Mr. and Mrs. Wonker have returned from the wilds of Stratford, Ontario, having enjoyed excellent performances/revivals of the Gershwin musical, My One and Only, and Oklahoma!
Additionally, even though we are in circuit-overload on Shakespeare here in DC, as a result of the city's 2007 Shakespeare Festival here (just concluded), we did manage to catch a rather eccentric performance of Merchant of Venice in Stratford as well. Unpleasant stuff, pushing the play's obvious anti-Semitism over the top, for what effect we're still not quite sure.
Nonetheless, the folks we stayed with in Stratford (most accommodations are B&Bs rather than hotels) were a delight.
The one thing about the town that Mr. and Mrs. Wonker noticed was the near complete absence of pounding, two-beat background music nearly everywhere, from idiots in autos to stores, to restaurants, to nearly everywhere else. This included a dining room in Windsor, where we overnighted before returning to the states. The Park Terrace Restaurant, on the Detroit River viewing level of the Hilton Windsor Hotel, did actually goose the sound system a bit. Business there was a bit on the light side, primarily consisting of a long table of 60-somethings plus our own assemblage of 6. We called for the music to be turned down, and apparently the other table did as well. (It had probably been cranked a bit by a member of the kitchen staff bored with the pace of the evening.) When the noise subsided, the other table gave a polite cheer and we gave them a thumbs-up. (And the Chateaubriand for 2 wasn't bad, either!)
Why do we point this out? Simple. When was the last time you went anywhere in public here in the U.S., particularly department stores and the like, where you WEREN'T assulted by all this cheap, very loud so-called music? Thought so.
Kudos to our Canadian friends for providing an opportunity to sample a noise-free environment.
More on our trip from time to time this week.
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