On April 7, Alex and I explored one of the largest castles in the eastern part of Austria: the
Riegersburg Castle. Being a Monday there were few people - a deliberate choice - and for most of the day we felt like we had the castle to ourselves. There were about half a dozen other people at the brilliant Birds of Prey demonstration which is possibly why the Snowy Owl, Hedwig (of course) gave her first ever public performance.
I think Alex did especially well to get this amazing shot as Hedwig was only out very briefly.
But firstly here are some general photos of the castle.
The views were wonderful, such picturesque villages and landscapes and quiet enough to hear the sweet chirruping of the European birds. The trainers of the Birds of Prey however had some not so sweet tales to tell... such as the forty or so reports of damaged handbags due to attacks from the vulture (well, in her defence the bags DID look like her feed sacks). Here she is:
And she was very keen to maintain our attention which was demonstrated by her unwillingness to return to her enclosure after her part of the performance. So she spent a good part of the show on a log overlooking us all while her colleagues did their thing. And after hearing about the time she stopped traffic to dismantle the flashing blue light of a police car who was going to argue with her?
Until she decided to steal the thunder of the Golden Eagle who was trying to demonstrate proficiency at seizing a fox lure from a startling altitude.
After that we continued up to the highest part of the main castle and looked through the Witches and Weaponry exhibitions amongst some amazing interiror decor and architecture... but sadly the camera's battery ran out just after these shots were taken:
And then after the drive back home to Waldschach on 130km/ph freeways - which I'm still not quite used to - we had the next day to recover.
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