As our train slid off of the island and on to the main land, traveling due north from Venice to Villach and then sliced though the mist and into the snowy Alpines toward Salzburg, I caught glimpses of mountains and slivers of towns between naps. The chill and the altitude of the Eastern Alps in Austria are a significant contrast to the unmistakable proximity to sea level in the Venetian Islands and lagoons. Traveling through northern Italy and into Austria you can actually see the changing climate and geography. The contrast is so dramatic in such a short span of time and distance…just 250 miles. You can almost feel the centuries peeling away and rolled back again, back and forth from Byzantine to Renaissance to Gothic to Baroque. And the music - you can almost hear its magnificence. Beethoven, Haydn, Schubert, Brahms, Mozart! The Austrian hills are indeed alive with the sound of it all.
As a side note, who hasn’t heard Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria” or Johannes Brahms’ “Hungarian Dance” or Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Turkish March” or his “Symphony No 5 in C Minor”…duh-duh-duh-duhm! The music inspired by the Austrian culture is arguably the best timeless music ever imagined. And if you have never heard Mozart’s Symphony #25 In G Minor, then you really need to stop what you are doing and do so now…fabulous!
Upon our arrival in Salzburg we were greeted by a shroud of dense fog that clung to the city. It hung there above us, ever so delicately and just beyond the reach of the many church spires like a soft teasing phantasm. And it heightened one’s senses. This sheltering blanket of mist held sounds close to their source, not offered the usual space to expand and dissipate themselves. This thick afternoon haze created a diffused sunlight that intensified visible color and created spectacular images devoid of shadow. The brisk air was so - how can I describe it – “new” and fresh that it stood in stark contrast to the aged buildings and cobbled streets that it enveloped. The air was noticeable!We walked along the winding river Salzach, climbed to the Nonnberg Abbey (of “The Sound of Music” fame), visited Mozart’s Geburtshaus (birthplace) and stood in the shadow of the medieval Hohensalzburg Fortress. Salzburg is steeped in history and you could feel it everywhere.
As we passed a little shop, Christmas in Salzburg, I noticed eager shoppers admiring a window display. As I snapped a quick picture my mind carried me back twenty-five years…
In the spring of 1983 Denise and I purchased a carved wood nativity in Manheim, Germany on a whim. It was a nice enough piece but not the sort of thing a young college couple would normally choose to tote around Europe in their backpacks. It was a round setting with intricately carved figures and with candles at its quadrant corners. Above was a smallish wooden propeller that caught draft from the rising heat causing the men and gifts and beasts to rotate and thus encircle the miraculous new born and family in the center stable.Within a few years, although they may not recall, this moving nativity had become a wondrous Christmas spectacle to our very young children – watching the animals go around and around, motivated by the invisible force of the flames. Ultimately though, this little treasure would meet an unfortunate demise in 1992 when it, together with many of our other possessions, was consumed in the flames of a building fire. Our daughters were 8, 5 and 2.
So, as sentiment would have it, finding a suitable replacement this close to the Black Forest would become a priority as my Christmas surprise for Denise and our girls.
Imagine my surprise as we approached the shop window and realized that the window shoppers in my last photo were admiring the only wood carved rotating nativity in the store. Remarkably, it is visible in the above photo within the shop window between the couple on the right. It is almost an exact replica of its predecessor although slightly larger in scale. Hesitation gripped me, brought upon by a combination of sticker-shock and bewilderment at the ease with which I found this gift. Perhaps rather, it found me. Fortunately I shook this off, swallowed hard and pulled the trigger as this would be the only rotating nativity that we would see on this trip through Austria. The shop keeper and assistant proceeded to the window, removed the centerpiece of their Christmas display and proceeded to disassemble it for packaging. Completing the transaction, I once again assumed the burden of fragile nativity toting in Europe…déjà vu, all over again!
We walked up and down winding paths and along cobbled streets. All the while, there was an unmistakable feeling of our nearness to Christmas despite our distance from home. And as a cool winter's night settled over Salzburg the crisp chill of the alpine air began to penetrate into our bones.
Hotel Wolf is a family owned hotel reconstructed within a 500 year old building that immediately felt like a real home with its Austrian country-style bedroom. This was a wonderful accommodation with an excellent breakfast. And it was situated nicely in old town Salzburg.Although we thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Salzburg, our Austrian Christmas destination really was 190 miles (300km) due east in Vienna.
No comments:
Post a Comment