I mention Egypt today—date of the official launching of the new version of this web magazine—not because France Revisited is now intent on analyzing world affairs (we have enough trouble keeping track of our own) but to note that, coincidentally, I attended this past week two cultural events in Paris with Egyptian themes: a photo exhibit and an opera. Both were planned long before the crowds started gathering in Tahrir Square.

The first was an opening of “Night Colors,” an exhibit of photographs by Thibault de Puyfontaine at Montmartre’s Little Big Galerie. As I note in my review of the exhibit, the photos, taken between 2007 and 2010, reveal the colors of night rather than the politics and frustrations of day.

The second was a performance of Handel’s Giulio Cesare (in Egitto), Julius Caesar (in Egypt), at the stunningly beautiful and grotesquely ornate Garnier Opera, where the seats up by the ceiling are so cramped that it’s unlikely anyone would stand for them anywhere else.

You won’t find a review of the opera on France Revisited because the opera critic was out of town that evening (hence my ticket). Suffice it to say: Cleopatra was, for all intents and purposes, naked on stage (hence so many binoculars?), Julius Caesar fell for her beauty and charm, he liberated her and Egypt from the hands of her brother Ptolemy, they don’t make castrati like they used to, and Egypt and Roman power and intercultural love nevertheless triumphed.

I found myself thinking how amazing it is to write such a work, how ambitious it is to conceive and construct buildings like the Garnier Opera, what dedication it takes to sing like those singers, play like those musicians and conduct like that conductor, what imagination it takes to design such a set and direct such a production, how honorable resistance can be, and all kinds of uplifting thoughts about go-getters and their achievements, followed by the usual comedown as I headed for the metro.

But I’m not the least bit envious. I’m just glad to be back in the editorial saddle again now that the new version of France Revisited has been launched.

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