We arrived in Vienna at 7.00am and joined a panoramic drive around the Ringstrasse (Ring Road) before taking a walking tour passing the Hofburg Palace and ending up at the St Stephens Cathedral. There is so much that I could say about Vienna but its history and architecture are so extensive that I'm going to describe just a few features and experiences that capture, for me, this visit to Vienna. My visit was also made rather uncomfortable since, as I have mentioned already, it was about an hour into our walking tour that I sustained my calf muscle problem and from this point on it was rather painful progress.
Vienna, Austria's capital, lies in the country's east on the Danube River. Its artistic and intellectual legacy was shaped by residents including Mozart, Beethoven and Sigmund Freud. The city is also known for its Imperial palaces, including Schönbrunn (The Palace that always features in the interval section of the TV broadcast of the Vienna New Year's Day Concert), the Habsburgs' summer residence and many historic and contemporary buildings in the Museum Quarter that display works by artists such as Gustav Klimt. I will leave you to research Vienna at your leisure.
The first building that resonated with me was that of the Spanish Riding School. The official city guide App describes the Spanish Riding School as offering the highest standard of horse-riding art with its world-famous Lipizzan horses in the Baroque ambience of the Imperial Palace. This is the only institution in the world where the classic equestrian skills (haute école) have been preserved and are still practiced in their original form.
I was told that it can take 7 to 8 years to train a Lippizan horse to this high standard. Training begins at an early age and depending on the early characteristics displayed in training individual horses are selected to perform parts of the performance such as jumping or standing on their hind legs. It takes great effort and patience to fuse horse and rider into an inseparable unit and to provide the precision of movement of the Lipizzan horses in perfect harmony with the music. Perhaps a performance to put on the 'bucket list' for a return to Vienna?
The first photo is of part of the Imperial Palace and the second is of the Stables just opposite the Palace with the some of the Lipizzan horses calmly lookig out on to the courtyard.
The second feature that captured my attention was the Plague Column located on the Graben, one of the main shopping streets running from St Stephen's Square. I found the history behind the Column to be so interesting that I'm going to make it the subject of another posting.
The walking tour ended in the heart of Vienna in St Stephansplatz dominated by the magnificent St Stephens Cathedral. The current Romanesque and Gothic form of the cathedral was initiated by Duke Rudolf IV (1339–1365) and stands on the ruins of two earlier churches. The most important religious building in Vienna, St. Stephen's Cathedral has borne witness to many important events in Habsburg and Austrian history and has, with its multi-coloured tile roof (Not shown at its best in my photo) become one of the city's most recognizable symbols. The roof is very steep and spectacular, decorated with over 30,000 individual tiles.
You can't come to Vienna and not experience the café culture! My injury prevented me from finding one of the most famous Coffee Houses but a café in the main square provided me with a small Sachertorte cake topped with edible gold leaf.
Revived by the coffee and chocolate I hobbled back to the bus and returned to the ship. Yes, yes I can hear the violins going!!
Postings on the Plague Column and excellent music concert that evening in the Lichtenstein Palace to follow.
