Shane finished up his course today at lunchtime and so we took a stroll through the streets of Vienna to see what was happening.
We wandered and firstly came across a marketplace type thingy...with local meats and cheeses for sale.
And as we walked I saw a beautiful big building in the distance...with some sort of music going on..."Ohhh - a classic music concert", I thought.
What a lovely old building.
Anyway, it turns out, as we got closer, that there was some sort of horse festival on....Neve was excited because she thought she would get another pony ride.
No pony rides, but a big grandstand in front of this beautiful building - where the music was playing. I looked to see if you needed tickets - which were 50 euro each - but Shane spoke the the guy at the gate and we were in FOR FREE!!!
It was the international horse masters. We managed to see some of the olympic and para-olympic horse riders performing with their horses. Not sure exactly what the horse event was called but it was a bit like 'horse aerobics'....the horses seemed to be dancing in time to the music which looked really amazing.
What a backdrop for a horse show!!!
The dancing horses....
It was great! We got to see about half an hour of the show before it finished. Good timing!
After that we walked a bit further down the road and heard some more noise and commotion coming from a park. "More horses", shouted Neve.
No horses, but it was the para-olympics welcome-home festival. There were heaps of sporting communities out with displays and games for the kids to play....from rock-climbing to wrestling, and weightlifting to grass skiing!!
Another festival...another beautiful backdrop!
Kids sports galore.
Neve had a go at some sort of kids hockey thingy...she even got a goal!!
Once we had finished looking around, we realised we were a bit lost. We did see the Mozart statue outside some special building (will google it later to find out what it was)......but then realised we had actually walked pretty far and so we caught the U-bahn (train) back home.
Mozart statue...
Tomorrow the plan is to go out to the Schoebrunn palace - apparently there is ANOTHER festival there...some sort of kids museum birthday or something from what I can make out from the German language posters....will go and check it out.
Hi Claire Neve and Eloise. I'm disappointed I missed your call yesterday! I would've loved to talk to you! It is school holidays and the boys want to do NOTHING! We have spent 2 days playing Beyblades (spinning tops with ripcords) and dismembering lego mini figurines. We have some friends over for a bbq this evening, I thought of you guys with your amazing hosting. Yesterday we went to dinner at William's parents' Natalie and Steve with Kristen and Julian. It was interesting to say the least! I wish you were here, but I'm sure you don't! Love you all Libby
ReplyDeleteHI my friend! My kids generally want to do nothing as well (they are fascinated by german cartoons even though they don't understand a word - just that they are cartoons)....they would stay inside all day and play with whatever they can get their hands on (since we don't have many toys with us)! Will definitely have you over when we are back - we must owe you quite a few meals by now!!) Wish you were here. xoxo
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