Hey, today was our first
in Vienna. We had tickets for the last Spanish Riding School show
of the season (the Lipizzaners). We got there at about 9:30 for a
11:00 performance. We wanted to make sure everything was in order
(Margot and Mom were really into this). Since we had an hour and a
half of spare time we decided to go to the Lipizzaner museum. It was
one of the best laid out museums I have ever seen. I wasnt expecting
much but I found myself quite interested, and almost absorbed, in
the history of the big white beasts. 11:00 rolled around and we entered
the horse ring. You could have mistaken it for a huge ball room if
not for the dirt in the bottom. We waited for about 10 minutes and
then the famous white horses came in. The first group of riders we
saw were the young guns. These horses were so young that they had
not yet turned the trademark white and were gray. The young horses
had a few scares but after that the old horses took over and the performance
went like clockwork. One of the last sections was the above
the ground movements. This is the section where the horses pull
out all their tricks. For the first trick the horses hop on their
back legs, almost standing with the riders holding on for dear life.
For the next stunt they jump into the air, and at the height of their
jump they buck. It is quite a sight and very exciting. The last section
was the quadrille. This was my favorite part. There were eight horses,
riding in perfect symmetry around the ring. Each movement of one horse
on one half of the ring was balanced by the other horse at the other
half with exacting precision. After they were done we went into the
church next door to hear a snippet of the Vienna boys choir.
It was quite amazing, and made more dramatic with vast volumes of
earthquake likepercussion. After having our bones rattled by the ultrasonic
harmonies of the choir we hurried back to our hotel to catch the World
Cup. We thought the Austrians might be rooting for their neighbors,
the Germans, but they were flat out for Brazil. When both goals were
scored for Brazil we heard a defined cheer from the cafe across the
street. When the game was done we went to the Belvedere. Here we saw
a lot of oil on canvas and not much (in my opinion) art. The only
thing that I really liked were the Klimt paintings. They were really
cool and vibrant. We walked back to the hotel through the gardens.
It was a beautiful day and I just took in the sights and sounds of
Vienna.