{"id":6995,"date":"2013-11-21T09:48:17","date_gmt":"2013-11-21T09:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/?p=6995"},"modified":"2014-02-04T06:15:02","modified_gmt":"2014-02-04T06:15:02","slug":"house-of-music-vienna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/house-of-music-vienna\/","title":{"rendered":"The House of Music – Vienna"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having gathered many places and countries under their small belts (partly due to their expat existence\/partly parental guilt “payment” for their expat existence),\u00a0 one of the things The Small People relish the most about travelling is the opportunity to have a complete say in the matter on some of the things we see whilst we are away…<\/p>\n

When they were smaller and swayed by pictures alone, they would inevitably choose trips to places like zoos, brightly coloured theme parks, or anything with a swing and the hope of a bouncy castle! \u00a0\u00a0 Now they can read, they take their tour-guide duties very seriously, and spend ages pouring over leaflets, brochures and guidebooks to seek out the interesting and unusual.\u00a0 More often than not, the ideas they come up with are not perhaps what we would have initially chosen, but in hindsight I am glad they have, as these trips usually end up interesting and memorable for various other reasons.<\/p>\n

This family tradition explains how we ended up at the bottom of an Austrian Salt Mine<\/a>,\u00a0 and sleeping in an Iglu at the top of Germany’s tallest mountain<\/a>, and exploring the summit of a Japanese Volcano<\/a>.\u00a0 They also chose the Studio Ghibli Museum<\/a> trip (all the aforementioned we have loved by the way!).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I also have The 8 Year old to thank for our trip to the “interesting” Japanese Cat Museum<\/a>, and The 6 Year Old for his choice of the Rundturn (roundtower)<\/a> in Copenhagen where he subsequently took the split second decision to take a closer look at something in the city below, and got his head stuck through the antique railings.\u00a0\u00a0 A story that will haunt him forever I imagine….<\/p>\n

And as you might have guessed from the title above, whilst in Vienna, they made a team decision to visit The House of Music<\/a>…<\/p>\n

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When you find it, ignore the fact that the unobtrusive doorway doesn’t look all that grand, a few steps in and you will find that the Museum is actually housed in a former palace… What else?\u00a0 This is Vienna after all!<\/p>\n

Described as an Interactive discovery museum,\u00a0 this award-winning place does exactly what it says on the tin, with over 6 floors of hands on exhibits of all things sound.<\/p>\n

The whole of the first floor is dedicated to the Viennese Philharmonic Orchestra. \u00a0 Here we experienced (and enjoyed) a hefty chunk of a Philharmonic concert in the surround sound cinema, and afterwards composed our own waltzes with the help of a huge exhibit featuring some digital dice (a moment of particular embarrassment for The 8 year old as her Father and Brother insisted on waltzing in the background whilst she was composing!) …<\/p>\n

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The second floor is all about sensory noise, from exploring the first sounds we heard in the womb, to the varied sounds of the outside world.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We stuck our heads inside countless pods to travel to numerous cities by listening to their collective city sounds\u00a0 – something that fascinated the Small Boy, and that we had to drag him away from.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mind you, I had to be dragged out of the Polyphonium, a large darkened room designed as a place to relax and appreciate the music being played on the best quality sound system I have ever heard… Some more dancing might have taken place in here.<\/p>\n

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We had great fun on the other floors too, which included the chance to conduct your own virtual orchestra, learn about the history and listen to the music of some of the greatest classical composers, and have our names turned into Mozart Compositions by typing the letters into a computer programme (based on a game created by the great man himself!).<\/p>\n

We ended our visit with half an hour on the Virto Stage.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This virtual stage allows you to direct your own opera just by moving, and it’s fascinating.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Apparently there’s a children’s version called Zoo concert, but The Small People were so happy with the grown up version, I feel we should have taken advantage of the beautiful top floor cafe overlooking Vienna’s rooftops whilst they had fun.\u00a0\u00a0 Maybe next time!<\/p>\n

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A great place that’s well worth dedicating an afternoon to, should you happen to be in the neighbourhood…<\/p>\n

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