The next day was surely one of the high points of our whole trip - attending the performance at the Spanish Riding School. We've all heard of the Lipizzaner horses, and their fancy steps and their leaps, the "Airs Above the Ground", and we've probably seen them on TV. But I never would've expected to be seeing the real thing - AND in Vienna! Ann ordered the tickets months ago - as soon as we made the reservations for the trip and had specific dates.
We arrived and climbed a LONG marble staircase to find our seats in the single row around the railing of the balcony overlooking the arena. The arena floor was covered by carefully raked tanbark, and lit by crystal chandeliers and the large windows on the long sides of the space. The arena is longer and slight wider than a basketball court. We were able to take lots of photographs before and after the performance, but no photography was allowed during the event.
I know next to nothing about horses, but even to this totally ignorant eye, these animals, their riders/handlers, and their training is amazing. There were about six "acts", beginning with a group doing simple maneuvers, probably some youngsters getting actual performance experience. One act was one horse with his handler walking behind or just off the hip, using long reins. The handler put the horse through all sorts of gaits, but all done at the man's walking speed. The final group were the most experienced horses and riders, doing a "dance" that rivalled the precision marching of any college marching band. What a special experience!
For dinner, we headed out to a wine-growing area to a recommended restaurant. The focus was definitely on the wine. We sat at long tables in a cobblestone courtyard under grapevines. We went through a buffet line for our meal - pick what you want, and then you're charged by the weight of the food. It was an excellent "country" meal. The wine-drinkers opted not to try "sturm", the newly bottled wine from this season. We'd been told it was very, very sweet, and had a huge alcoholic content.
Today's pictures are from the Spanish Riding School - from our seats before the performance, and from the floor level afterwards.
We arrived and climbed a LONG marble staircase to find our seats in the single row around the railing of the balcony overlooking the arena. The arena floor was covered by carefully raked tanbark, and lit by crystal chandeliers and the large windows on the long sides of the space. The arena is longer and slight wider than a basketball court. We were able to take lots of photographs before and after the performance, but no photography was allowed during the event.
I know next to nothing about horses, but even to this totally ignorant eye, these animals, their riders/handlers, and their training is amazing. There were about six "acts", beginning with a group doing simple maneuvers, probably some youngsters getting actual performance experience. One act was one horse with his handler walking behind or just off the hip, using long reins. The handler put the horse through all sorts of gaits, but all done at the man's walking speed. The final group were the most experienced horses and riders, doing a "dance" that rivalled the precision marching of any college marching band. What a special experience!
For dinner, we headed out to a wine-growing area to a recommended restaurant. The focus was definitely on the wine. We sat at long tables in a cobblestone courtyard under grapevines. We went through a buffet line for our meal - pick what you want, and then you're charged by the weight of the food. It was an excellent "country" meal. The wine-drinkers opted not to try "sturm", the newly bottled wine from this season. We'd been told it was very, very sweet, and had a huge alcoholic content.
Today's pictures are from the Spanish Riding School - from our seats before the performance, and from the floor level afterwards.
No comments:
Post a Comment