I’ll start. Why I became an opera fan: Aida at the Baths of Caracalla in Italy, a warm, moonlit night, vendors calling, “Caffe Calda,“between acts. At the end of Act I, Radames comes on stage in a chariot pulled by four horses going what seemed like full speed, straight downstage, slows to let Radames off, turns and exits stage left. Beginning of Act II, a pyramid stage right, silhouette of a seated camel and turbaned man. As the introductory music comes to an end, the camel and man rise and walk off stage. It was a real camel.