My Month in Europe, part 1: Venice and Salzburg

Venice

After finding my hotel in Venice, I went on to have a fabulous time in that great city.  Venice completely captivated me.  It is a pedestrian-only city, full of narrow cobble stoned street and hundreds of bridges over the canals.  Of course, I saw all of the tourist spots such as the Doge's Palace, St. Mark's Square, St. Mark's Basilica, Rialto Bridge, the Grand Canal, gondolas, the Bridge of Sighs, and so much more.  The Doge's Palace is renowned for it's extravagance.  It seems the whole point of the palace was to cover every exposed surface with gold to show off their wealth.  The ceiling frescoes and the artwork were amazing though.  St. Mark's Square is full of sidewalk cafes, pigeons, and silly tourists who allow pigeons to sit on their heads and outstretched arms in order to get a picture.  While in St. Mark's Square, I witnessed the most amazing thing.  It was a coordinated attack by seagulls on an unsuspecting tourist carrying a sandwich.  Two seagulls swooped down towards the tourists' head while a third gull swooped in and stole the sandwich.  I don't know why I found such great delight in watching these gulls pull off this coordinated attack, but it entertained me greatly.  In a corner of St. Mark's Square stands a beautiful astronomical clock.  This clock actually shows the sun revolving around the Earth.  Galileo had not been born yet to set the record straight on that one.  The Bell Tower sits across from the astronomical clock.  There is an incredible view of Venice from the top of the tower; it was well worth the price of admission.  In St. Mark's Basilica, more artwork abounds.  The stories of the Bible are depicted throughout the basilica using mosaics, frescoes, and paintings. Under the altar lay the bones of St. Mark.  Behind the altar sits a massive altarpiece comprised of1300 pearls, 300 sapphires, 300 emeralds, and 400 garnets.  It is astounding to see, but also disturbing.  So much wealth, time and expense were spent on making ornate churches while the people at that time were living in absolute poverty.  It isn't just with St. Mark's that this is evident.  Every church I visited in Europe was the same way....over-the-top ornately furnished, incredible artwork and sculptures, and gold prominently displayed everywhere.  It left me a bit put off by the end of the trip.  The artwork contained within all the churches is jaw dropping; they contain better period collections than museums.  While in Venice, I took a boat over to the island of Murano and watched the famous glassblowers at work.  Overall, Venice was amazing.  In my opinion,  Venice also has the best gelato in all of Europe.  And yes, I taste-tested gelato in every city as I traveled throughout European.  On Palm Sunday, I stopped in one of the churches to worship.  We were all given palm branches and then after the opening prayer, we all went outside and paraded through the streets of Venice while singing songs.  It turned out to be the most memorable Palm Sunday I've experienced.

Salzburg

From Venice, I boarded a train headed northeast towards Salzburg.  Traveling by train is a delightful experience.  Elbow room, leg room, head room, uncrowded, beautiful scenery, easy access, no security checks, picnic lunches on board....it is such an enjoyable way to travel. Train stations in Europe are elaborate, beautiful buildings which also house shopping areas.  Salzburg is no exception.  I got off the train in a snowstorm and was able to purchase a winter coat in one of the shops before leaving the terminal.  Castle Hohenwerfen was my first stop. It's been over a decade since I've seen snow so I took advantage of the opportunity and stopped and made a snow angel.  Then I hiked up the mountain to Hohenwerfen.  The snow was still falling, but the views which were visible from the towers were amazing.  The next day I had booked a Sound of Music tour.  Unfortunately, the snow had continued to fall throughout the night and our tour was mostly outside.  The tour eventually broke down into an organized snowball fight.  Our tour leader, a 78 year-old gentleman, had a surprisingly accurate throwing arm.  The two British chaps, however, were the clear winners.  Finally, we ended the tour by having hot chocolate in one of the cafes.  In spite of the weather conditions, it was my favorite tour of the trip.  I ended up repeating the tour the next day because I just couldn't leave Salzburg without experiencing the sites where the Sound of Music was filmed.  The most interesting place were the catacombs where the Von Trapp family hid from the Nazis.  The catacombs are grave sites that are ornately sculpted and decorated.  They are absolutely beautiful.  In addition to the Sound of Music sights, I toured the Salzburg Castle, the Cathedral, Mozart's birthplace, Residenzplatz, Mirabelle Gardens, Nonberry Abbey, and St. Peter's abbey. The food in Austria was the best I experienced in Europe.  Venison stew with bread roulade, cranberries and red cabbage was my favorite dish.  Breakfasts consisted of salami, cream cheeses rolled in herbs, and breads.  Salzburg has lots to see and do, but I'd go back just to experience the food again.  Upon my departure, the hotel gave me Easter eggs that had been dyed with leaves so that a leaf imprint was left behind on the shell.  They were absolutely beautiful.  When I arrived at the train station, they were also handing out colored Easter eggs.  I had plenty of eggs on the train to enjoy during my trip to Prague.