Try a grilled Bavarian sausage at one of the many concessions, where you may see a German lady munching one, wearing a fur wrap and trailing white satin in the dust. Munich's opera house, gutted by firebombs in October 1943, took 21 years to reopen. Today, it crowns the Max-Joseph Platz, its sweeping stone steps, pillared portico and gleaming mosaics shining in sun and dusk. Inside, the theater is all deep rosy pink, silver gilt, ornamental white, curving tiers and huge, fragile chandelier. Red marble columns flank the stage boxes, caryatids support the royal box and swans float on white and gold balustrades.
Elegant audiences promenade in the marble halls hung with crystal and aglow with flowers.
Refreshments include that German favorite, vanilla ice cream with hot raspberries. The festival stages opera with all the stops out. Attend concerts in the new Russell Johnson-designed concert hall, a preview of what Miami may get for its performing arts center. Orchestras, instrumental recitals and chamber music are generally the focus rather than opera.