Last night we arrived in Vienna – just a brief stopover to shake off jetlag on our way to Lyon.  Lady C-S and I have visited this city twice before – both times in winter. Even when covered in snow Vienna is a beautiful city.  But on a perfect summer day, one can really appreciate everthing Vienna offers – a museum quarter like no other, great food and coffee, easy walking, and ….. lots of green horses.

The Viennese had a resounding victory over the Ottomans in 1529 which broke the seige of the city and led to the creation of croissants to celebrate – I knew that.  I knew that the Habsburg were big on building magnificent palaces that later became some of the Western world’s most important museums and art galleries.  But until this trip, I didn’t realise they also celebrated victory by littering the city with statues of men on green horses!

This day of enlightenment started as we tend to begin every day when travelling – a walk to the chosen coffee shop for a couple of flat whites to plan the day ahead.  We then decided to head to the Albertina Museum in order to purchase tickets for an exhibition of painting masterpieces from the Impressionists through to Picasso. On the way one could not help but notice the extrordinary number of statues in this part of the city. Rosewood once had one statue/monument at the Mason’s Gully crossing before it was toppled after being clipped by a passing coal truck. Vienna has more than one piece of statuary and most are raised (in order to protect them from coal trucks perhaps? Although, as a past student of mine once said, “I’m not some kind of statue expert…”) Green men on green horses everywhere.

The Habsburg monachy began in 1282 and continued until 1918 – the end of WW1.  I have only now realised that much of their success in battle must have come about through their clever use of camoflage – of man and beast. Keep in mind that this was a time when other armies wore the most colouful uniforms and insignia – not the clever Austrians Because of this success they gathered sufficient wealth to become great architects and builders, great art collectors.  No wonder they also celebrated this development in military strategy that allowed this success to occur

It would be easy for us to go on guided tours and listen so-called ‘experts’ tell you about the history of this building or that monument.  But as every teacher knows, it is far better if the learner is able to develop a deep understanding on a topic through gathering evidence, then using their own observation, insights and intuition to establish the truth. I certainly have the teachers of Rosewood to thank for passing me this gift, and I intend to share knowlege with you, my readers..

Better let you go Farquar, I’ve just spotted a green statue of a poet!    

Farley