Horsing Around in Vienna

 Saturday, September 26

 Today we got to have a lazy morning and slept in. Most everyone left early to be bussed to the Melk Abbey for a tour. We have already visited the Abbey when we were here 2 years ago so we took advantage of not doing anything.

The best part of river cruises is waking up to find that you are docked in yet another quaint little town that is so scenic it almost seems unreal. Grein, Austria is one of those places. It was a lovely day so we spent most of the morning on the top deck of the ship enjoying the view and the sunshine. 

After lunch we joined the walking tour of the town which didn’t take long - old church, old town hall, old square..but this time we were shown the town theatre, the Stadttheater Grein. This is Austria’s oldest preserved civic theatre and was built in 1791 by the townspeople. It was originally a granary. It is still used today by local and touring groups and entertainers. Currently, a high school group is performing 12th Night. 

The theatre is small and seats around 130 people. The floor is slanted to create theatre seating but the chairs are hard wood with no cushions. However, the seats fold up and can be locked and only you would have access to the key for the season - the original season tickets. Another quirky thing was that the prison was also in the same small building and there were peep holes so the prisoners could watch the performances for free. Theatre goers were expected to bring treats for the prisoners to keep them happy and  prevent any disturbances during the shows! Another "amenity” was a pit toilet behind a curtain on the side since some of the early performances could run 5 hours. If you were using the facility you could easily peak out the curtain to see what you were missing! 

Don and I found our way up the hill to the Schloss Greinburg, a castle built between 1488 and 1495. This served as a residence and hunting lodge for generations of the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha family. There were only a few rooms that we could tour and nothing was furnished but the courtyard was beautiful and the architecture definitely something to see. I think I have decided that we need a courtyard… Of course the added benefit of walking up the hill is to see the view. 

Unfortunately, no shopping to be had today since it was Saturday. Although Europeans have better work/life balance it sure is inconvenient for tourists!

Sunday, September 27

This morning we left Grein by bus for the 2.5 hour trip into Vienna. Our ship will later move a little closer to Marbach so we will have a shorter bus trip back. We were told that is the closest docking available to Vienna because there are so many ships. 

This is our second trip to Vienna and I think I’ve decided that there is so much to see that I probably need a few more to see everything. We did a bus scenic tour around the main historic area and then a short walking tour. I was disappointed with our guide who I think was trying to break the world's record in how many facts he could ramble off instead of being understandable. 

In our free time we were able to meet up with our friend Craig who is living in Vienna and teaching at the American International School. He was Alex and Paige’s band teacher when they were attending Arvada West High School. We were also able to see him last time as well. 

Craig took us to Cafe Schwarzenberg which was a traditional coffee house established in 1861. When you visit a coffeehouse in Vienna, you are welcome to stay as long as you want. If you are in a hurry then you pay as soon as you’re served or you may be waiting a while for the check. I had the classic Viennese coffee called the Melange which is very similar to a cappuccino. It is served with a glass of water because they believe if you drink water between sips of coffee, the taste of the espresso will be more profound. We also decided to try the Kaiserschmarrn, a scrambled pancake that is served with a delicious plum compote. It was very good but we should have shared just one serving!

After saying goodbye to Craig we rejoined Karen for the tour of the Lipizzaner Spanish Riding School which is located in the Hofburg Palace. It is called the “Spanish” Riding school because the Habsburg rulers in the 16th century obtained horses from Spain for their soldiers. Lipizzaner is now a special breed of stallions which are trained at another facility but perform here. It takes about 4-8 years to train the horses and they learn with one rider. You don’t have to be an established equestrian to be hired as a rider because you will be trained in their way of riding. However, you do have to be young (16-25), 5’8” with preferably a short torso and long legs (makes the horse look good), and speak fluent German (horses are trained in German.) Well, there goes that career path…

We were able to go into the stables but were not allowed to take photos inside, just out in the courtyard. Also we were not allowed to touch any of the horses. I guess they are not the friendliest. Indeed the horses seem to have had a little “I know I’m handsome and don’t mess with me” attitude. No treats allowed either because each horse is on a special diet to ensure peak performances. There are about 120 horses and rotate between the training facility and the Vienna facility. When they are retired, they get to live out the rest of their years at the breeding farm. There is only one resident veterinarian but they also use local vets if needed. Surprisingly, the program is only funded by ticket sales - tours and performances. I wish that we were able to see a performance and will definitely need to do this if we come back to Vienna again.  

To wrap up our tour we were treated to a short tour around the palace grounds and surrounding area in a horse drawn carriage. A great end to a special day in Vienna.