Classical horsemanship in Vienna as a Cultural Heritage of Humanity!

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Ach, just a few weeks ago I was here in Vienna; how I miss that city!
It was raining that Sunday when I first saw the Hofburg Palace.

At its gates, Christmas market booths  were doing a brisk business with hot Gluhwein.

Inside the palace is the most beautiful riding hall in the world, a Baroque masterpiece outfitted  between 1729 and 1735.
It was originally built to give aristocratic youths an opportunity to take riding instruction.
The two men in my photo were installing a new sound system in this Winter Riding School for the international audiences who come to see the Lipizzaner stallions perform.

Emperor Charles VI commissioned the building of the arena.
You can faintly see a tall painting of a white horse.
The guide on this tour explained that the monarch later had his own image added so that it became a portrait of himself on horseback.

Guide Sophia was good at explaining everything in just one hour.
She was strict, though, that we should not take pictures of the horses or the stables. :(

Till today the tradition is for the riders to doff their hats to that same portrait of  the emperor when they enter his arena.
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I'll soon have another post or two about Vienna's wonderful Spanish Riding School. 
You can see my previous posts here and here, which have links to more information about the horses and the school. 
The BIG NEWS is that the Spanische Hofreitschule has just now been inscribed in UNESCO's 2015  Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity!!
Be sure to see what they tell about classical horsemanship and see the photos at the bottom of the page, plus a wonderful video! 
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(For ABC Wednesday, V is for Vienna!)
(Linking also to Camera Critters. )
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The memory of trees and of water

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An ancient place of water in the desert is now inside  Meitar Forest.
A modern cautious person must have rolled a stone on it to reduce possible danger to hikers. 

Deep . . . 
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Today is World Water Day , coming a day after  International Day of Forests.
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"Happy" in Jerusalem. UPDATE: and in the whole world!

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UPDATE!  Today, March 20, is the official U.N. International Day of Happiness and United Nations Foundation's  website 24 Hours of Happiness  is updating every hour with new videos of Pharrell Williams' "Happy" song filmed in every imaginable place in the world!

Timeanddate.com has interesting facts about the newish holiday, including "The day recognizes that happiness is a fundamental human goal, and calls upon countries to approach public policies in ways that improve the well being of all peoples."
The U.N. website about the day is here. 

Just because Jerusalem can be such a happy place!

Take a look at the video
 "A tribute to Pharrell Williams's song "Happy" from Jerusalem.
A production of Tichon Ramah Yerushalayim."

Even Mayor Nir Barkat makes an appearance along with the Ramah Yerushalayim high school kids.
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P.S.  The original with Pharrell Williams where you can SEE the lyrics has been viewed  126 million times on YouTube. 
Yalla, let's get happy! 
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(Linking to J-day at ABC Wednesday.)
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The United Nations

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These are fateful days in the United Nations.
My laptop is tuned in to the U.N. webcast right now.
Soon President Obama will speak.
On Friday Abbas will give probably the most important speech of his life.
After him, Netanyahu will say something.

Will a Palestinian state emerge from this talking and voting?
How will it change life here?

We shall see . . .
Let us hope for the best for all of us here in this small land.
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