Verdi's аида

Mose and I attended the opera last night, my first in Russia. The experience was notable for two reasons:

1) We sat in the gods, where the price of tickets was 100 rubles—approximately $4.

2) During the intermission, we drank tea from plastic cups and openly ate homemade meat-pastries. Others did the same.

On the way out, we sang old Russian folk songs. Mose explained that an opera is only singing, while an operetta has both singing and words. We all agreed that operettas are finer.