A night at the Opera.
The Vienna State Opera is world renowned, and rates highly alongside venues like La Scala in Milan.
They host up to 300 performances per year, so if you're in town for a few days, there's definitely a chance to catch a show.
We got tickets to Manon, a 19th century French opera. Every seat has a screen with subtitles in your preferred language.
The cast were the best in the business, with the male lead having performed at the closing ceremony of the Paris olympics, and the female lead learning her craft at the Bolshoi in Moscow.
Pictured below the box at bottom centre is the standing seats, sometimes referred to as the peanut gallery. These "seats" are only sold at the doors at the last moment on the day for €10.
Apparently the standing seats at Vienna attract a number of regulars who are famous for boisterously expressing their pleasure (or displeasure) during the curtain call, depending on the quality of the performance.
Intermission drinks
Curtain call. Thankfully the peanut gallery were unanimously happy.
Understandably, photography is forbidden during the performance, but welcomed before and after, as well as during curtain calls.
Cost? €190 per ticket. Not cheap, but you're getting a full orchestra, full choir, and a cast of world class opera peformers, in a relatively intimate venue of about 2000 seats.
An experience to remember!
