January 16th, 2009 - The day this trip comes to an end.
It is sad, yet exciting to go back to the US, though I will miss all the places I visited a lot. No problem, I will do my best to be back and see them again!
Our last day in Vienna. What a better way to close than with a visit to the Spanishe Hofreitschule (Spanish Riding School) where the Lipizzaner horses are kept, trained, and exhibited. We took a tour, where we learned a great deal about the school. For instance, it is the oldest riding school that practices the High School of Riding. This type of riding focuses on the natural movements of the stallion (sorry, no girls allowed, well mares) and uses them to create a beautiful dressage. It was founded by Ferdinand I, a Spanish Habsburg who had Spanish horses brought to Lipizzer where he bred them with other horses ultimately creating what we now know as the Lipizzaner horse. The town of Lipizzer is now in Slovenia, so the horses are bred in Piber, a town in southern Austria. The school has 20 riders of different ranks: élèves, assistant riders, riders, and chief riders. They have morning excercises every day, and during the winter they use the Winter Hofreitschule (Winter Riding School) Building. In this building, in the past, the royal family used to have balls, piano recitals and other such parties. In the Summer ring, which is surrounded by a trotting track that moves around and fits 20 horses, the stallions can trot alone. The rink was used to hold reenactments of sea battles at times. All Lipizzaners are white, but the ones that remain black or dark brown are considered lucky, and they say every Lipizzaner stable should have at least one dark horse for luck!
We then met the horses! Most majestic and beautiful animals I have ever seen! They have girl names because their names are actually a combination of the mother and the father. They retire at around 25 years of age, some older, return to Piber and die naturally at age 35 or so.
The saddles used are handmade in Switzerland from white deerskin and are about 20kg each. It was simply beautiful to have the opportunity to see these famous animals live.
Our farewell dinner was very good. I had cordon bleu chicken and Almdudler, an exquisite lemon soda with herbs typical of Vienna. Now the time has come to say "Auf Wiedersehen Europa" (『じゃまたヨローパ』) and to hope I can be on this land some time in the near future!
So:
Auf wiedersehen Europa!
¡Nos vemos Europa!
Ci vediamo Europa!
Au revoir Europe!
Until next time Europe!
じゃまたヨローパ、ね！
Bis nächste monat!
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