Every year the Vienna Philharmonic puts on a free concert at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. This year it drew 100,000 people. We decided to get their early and try to hear the concert from up on the hill. We have seen people sit up there in the past and figured this way we could bring the kids along. We invited our friends, the Meltons, packed a picnic dinner, and headed to the concert.
While we waited for the concert to start, James and Daniel read stories together (when they were not wrestling or sword fighting with sticks).
This was the week before our friends moved back to the USA. We sure are going to miss hanging out with them! Daniel is James’ favorite little buddy.
The bigger kids played Uno together while waiting.
It was a beautiful evening to be outside. After the concert should have started, we realized we really couldn’t hear anything. It was hard to keep the kids quiet, and we kept wondering why so many people were sitting on the hill every year when you can’t hear from up there! The kids still enjoyed playing together.
You can see all the people crowded together down below. It is crazy how many people come to this concert! We went once before and were amazed at the crowds. You can’t bring strollers, blankets, or chairs into the concert zone, so we sat on the hill while the kids played awhile, and eventually packed up and wandered down the hill to see if we could find a place where the sound was better. By this time it was getting dark and the kids were getting tired.
We ended up finding some really nice places to listen where you could put down blankets and chairs. Now we know for next year! We listened to a couple songs before heading home for the night. Chris set up the projector at home so the kids could watch the broadcast of the last song. I love the wonderful opportunities in the city for the kids to hear and see beautiful music performances. We had a great night even though it didn’t turn out quite how we expected, and now we know where we will set up next year!
