Inside, photography was strictly banned. Announcements kept running over the intercom asking us to respect the performing horses. I get it, flash photography is distracting to both humans and horses, and it could easily become an Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremonies in there on a cloudy day. But it wasn't a cloudy day, and I know how to turn my flash off. So boom. There are a couple guards there whose sole purpose is to catch people taking photographs and scold them. Since these men have a large area to patrol it's fairly easy to avoid them.
My photos aren't great, since I was trying to hide my camera while taking them, but I mostly wanted photos of the beautiful facility. It's looks like grand dining hall, strewn with chandeliers, but instead of tables there was a dirt floor.
The Lipizzaners were so beautiful. Some were completely white, some still had hints of grey, and others were completely dappled, still in their youth. The evening shows with the horses were expensive, so we chose the cheaper alternative, to see a warm-up session in the morning. The session lasted for 10am-12:30pm and you could come and go as you please. The seats are a little sparse, but if you're willing to wait it out, you will get a seat. I think we arrived around 10:30, and decided that arriving at 11:30 would've been perfect. By then, many people had cleared out, there were lots of open seats, and an hour is enough time to get your fill of the Lipizzaners.
This young one was being taught how to trot in place.
The exercise session had about 5 horses in the stadium at a time. The riders wore dress coats and gave the horses a good workout for a half hour, practicing dressage moves while classical music played. After the half hour, they would line up, dismount, and the next group of horses and riders would enter.
If you're expecting the fancy moves that they advertise the shows with, leaping through the air and rearing up and such, you will be disappointed. They save that for the show. This is just warming up, seeing skilled riders giving the horses a good work, being able to see the beautiful stadium, and admiring the gorgeous animals. The tickets were 14 euro each and it was money well spent.
After at the Spanish Riding School, we walked up the street for lunch at Esterhazykeller. This restaurant was cozy, and we wound around a couple corners before sitting at our table. We ordered the mittagsmenu which started with soup, a broth with sliced "noodles" that were more like crepes. It was interesting and tasted good. The main course was a hot dog type sausage that had been perfectly deep fried for a crisp outer layer and was served with creamed vegetables and fried potato disks.
It was a good meal for a great price. 2 soups + 2 entrees + 2 waters + tip = 17 euro. For dessert, we had a coffee at Cafe Griensteidl, right across from the Spanish Riding School. Marble tables, burgundy upholstery, and lots of natural light filled this lovely cafe. Another great place to write. I had a verlangerten and Hubs had an einspanner.
It was a glorious bright day with fluffy clouds patching the sky.
We walked back to Spittelberg to check out the jewelry stores I'd eyed on Sunday.
I ended up buying an amazing red leather cuff at Atelier Jan.
I feel like Wonder Woman when I wear it and love that it can be dressed up or down. The cuff was handmade by Tamara Brabenec, she has created all sorts of interesting leather jewelry available in the shop. Her husband, Jan, makes all the leather wall art.
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If you're looking for a unique piece of art or jewelry for a souvenir, definitely check this place out.
My cuff was 25 euro, completely reasonable.
After my souvenir, we walked back up past the opera house. It was 4pm and people were already waiting in line for standing tickets, but the line wasn't long. Yes, we were cautious after being bitten yesterday, but waiting for three hours seemed excessive. So we stuck with our plan to get more ice cream at Eis Greissler. I got a double scoop of butterkeks, one of the best flavors of ice cream I've every had. It translates to "shortbread" which doesn't do the flavor justice. Vanilla, cakey, with chunks of chocolate wafer cookies. Amazing.
We snapped a couple photos of Graben since the sun wasn't as harsh in the late afternoon as it was our first visit. And then we walked back to The State Opera House. So here's the deal. The standing room tickets are off of Operngasse under the colonnade. There were about 30 people waiting in front of us when we arrived at 4:45 pm (the show started at 7:00 pm). There are three kinds of standing room tickets. The "Parterre" tickets are 4 euro each and are directly behind the orchestra section seating on the ground floor. "Balcon" tickets are in the balcony on the side and "Galeria" are in the center, but they are even higher up. Both are 3 euro.
We were seeing ANDRE CHENIER and since we had never heard of this Giordano opera, we thought we had a good chance of getting the Parterre tickets. A little after 5:30, tickets went on sale. After purchasing our Parterre tickets, we lined up inside the opera house and waited near the staircase that led up to where the Parterre section was. After waiting for another half hour, we were allowed inside.
Filing in, we were instructed to hang something on the bar in front of us to save our spot. So bring a scarf or coat that you don't mind parting with, and then you're free to wander. We took some photos of the stage and balconies from our view. The standing room patrons were the only people in the auditorium. The admission price is worth it just to see the opera house. We wandered out to the lobby and took more photos.
Clearly, our view for the actual Opera was phenomenal. We stood just behind tickets that cost hundreds of euros. We could see perfectly, the acoustics were great and we even had little monitors on the support bar in front of us that translated into English. The performers were great. The story itself wasn't the greatest, but the voices behind the characters were full of bravado, and the music was beautiful.
One of the performers was feeling under the weather. Just before the performance continued after the intermission, a man walked onto the stage and announced that the performer was sick, apologized, and asked for the audience to bear with him. The actor sounded just fine and was uproariously applauded during every song for the rest of the show. A ruse, perhaps?
There were two intermissions, which were welcomed. It was a long time to stand and our legs and lower back were stiffening. It would've been nice to take a stroll outside, but it had started pouring right after the show began and didn't let up. In the end, it actually worked out better to miss CARMEN. It would have been impossible to be outdoors at a heurigen in that weather.
During the intermissions, we chatted with a middle-aged couple who were halfway through a six-month biking excursion through France, Austria, the Czech Republic, and then up through Denmark and ending in Amsterdam. They're going to be grandparents a few months after their trip ends, and it was inspiring to see an older couple doing such rigorous, physical traveling.
We had walked by a cute restaurant named Spekh on Sunday and decided to get a drink there after the opera, whichever night that would be. The night had come, the opera was over, the rain had lightened, and we were there. Unfortunately, the kitchen closed early and the only food available was the Oriental Plate, a moderate-sized plate with a dolma, hummus, caponata, tzatziki, and roasted vegetables. They also gave us a large bread bowl which we completely went to town on and combined to become the perfect amount of food. We finished our beer and went back out into the rain.
I'm so grateful the opera ended up working out. It was a truly unique Vienna experience. And the rain held off all day for us. It was pretty much a perfect last full day in Austria.
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