The Symphony in Guadalajara

Sunday was Linda's birthday and we had tickets to a symphony concert at the historic Theater in Guadalajar, Teatro Degallado.  A beautiful old concert hall in the historic part of downtown Guadalajara.  However first things first we had a date for breakfast at "No 7 Pozoles".  Since it was Linda's birthday I wanted to take her someplace special for breakfast.  I had scoped out this place a couple of days before when we were having our guided tour with Orfilla.  She confirmed that it was  good spot for Pozole and I hadn't had this or Menudo since arriving in Guadalajara.  I'm  a fan of menudo from my tripe day's at Trattoria Antica in La Mesa, when Franco would make it a couple of times a year and he would give me call when he was serving it.  It was a specialty not on the menu. I love things that are not on the menu  I have to say that the Menudo at No.7 Pozoles had a few more nasty bits than normal.  Not sure if it was esophagus or what it was but there were some pretty big pieces, but it was still quite good.  It was Sunday morning and not very crowded.  We finished our meal and walked around the downtown area for a little while.  

The doors to the concert hall didn't open for 40 minutes so that gave us time to take in the local color.  Families getting ice cream and doing their shopping, little kids playing in the water fountains...

At noon the concert hall opened.  People had been assembling for a while waiting for the doors to open.  The line forms, we entered.  A beautiful old music theater with 4 levels of box seats around the perimeter of the room. The concert today was Schumann and Shubert.  Damm if I can tell them apart.  Interesting that 10 years ago when we visited Naples it was one of these to guys was playing then too, Schumann or Shubert, not sure which.  They must be following us around.  The theater was very reminiscent of the Teatro San Carlos in Naples, maybe not quite so ostentatious, but still with a beautiful old school charm.  Interesting that the first half of the concert featured a pianist who was clearly Asian.  She was fantastic.  Took 3 rounds of applause.  Of course I'm sitting next to the guy yelling "Bravo, Bravo, Bravo".  Not sure that he was the most sophisticated since I thought the protocol was that if it was a woman, you should be yelling Brava!.  He seemed to pick up on that when a guy a couple of rows behind started yelling "Brava", so he changed his yell from Bravo to Brava.  The turned out to be a couple of guys from Fresno.  The concert was very nice and a much more fitting celebration for Linda's birthday than Pozole and Menudo.

 After the concert we ducked into a little cafe right next to the concert hall in the same building called Cafe Degollado, for something to eat and drink.  It had been at least 3 hrs since we had eaten last. Seems like as my belly get's bigger, my tank get's smaller.  Ordered some ceviche and guacamole and chips, along with a beer and Cazuelas . Basically a bowl or Fruit, fruit juice, Fresca (Fresca seems to be big here in Mexico), and of course Tequila. It's kind of a girly drink but it sounded good so ordered it.  I always am amused when the waiter or waitress brings the drinks and proceeds to plant the beer in front of me and the girly drink in front of Linda.  It seems to happen a lot.  Maybe I just like girly drinks.  Anyways back to the ceviche and guacamole.  Really good.  We were in mid ceviche when a group sits down in the booth just behind us.  First I hear English, so then I can't help being nosy, then overhearing the conversation.  I hear them discussing music.  Initially I thought maybe there were rock and roll musicians playing in Guadalajara.  As the conversation progresses I hear them discussing counting measures up to 40.  That's not rock and roll talk.  I turn to them to ask them where they were from and noticed they were all wearing suits.  Oh, duh, these were the musicians from the concert we just saw.  How cool is that.  We discussed how much we enjoyed the concert and where we were all from and a number of other things.  Had a nice conversation with them and then their food came so I let them get to their meal.  They seemed to enjoy the conversation.  I know that I did.  We finished our ceviche thanked them for the concert, and were on our way.  

Cazuelas