October 18-19 Vienna

October 18-19 – Vienna

Vienna is NOT showing its best weather being both cold and rainy.  But we were off early to see the Lipizzaner horses at the Spanish Riding School.  I had ordered tickets on line and they were sublime – right above the royal box at the opposite end from which the horses enter the ring.

It was a full crowd, as always, and there are very strict rules about using a camera since it might spook the horses.  The performance consisted of 5  parts:  

• the ‘youngsters’ who are still learning their paces and not ready for prime time; 

• Pas de deux

• Work in Hand & Schools above the ground – lots of jumping up on all fours; standing with hind legs holding the whole damn horse up etc.

• All steps of classical school – dancing, trotting, dancing close etc

• Quadrille with eight horses doing their stuff weaving in and out of each other.

Gay and I kept worrying that the horses may not love this work they do, but on reading further on google, and in the book we bought, we felt less concerned for their well being. They have a sauna and very lovely quarters when not performing.  And obviously each rider takes very good care of their special horse.  The horse is bred for this particular work and is known for its docile nature, sturdy structure, ability to learn, and longevity – they last for over 40 years.  And as to the riders, they train quite awhile before we ever have a chance to see them in performance.

It being Sunday, and most of Vienna closed up for the week-end, including many sites, we spent the balance of the day relaxing until dinner at Artner – another small intimate restaurant within walking distance of the hotel.  Like the Entler, few foreigners….of course next to us was a lovely mother/son from Mechelen Belgium.  He works in Austria as a mechanical engineer, and proud mama came to visit him. We spoke English together as we ate our dessert, and then walked back to the hotel.

Monday – a raw, very rainy day.  We had determined that Monday/Tuesday would be the time to use our two-day hop-on hop-off Vienna Sightseeing pass which allowed us to go free into almost every major site.  First we took two of the bus routes without getting off, just to get our bearings.  We were all set to get off at the National Art Museum only to discover it was closed, so in the pouring rain we got off at Landtsmann’s café for lunch.  This is a traditional coffee house and restaurant made famous by the likes of Freud, John Lennon, most famous musicians and god knows who else.  Built at the time of Biedemeyer, we sat in the Biedemeyer salon and enjoyed people watching as much as we enjoyed our light lunch.  Then off to the Albertina Museum of modern art to see Picasso, Miro, Giacometti and many German and Austrian painters of the early 20th century.  At this point we went back to the hotel to rest until dinner at Danieli’s – a fabulous Italian restaurant.  The taxi driver wasn’t quite clear on where it was and even with his GPS he coded it incorrectly and took us for a very long ride…..and when he finally acknowledged his error, he took us to our destination which was less than ½ mile from our hotel and charged us nothing!  For appetizers, Gay had grilled avocado w/ shrimp; I had prosciutto and melon. For our main course Gay had monkfish and I had pasta with a light lemon sauce and zucchini shredded.  This is a wonderful restaurant, like all the others with a nice mix of Viennese, Italian and American guests.  Gay managed to have a three-tiered set of gelato – raspberry, apricot and strawberry.  I watched. 

The taxi got us home by 10:00 and straight to bed. 

A small note on what I enjoy about Vienna:  the restaurants call a taxi for you and tell you to wait inside.  The taxi driver comes in to where you are, and you follow him out.  No standing on corners soaking while you wait.  Granted they charge you from where they started their journey to get you, but on average every taxi ride is 10 euro or less, and for an 80 yr. old sister who doesn’t enjoy walking very far, this is quite ideal.

Tomorrow is our last tour day, and they promise clear skies – if not blue. Then dinner at Entler again, packing, and voila – trip over.