It is hard to believe that nearly two months ago, Les (hubby) and I left for our trip to Austria, Croatia and Slovenia. For the first time, I have had some time to sit down, write and look at pictures from our great trip June 19th to July 5th. Thankfully, the memories are as clear as when they happened. Of course, I do have a few notes that I wrote while on the trip. IT was a great trip.
Tuesday morning, June 19th, I was up early to leave for my noon flight to Washington, DC and then my 6pm flight to Vienna. Les and I were not traveling together since we were using frequent flyer points. Les had a flight at 7pm from Boston to Zurich and then onto Vienna arriving a little over three hours after I on Wednesday. This worked out well because I had plenty of time to pick up the rental car. Even though I had request a GPS in the rental car, it did not have one. SO, I decided to make life much easier and rent one for the two weeks. I am very glad I did.
The drive from Vienna to Graz is very straight forward and takes about two hours. The GPS showed its value by getting us to the hotel with only one slight miss which my backup maps helped out with. Our hotel, Erzherzog Johann was perfectly situated within the old city which is an UNESCO World Heritage site. I guess the only small problem with our hotel, was it didn’t have air conditioning. Normally this is not a problem BUT we arrived in the middle of a heat wave with record temperature. A deep bath tub with cooling water, an old window to the hidden courtyard off our room and a trusty fan have become our best friends along with spending evening hours at the local outdoor restaurants.
Graz is a totally charming city. This is our fourth visit to Austria and while Vienna has always been my favorite European city to visit, I think Graz may have changed my heart. It is compact, easy to get about, full of history and art and the food was outstanding. It also doesn’t hurt that a short drive outside of Graz is the beautiful Piber Stud, home of the beautiful white Lipizzaners of the Spanish Riding School.
Wednesday evening, Martin Haller joined us for a glass of wine as we were finishing dinner at Erzherzog Johann’s fine restaurant. Martin was our Austrian guide extraordinaire and host for the few days we spent in Austria. Martin is noteworthy author, great whip, and breeder of native ponies being Connemaras and now Shetlands. We planned our visit to Piber the next day.
Thursday morning, Martin guided us from downtown Graz to Piper. HE was much a better guide than the GPS telling us when we crossed the imaginary line that divides lower Austria from the fruit growing area to the great wine growing area. Martin mentioned Schilcher wine that is a rosé that comes in a sparkling version also. I made careful note of the name even though I couldn’t pronounce it properly. I definitely wanted to try the local wine that Martin said you either love or didn’t care for. Hint: I loved it!
It was hot (mid 90’s) when we pulled into the rather empty parking lot at Piber. I knew things were going to be very interesting since a lovely dappled grey pair was pulling a carriage into the waiting area in front of the reception area. The three of us walked up to the reception building and bought our tickets to visit the stud. We then immediately walked over the carriage to go for a tour of the outlying sections of the stud.
What a joy this ride was. The countryside was beautiful with bright orange poppies coloring the landscape of waving grain. All of the hay and grain is raised on Piber land. Martin told us that only the mares are broken to harness and we were being pulled by a young pair to prove their worth. I must admit, I have no understanding other than the word ‘tradition’ why the mares are the only animals that are driven. Sounds kind of silly to me but I don’t fully understand the over 400 year tradition of the Lipizzaners breeding and training. Obviously, THEY are doing something right! Sadly, I can not remember the name of the whip that so cleverly drove us other than perhaps Hans and his assistant… His mastery was total as a large bus approached us and only one ear went back on the left mare as the bus went past us. Little was I to know, I would be seeing him and the mares again in Vienna.
After our lovely ride, Martin took us inside the stud. We spent time looking at the pictures and talking and talking some more in the museum. Then we crossed the drive and went into the stud proper. A young stallion was out in the Stud Courtyard. Here Martin explained the branding of Piber. Basically the branding gives you the animal’s pedigree on the outside with both mare and sire lines noted. From here, we walked into the FUTURE! Inside a large covered yard were all the mares and foals were taking their midday rest. The walls are covered with names plates of the mares who are tied up for feeding time. Large foal creeps are then moved in so the foals have plenty of time to eat their rations. I was totally impressed with the consistent quality of the mares and foals. The foals were not shy in the least and more than willing to leave their Moms and come over to give us a questioning look or two.
From there, we left to go to the stallion stable and retired stallion stable. I think the oldest stallion we saw was 28 and he looked very well. Martin rattled off their names and accomplishments as I tried to take pictures through the stall grates. I knew I could never remember all the knowledge that Martin tried to give me. It is a pity I didn’t have a tape recorder to be able to record his marvelous words descriptions done in a lilting Irish accent. Martin had spent ten years living in Ireland.
After a marvelous tour, we visited the carriage museum and Piber Stud store where I bought Martin’s book which is the latest and most comprehensive on Lipizzaners. I am trying convince Martin that he needs to do an English version for us people that are German language challenged. I am sure that there are many Americans that would adore to have this book in English. Martin was kind enough to autograph the book for me as we sat having a wine cooler in the restaurant courtyard as the big thunderheads were building to the north of us. A few sudden gusts of wind and rumble of distant thunder told us it was time to return to the car for our short journey back to Graz. More later. Yours, Claudia
Tuesday morning, June 19th, I was up early to leave for my noon flight to Washington, DC and then my 6pm flight to Vienna. Les and I were not traveling together since we were using frequent flyer points. Les had a flight at 7pm from Boston to Zurich and then onto Vienna arriving a little over three hours after I on Wednesday. This worked out well because I had plenty of time to pick up the rental car. Even though I had request a GPS in the rental car, it did not have one. SO, I decided to make life much easier and rent one for the two weeks. I am very glad I did.
The drive from Vienna to Graz is very straight forward and takes about two hours. The GPS showed its value by getting us to the hotel with only one slight miss which my backup maps helped out with. Our hotel, Erzherzog Johann was perfectly situated within the old city which is an UNESCO World Heritage site. I guess the only small problem with our hotel, was it didn’t have air conditioning. Normally this is not a problem BUT we arrived in the middle of a heat wave with record temperature. A deep bath tub with cooling water, an old window to the hidden courtyard off our room and a trusty fan have become our best friends along with spending evening hours at the local outdoor restaurants.
Graz is a totally charming city. This is our fourth visit to Austria and while Vienna has always been my favorite European city to visit, I think Graz may have changed my heart. It is compact, easy to get about, full of history and art and the food was outstanding. It also doesn’t hurt that a short drive outside of Graz is the beautiful Piber Stud, home of the beautiful white Lipizzaners of the Spanish Riding School.
Wednesday evening, Martin Haller joined us for a glass of wine as we were finishing dinner at Erzherzog Johann’s fine restaurant. Martin was our Austrian guide extraordinaire and host for the few days we spent in Austria. Martin is noteworthy author, great whip, and breeder of native ponies being Connemaras and now Shetlands. We planned our visit to Piber the next day.
Thursday morning, Martin guided us from downtown Graz to Piper. HE was much a better guide than the GPS telling us when we crossed the imaginary line that divides lower Austria from the fruit growing area to the great wine growing area. Martin mentioned Schilcher wine that is a rosé that comes in a sparkling version also. I made careful note of the name even though I couldn’t pronounce it properly. I definitely wanted to try the local wine that Martin said you either love or didn’t care for. Hint: I loved it!
It was hot (mid 90’s) when we pulled into the rather empty parking lot at Piber. I knew things were going to be very interesting since a lovely dappled grey pair was pulling a carriage into the waiting area in front of the reception area. The three of us walked up to the reception building and bought our tickets to visit the stud. We then immediately walked over the carriage to go for a tour of the outlying sections of the stud.
What a joy this ride was. The countryside was beautiful with bright orange poppies coloring the landscape of waving grain. All of the hay and grain is raised on Piber land. Martin told us that only the mares are broken to harness and we were being pulled by a young pair to prove their worth. I must admit, I have no understanding other than the word ‘tradition’ why the mares are the only animals that are driven. Sounds kind of silly to me but I don’t fully understand the over 400 year tradition of the Lipizzaners breeding and training. Obviously, THEY are doing something right! Sadly, I can not remember the name of the whip that so cleverly drove us other than perhaps Hans and his assistant… His mastery was total as a large bus approached us and only one ear went back on the left mare as the bus went past us. Little was I to know, I would be seeing him and the mares again in Vienna.
After our lovely ride, Martin took us inside the stud. We spent time looking at the pictures and talking and talking some more in the museum. Then we crossed the drive and went into the stud proper. A young stallion was out in the Stud Courtyard. Here Martin explained the branding of Piber. Basically the branding gives you the animal’s pedigree on the outside with both mare and sire lines noted. From here, we walked into the FUTURE! Inside a large covered yard were all the mares and foals were taking their midday rest. The walls are covered with names plates of the mares who are tied up for feeding time. Large foal creeps are then moved in so the foals have plenty of time to eat their rations. I was totally impressed with the consistent quality of the mares and foals. The foals were not shy in the least and more than willing to leave their Moms and come over to give us a questioning look or two.
From there, we left to go to the stallion stable and retired stallion stable. I think the oldest stallion we saw was 28 and he looked very well. Martin rattled off their names and accomplishments as I tried to take pictures through the stall grates. I knew I could never remember all the knowledge that Martin tried to give me. It is a pity I didn’t have a tape recorder to be able to record his marvelous words descriptions done in a lilting Irish accent. Martin had spent ten years living in Ireland.
After a marvelous tour, we visited the carriage museum and Piber Stud store where I bought Martin’s book which is the latest and most comprehensive on Lipizzaners. I am trying convince Martin that he needs to do an English version for us people that are German language challenged. I am sure that there are many Americans that would adore to have this book in English. Martin was kind enough to autograph the book for me as we sat having a wine cooler in the restaurant courtyard as the big thunderheads were building to the north of us. A few sudden gusts of wind and rumble of distant thunder told us it was time to return to the car for our short journey back to Graz. More later. Yours, Claudia
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