Salzburg and Venice!

I really didn't want to write a whole lot. We've done so much it seems like it would take forever and be rather tedious to read. In the last few days we have been to Salzburg, Austria; Padova, Venice, and are now in Florence. These days were very full. So, I decided to illustrate if for you and narrate as I go.

This is in Salzburg as we were wandering around looking for lunch.

Salzburg is the home"town" of Mozart. We walked by his house and took a picture of it, but neither of us (Heather or myself) had any desire to go in and pay money for it.

Heather's boyfriend told us that we had to try the torte at the Hotel Cafe Sacher. They gave us a really pretty box and very nice bag that are gingerly folded up in order to come home safely. The torte was good...

...but the Hazelnut cake was delicious.

Heather almost lost me for a moment here.

This is the entrance to the Salzburg Cathedral. Apparently it's the cathedral...we didn't know that and walked right by. Oops.

We hiked up to the Salzburg castle fortress and walked along the wall. It had snowed the night before and everything was crisp and white.


Lady Lisa defending the fort!

The view of the city from somewhere along the wall.


I used the top stair as a tripod and ran down the steps in ten seconds. I tried really hard not to lay on the cold, wet ground, but as you can see if you look closely, I failed.

Venice!

The San Marco Basilica. Venice has a very interesting history. The Italians were fleeing from the Germans and ended up on the little island of Venezia. Unfortunately, the population grew too large for the island. So, the people stripped the forest and plunged tree trunks into the swamp, then laid wood over the top and then concrete over that. The petrified wood provided added landscape. However, as the trees expanded or condensed differently, the ground and even the floors of building became uneven. The tiled floor inside the Basilica is ridiculously uneven. One would think that there is no foundation. There is. It's just 25 feet under water.
The walls of the Basilica are painted in gold (real gold). There is so much thought and talent that went into the design and building and decoration of church that one can't help but be impressed. It's heartbreaking though, that thousands went hungry in the competition of the clergy and nobles to have the most beautiful church.

So, you know those movies where the girl in the cute fifties dress is walking through the Italian piazza and there's a bunch of birds. Actually real! A bunch of our group were feeding the birds. It was very entertaining! See facebook for more pictures!

This little girl was trying to kick the birds as hard as she could!

This is the Duke's Palace.

Until next time.