Teatro Colon

From the Palacio de Aguas Corrientes (see Jake's post below), we went on to tour another building built to impress the world, the Teatro Colon.  Begun by an Italian architect in 1889, the entrance features 3 types of Italian marble, hand-laid mosaic tile floors, and intricate stained glass windows.  Finished 20 years later by a French architect, the salon features gold-leaf trim and hand-painted ceilings seemingly straight out of Versailles.  The young tour guide related the details of the building through stories of its architects and intrigues, and through some social commentary on the times.  Once in the main opera hall she demonstrated the acoustics by singing a verse from a well-known tango in a lovely voice.  She said that when Pavarotti came to sing at the opera house, he said he could never come back.  When asked why, he said it was because the acoustics were too perfect and he could hear every flaw in his singing!