The 29th annual Victoria Symphony Splash performance was held last night and more than 40,000 people showed up to hear the orchestra play a free concert on a barge in the Inner Harbour.
The best seats in the house are right down front but you need to bring your own canoe.
The mass of people on the lawn of the legislature have no view at all, but the music is played over a large sound system . There is a real party atmosphere - I guess a lot of people love classical music. Me? I'm just here for the cannons! More on that in a moment....
People show up at 6 in the morning to stake out spots for their chairs. The show doesn't get started till 7:30 PM. I had no place to sit so I kept moving through the crowd taking photos. You can't block the isles for more than a moment before a volunteer asks you to move along.
I head straight for the guns. You can't perform Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture properly without cannon fire at the climax, and these young Navy cadets are here to make a loud noise at the appropriate moment - which will then begin the fireworks show at the end of the night. Exciting, right?
I have to be honest, I didn't stay to watch! The crowd was just too big this year, and I couldn't cope with it. Cathy and I took a walk in the park instead. Had we stayed, however, this is what the climax might have looked like:
August 4th, 2013. The guns fire three shots in quick succession - the trick is to time it and capture the smoke coming out of the muzzle of all three guns. I missed here - only two out of three!
Oh, but look! In 2016 I nailed it. One, two, three... boom, boom, BOOM!
And the fireworks display last night probably looked something like this. But where was I?
Watching the sun go down
...and thinking of you :)
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