Lipizzaner stallions of the Spanish Riding School, Vienna

 One of my favourite books as a teenager was Mary Stewart's "Airs above the ground"as part of the story features the Lipizzaner stallions of the Spanish Riding School of Vienna. For some reason these horses stayed in my mind as an adult. I used to ride horses, but just simple riding, nothing such as jumping or dressage. 

My first visit to Vienna was in 1983, but somehow I missed seeing the stables of the Spanish Riding School. So when I was back in Vienna in October 2021, I was really happy to get to the stables.

Normally the horses do shows in many countries, but of course that all stopped with the covid pandemic. We were told that they really missed the crowds and having an audience. 

We were lucky as whilst we were there, a few of the horses were led out -

The Lipizzaner horses are born grey or black and the coat gradually lightens over the years, they become white after 6 - 10 years, although it is not a pure white. Only the stallions are used in Vienna’s Spanish Riding School. Read more on the history of the stallions.

In 2016 I went to the SSE arena at Wembley in London to see the 450th anniversary tour of the Spanish Riding School of Vienna. 

After visiting Vienna in 2021, I had another encounter with the Lipizzaner horses in Hungary. I was on a tour to the Lovascentrum horse centre, which is an hour's drive on the M5 southeast of Budapest. It is on the Puszta – the Great Hungarian Plain.

The blue-robe-clad Csikos (mounted horse-herdsman) perform a horse show. Note the long whip.

Firstly we watched a group of horses galloping around the enclosure. You can see the different colours indicating the different ages - 

Then we saw different carriages -

 

A man demonstrated his skill standing on two horses whilst the group galloped around -

A horse lying down whilst the handler cracks the long whip around the horse -

It was quite amazing to see a horse sitting like this -

Even the albino mule was able to sit -

Hungarian grey cattle 

We then went for a carriage ride. After that, we visited the stables -

We then saw more cattle, donkeys and mules and other animals -

It was fascinating to see the Lipizzaners in a different setting.

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UPDATE

In Dec I went to a show at the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art, Jerez, Spain. This was another amazing chance to see the horses perform their dances etc.

The famous Lipizzaners are now bred especially for the Riding School at the Piber Stud Vienna. These Spanish horses are best suited to the equestrian arts. The Lipizzaners can come from other stock apart from the Andalusian.

Giant walking puppet in SE London

When I read that a giant puppet would be walking through some London suburbs, I went to have a look. I didn't go to support the cause, I went because I have never seen a giant walking puppet in real life. 

On 22 October 2021, the giant puppet of a Syrian child refugee was welcomed to Deptford. In a project called The Walk, Little Amal has travelled through much of Europe after setting off from the Turkish-Syrian border in July and will finish in Manchester. The 5,000-mile journey symbolises “millions of displaced children”.

The puppet is 3.5-metre tall and is operated by three people, one standing on a pair of stilts inside its body and two others beside moving its arms. It represents a 9 year old girl.

Quite a crowd turned out to welcome her, including the mayor, deputy mayor and speaker from Lewisham Council. Many people there are in favour of more refugees coming into the borough. The puppet’s long trek is intended to be a walk for all the children, many unaccompanied and separated from their families, who are forced to undertake extraordinary journeys under life-threatening conditions. “Little Amal will walk so that we don’t forget them”, organisers say.

I was more curious just to see the puppet in action, though it was difficult with so many people. This was my first glimpse of her. Several people had placards, which said "The Walk. Lewisham Council welcomes Amal. 

Here you can see the control for one arm and in the next photo both arms -

The puppet was made by War Horse creators Handspring Puppet Company from a moulded cane body with carbon fibre head, arms and legs.

A BBC news item from 11 Aug "Little Amal: The giant puppet walking 5000 miles from Turkey to the UK". 

More about her route can be seen here , and a map 

And her visit to the Royal Opera House in London. 

London Underground Northern line extension to Battersea Power Station

One of several ongoing projects I have in London is to go to the end of every underground line. The London underground is very extensive and has 11 different lines. The underground opened in 1863. Parts of the line are on the surface, but a lot is underground, and the whole system is commonly known as the Tube. Nowadays there is not much new construction.

Monday 20 September 2021 was a special day, as 2 new stations on the new Northern line extension to Battersea opened. These are Nine Elms and the terminus Battersea Power Station. Construction began in 2015, and the extension is the first major expansion of the Underground since the Jubilee Line Extension opened in 1999. 

The gates to Battersea Power Station opened around 5.20 am and the first train to Kennington left soon after. Currently the trains are only running about every 12 minutes out of peak time. I went from Kennington about 10.30, where the new line was signposted -

There were quite a few people waiting for the train. It took us through Nine Elms to Battersea Power Station. Needless to say both stations are big and bright and modern. Most people were taking photos and there were lots of staff and also some media, even though it was already mid morning. 

There are no platform screen doors, unlike at some stations on the new Jubilee Line. I went up to the ticket hall -

and then up the escalator to street level -

The old power station with its iconic 4 chimneys has recently been developed as luxury apartments, having been bought by one of Malaysia's largest companies, Sime Darby. See my blogs on the power station and another blog on the chimneys.

The tube station is located between Battersea Power Station with all the new apartment blocks and the new Covent Garden market. This is the largest wholesale fruit, vegetable, and flower market in the United Kingdom, located in Nine Elms, having relocated from central London.

The route maps on all the trains has been updated to show the new extension -

A leaflet on the new extension

BBC news report on 20 Sept

Marble Arch Mound, London

The Marble Arch Mound received so much bad press and negativity during its construction and after it first opened. By the time I visited in mid September 2021, the problems had been resolved and I was rather impressed.

The Marble Arch Mound was commissioned by Westminster Council as a tourist attraction. It was part of a post-Covid revival plan for the West End. It was meant to give views of the capital’s Oxford Street, Hyde Park, Mayfair and Marylebone. The artificial hill cost some £2 million to construct. The framework is covered with grass, shrubs and trees. 

Visitors were charged £4.50 to walk up the mound to the viewing platform. People had booked tickets in advance. But it was a huge flop when it first opened on 26 July, as it was not ready. As a result, it was closed after just one day. People complained that trees blocked the view and the vegetation was dying. It seems the mound had been opened before it was really finished and it was lower than originally planned. There had been a rush to get it open for the summer holidays, but this proved to be a costly mistake. 

After the teething problems were sorted out, it was free entry to go up the mound. People who had paid were given refunds. 

I first saw it 12 July during construction -

 And the completed view, on 18 Sept

Entry is free, you have to go through a security search of bags. A gentle series of stairs lead up to the top, with security officers based in several places. The views from the top -

The grassy area in front of the 3 fountains is sometimes used for sculptures, the most recent being the bronze orphan elephants, before they moved to Spitalfields in 2020.

Looking down the Edgeware Road, this runs straight for almost 10 miles. This end of the road is often known as Little Cairo and Little Beirut due to the number of Arabs in the area. In the centre of the photo is a triangular road island with 3 small oak trees. 

Looking down the start of Oxford Street. 

The start of Park Lane, with Hard Rock on the extreme left, the entrance to Marble Arch underground station, and in the centre background, the London Eye can be seen (to the left of the 2 cranes), as well as The Shard and some buildings in Canary Wharf.

Looking over Hyde Park, with Park Lane. Unfortunately the trees obscure the view of Hyde Park -

The way down from the mound is a series of steps inside, which is quite interesting, as you get to see the scaffolding and construction. The first photo is looking vertically down, and the third photo is looking up and you can see people on the viewing platform -

 

There is an added bonus at the bottom as you go into a "light exhibition". British sculptor, Anthony James, has installed the Lightfield art exhibition which is a series of light sculptures in three rooms within the Mound temporary exhibition space. Anthony James commented: “Lightfield consists of 12 cubes that allude to the mycorrhizal nature of birch tree forests. This is the first time my works have been displayed and viewed in this fully immersive way – installed within an infinity room that transports visitors into another world to create a meditative and limitless narrative.” 

It certainly is an immersive display, there seem to be unending passages within the cubes and shapes. Unfortunately the photos don't do it justice at all as it is hard to get the "3d" effect and you really don't get the feeling of the depth -

Back outside I had a look at some of the vegetation

The 19th century Marble Arch -

The Mound will be open daily until early January 2022 and will remain free of charge.

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Evening Standard 6 Aug "Marble Arch Mound to open as free attraction for August after ‘spectacular flop’"

ITV 2 Aug "Free entry to Marble Arch Mound after 'teething problems' disappoint visitors"

ITV 5 Aug "Why was the £2m Marble Arch Mound such a 'spectacular flop'?"

Time Out 14 Sept "The beloved Marble Arch Mound is doing a light show"

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The mound closed 9 Jan 22022.