Day 3
Day 3 was really fun! We started the day off with a WBFSH (World Breeding Federation of Sport Horses) tour of the Spanish Riding School of Vienna - Royal Lipizzan Stallions. We got to watch the morning practice and tour the stables. Once again, I was amazed at how old the buildings were that I was getting to go into! The current riding school was built between 1729-1735. The school has been in constant practice since 1565. The horses were just magnificent. They were practicing to classical music (a regular occurrence). It was beyond marvelous to have this opportunity! I can't believe I got to go!!!
Spanish Riding School
The Spanish Riding School building - so lovely!!!
Statues for sale at the gift shop.
We got to set in a special section on the ground level - the horse would kick dirt on us when they went by. :)
Ken on the other side of the arena from where we were setting during the practice - you can see the stand where the live orchestra plays during the evening performances.
A lovely high-relief of a horse head in the stables. Can you believe this loveliness is above a horse stall?
The stables were fabulous!! The horses were all curious about us walking around. I can't believe how well treated the horses are and how clean the stables were. One of the guides taught us about the blood lines and how they are bred to be white (where they used to be all colors hundreds of years ago). Occasionally now a horse, other than white, will be born. They consider them their good luck charms, and they get to participate just like the white horses. A dark one was practicing that morning.
Various sculptures built into the lovely building -
I could have been there for hours!!!
But, the participants of the Horse Assembly had more meetings, so we had to go back to our hotel after a too-short, but fabulous visit to the Spanish Riding School of Vienna!
More Exploring on My Own!
After we went back to the hotel, I though I might take a nap. My brother and I were up all hours talking. We had so much fun!! Then I got to thinking that I could always sleep on the way to Austin for the Formula One Race (that my husband and I were attending when I got home). So off I went on foot to find something fabulous to take pictures of. It was a lovely day and didn't rain!
Not too far from our Hotel was a fabulous outdoor market - Naschmarkt. I walked through it several times to get to some other locations.
All of the fruits and vegetables, and fresh foods were beautiful!
Karlskirche - St. Charles's Church
I had seen a picture of this church on Pinterest, so I plugged the address into google maps, and off I went to find it. It wasn't more than a couple of miles from our hotel.
St. Charles's Church was one of the churches I most wanted to see since the pictures on Pinterest were so lovely and it was in walking distance. It was completed in 1737 - another fabulous old Baroque church for me to go into! I am so lucky!!
I just can't say how lovely the painting and sculptures are!
Pictures do not do it justice...
Apotheosis of Saint Charles Borromeo by Alberto Camesina.
The Church is named after St. Charles Borromeo.
There was scaffolding inside the church in the center dome. It was big, but did not detract from the beauty. After walking around a good bit - again, not many people around, I noticed that it appeared you could go up about half way towards the top of the dome in an elevator. I saw someone going up, so I did too! :)
When you went up probably 5 floors the elevators stopped at an observation area to see the ceiling fresco better. Then you could take rickety shaky stairs the rest of the way to the ceiling! There was a sign that said only 5 people could be on the stairs at any one time… Well, how did one know how many people were already up there? Up the stairs I climbed! By the way, the dome is 70 meters tall…that is 230 feet… After I went up probably 10 flights of stairs, I saw another person. The rest of the way up I was all alone. You got within inches of the ceiling and the scaffolding had a sway to it.... I started to get nervous because not another living soul had any idea where I was. So I snapped a few pictures and climbed back down! ha ha
This picture is from the "landing" area before the stairs. I wish I had a better lens on my camera so you could see how lovely the ceiling was!
I could have reached out and touched this little guy if I wanted to let go of the railing long enough to actually do it...
Picture from inside one of the small domes (from the ground - no climbing to get this one).
Goodbye Karskirche - you are beyond beautiful!!
More lovely flower shops on the walk back to the hotel.
Every where I looked it was beautiful! Could you imagine living in such an apartment?
Pretty private park near a sweet little elementary school that was letting out when I walked by. All of the moms or nannies were picking up the cutest little kids.
Austrian Musical Performance at Wiener Kursalon
After I got back from exploring. It was time to get ready to go do an Austrian Composers concert at the Wiener Kursalon with the WBFSH members. My brother and I ended up taking the subway over to the Spanish Riding School of Vienna so we could get a couple of souvenirs. Unfortunately, the gift shop was closed :( But, we still had fun walking around and making our way over to the concert hall.
It was quite a surprise to come upon this very large pink rabbit while we were walking around :)
I have looked it up and it is a sculpture by Ottmar Hörl. It is his representation of one of my favorite artist, Albrecht Dürer's "Young Hare", and is housed in the Albertina Museum that I went to yesterday!
This is the Spanish Riding School of Vienna by night - some big "to-do" was going on in the nearby palace and there was security and military helicopters everywhere.
Wiener Kursalon Concert Hall (built between 1865-1867) - so elegant! Excited for the concert!
The Austrian Composers concert was FABULOUS!!! I love Mozart, especially, and really enjoyed our evening. this was from my seat at the concert. Aren't the chandeliers lovely?
Last Day in Austria
One the last day in Austria, Ken and I decided to skip the horse farm tour and take a fast train across Austria, to Innsbruck! We wanted to go to the Alps and see some of the countryside from the train.
Here we are on the train! I am very drowsy because I had to take a dramamine to not get sick on the train. It was all I could do to stay awake and see the lovely country side. We left so early that the first hour was dark anyway. I have to say…one of my favorite parts of the train trip was the girl who came by selling snacks actually had a European version of Diet Coke… ha ha. I had not had one in days and enjoyed it, even though it is NOT the same as the USA version.
We made a minute stop in Salzburg - we didn't get out - only sang what we could remember of "The Hills Are Alive With The Sound of Music!!!"
Such a pretty train trip!!!
Starting to see mountains!!!
A castle looking building - it isn't very clear -
but you can tell how pretty it is.
Innsbruck!!! Isn't it lovely! Sorry my finger is in the top...
Making fun of my brother! My favorite picture from the trip, I believe!
Here we are taking a selfie - A couple of farm kids from Arkansas in Innsbruck, Austria!
My searching for pretty churches continues in Innsbruck -
this time Ken got to join me!
St. Nikolaus Church - Innsbruck
We rode a train up the mountain. We didn't have time to ride the gondolas to some of the ski areas, but we had a great view of the city from this far up the mountain!
Loved the signs in Innsbruck :)
Such pretty narrow streets - Loved it there!
McDonalds is everywhere...
We had such a fun fast day trip to Innsbruck! I got to add another city to my list of visiting cities where the Winter Olympics were held! 1964 and 1976. It was so much more fun exploring with someone other than just myself. Ken and I had such a fabulous time!!
Back To Vienna - Last Night
When we got back to Vienna - we decided to go to the city center and find something to eat and walk around. St. Stephen's was still open so we went inside. It looks VERY different at night than during the day. For 5 euros each we could take an elevator to the roof and see the city - so of course we did that!!
A lot darker at night - but still lovely.
View of the fabulous tile roof and the spire. It was kind of scary up so high, but it being dark helped you get comfortable quickly - you couldn't tell how rickety the observation deck was and you couldn't tell exactly how far up you were...
We got more comfortable as we were up longer and took a selfie to prove we did it!
After we left the cathedral we walked around and got "street" food. We got back really late and packed and had about 2 hours of sleep before getting up and heading home to our lives in Texas and Kentucky.
That's our trip to Austria! It was So much fun and a memory that I will treasure my entire life. Thanks so much to the best brother in the whole world for inviting me along and for helping me have such a fun time! Thank you Bud, you are my favorite brother :)
~Joeby
