Airs Above the Ground: Vienna

Vienna has been synonymous with the Lipizzaner horses from the Spanish Riding School ever since I was a child and first read a book my mother and grandmother had been enjoying, “Airs Above the Ground” by Mary Stewart. So when Google told me that the day we were in Vienna there was a show on, I was keen to get there.

We headed off the boat first thing this morning with our tour guide and had a fun and informative overview of what she considered the sights and highlights of Vienna and then we peeled off on a hunt for tickets to the Vorfuhrung. It was a bit of a mission. 

Buying the tickets was easy, but the woman at the ticket counter sent us off on a wild goose chase, “Go out the door, turn right three times and go in.” We joined multitudes of tourists trying to find the elusive door and eventually a local student came to our rescue.

Lipizzaner horses from the Spanish Riding School 

We had bought the cheap seats - no seats- and stood for about an hour and a half. But it was worth it.  We managed to stand behind the goal posts (imagine it as a rugby field) and had a super view of the show.  They pulled out everything I had imagined, from beautiful music to the airs above the ground high school dressage moves. And the show culminated with the eight horse "School Quadrille".

We were not allowed to take photos at all, so I have included a photo labelled for reuse and the ticket we were issued.  If you look at the photo you may be able to tell from my ‘behind the goal posts’ description where we stood above the entry door.