as he mopped other people’s seasickness results off with a broom. I felt a little better, and my parents had told me to focus on the horizon, but there were two problems. 1. It was freezing, and I was shivering so much I couldn’t focus on anything. 2. The swells that had made me seasick were so large that they covered the horizon.

But after that, I was better, especially when we saw a mola mola or ocean sunfish. It was humongous. After the mola mola, we continued and saw many humpbacks, including one and her baby! When we headed back, we saw a sea otter and her baby and 80 million sea lions, and as they tied up the boat, we saw 2 harbor seals flopping around.

Mmm…Purple Sand….

Next was Pfeiffer Beach, and the sand is PURPLE! Well, first we were on this road that reminded me of New Zealand’s roads, and that is NOT a good thing. For more references on New Zealand’s roads, look at my New Zealand posts. Well, anyways, we were on this road, admiring the scenery and thinking we were all going to die in the marshmallow car. But in the end we made it. We parked and then walked to the beach, and yes, there were streaks of dark purple in the sand. I played in the wet sand, making mountains, but the last one was the best, a giant mountain that was not finished. 3 waves came, but none of them could destroy my beautiful architecture. Then a BIG wave came and destroyed it. GRRR! After that, we took pictures in front of this hole in a rock that was spewing giant waves of water everywhere. Too soon, it was time to leave.

*** Thanks for writing, Dr. Crosthwait! I’m sure you’ll have a great time in San Francisco, but I have one piece of advice for you: Bring warm clothing. ON GELE!