Spanish Riding School. Vienna at night. Babel Tower Installation

Horses doing Exercise To Music!

How fantastic is THIS!

For a small fee the general public can go and watch the beautiful white Lipizzaner stallions practising their tippy tappy toes and their dressage waltzes. These beautiful white stallions were named after their first stud in Slovenia and...

OH MY DAYS.

What a treat.

Not only was the setting breath taking, we were lucky enough to see one of them perform his rear up back kick that people pay hundreds of pounds to see. The capriole move where the horse kicks out when already up on hind legs was often used in military situations as form of defence and is quite natural albeit also a skill.

The Spanish Riding School in Vienna is the only institution in the world which has practiced for more than 450 years and continues to cultivate classical equitation in the Renaissance tradition of the Haute Ecole – which can also be found on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

Since 1920, the stud located in the West Styrian village of Piber has been home to the famous Lipizzaners. As the only stud in Austria, Piber’s role is to breed Lipizzaner stallions which will later demonstrate their skills in the world-famous Spanish Riding School in Vienna.

The Spanish Riding School is set in the Hoffburg Palace so after an apple strudel (well we WERE in Vienna) and a coffee (tea abroad is hopeless) we had a walkabout, it looks a spectacular place.

It had all been fabulous but we had a river boat to catch so we walked back through the park past Mother Theresia

pausing only to plank outside the Kunsthistorisches Museum

through the shops...

and the leafy avenues

back to Leonardo for our transfer to AROSA DONNA

before going straight back out again to see Vienna at night.

Yet another huge bonus! The Kunsthistorisches Museum had an installation called The Babel Tower and the lights were stunning. It was only hours earlier I had planked on those steps.

Could today get any better? 

Beautiful white stallions, 

apple strudel. 

a plank and a leafy stomp,

 pretty lights, 

and Vienna at night.

Lovely.

And THEN Husb asked the river boat crooner for some BeeGees. WELL!!

What a brilliant day. :)

River Cruise Danube to Krems

Part two of combi ticket was the boat on the Danube from Melk back to Krem.

We saw a lot of castles, churches and river cruise boats along the way.

We passed Durnstein.

"Dürnstein was first mentioned in 1192 when, in the castle above the town, King Richard I of England was held captive by Leopold V, Duke of Austria after their dispute during the Third Crusade. Richard the Lionheart had offended Leopold the Virtuous by casting down his standard from the walls at the Battle of Acre, and the duke suspected that King Richard ordered the murder of his cousin Conrad of Montferrat in Jerusalem. In consequence Pope Celestine III excommunicated Leopold for capturing a fellow crusader. The duke finally gave the custody of the king to Emperor Henry VI, who imprisoned Richard at Trifels Castle. Dürnstein Castle was almost completely destroyed by the troops of the Swedish Empire under Field Marshal Lennart Torstenson in 1645."

KREMS

A dinky little place. Not a lot there but...

there was  a BOW AND ARROW!!!!

Talk about BUSY DAY. 

We got the train back from Krems to Vienna, 

had time for a toastie in Rathouse, Vienna,

 then went to see 

WOODY SEZ at the incredible Vienna English Theatre.

Superb.

Good research Michael.

This musical celebrates a giant of American music, Woody Guthrie, known since the 1930s and ‘40s as “America’s greatest folk poet”. His legendary songs still champion the best of the American spirit. Fuelled by a boundless curiosity about the world, the colorful life he led became as legendary as the songs he wrote. 

WOODY SEZ is a joyous, toe-tapping, and moving musical event, transporting the audience through the fascinating, beautiful, and sometimes tragic story of Woody Guthrie’s life with over twenty-five of his most famous songs. The show is performed by a talented ensemble of award-winning actor/musicians who not only play over 20 instruments, but also bring to life the many people who are the fabric of Woody’s story. The combination of the cast’s infectious enjoyment, Woody’s incredible journey, and a stirring mix of moving ballads and energetic foot-stompers make this a must see. 

And then I met WOODY!! Woop!