After Tuesday’s conducted tour of Innsbruck, yesterday we had a conducted tour of Saltzburg. Marta our Polish tour guide has been giving general information as we have been travelling in the coach; in each city we were met by local guides…
Yesterday our knowledgeable guide took us round the city. In two hours she gave us the complete Salzburg curriculum…
- Local History… How Salzburg came to be, it’s castle, prosperity, importance, Mozart’s life…
- Political History… Austrian kings and queens, marriages of convenience, empires, wars and battles…
- Church History… St Rupert the patron saint of Salzburg, Benedictine monks and nuns, popes, bishops…
- Art… Paintings on the cathedral walls and ceiling, sculptures and statues around the city…
- Theology… The Virgin Mary, St Peter, St Paul, the catholic religion, the cathedral, churches, monasteries, convents, religious signs and symbols
- Architecture… In Innsbruck it was Rococo; yesterday it was Baroque…
- Music… Mozart’s music, compositions, concerts, the filming of ‘The Sound of Music’…
- Economic Geography… The importance and value of local salt mines
- Physical Geography… mountains and rivers… Saltzburg – Salt-Castle” – from the barges carrying salt on the River Salzach
- English Language… the links between the words ‘salt’ and ‘salary’…
And now… I’ve been taught a lot more than I’ve learnt. My elderly, geriatric brain is battered by knowledge. I’m suffering from information overload!
Musing…
…Marta quoted us another Polish proverb: ‘I’m not a frog – I can’t be wise and beautiful at the same time.’ I’m smiling, but still trying to figure out what it means.
…Salzberg cathedral is very beautiful and peaceful… many reminders of the Jesus narrative and faith. A good place to pause and reflect…
At the front, above the altar, was the Latin sentence NOTAS MIHI FECISTI VIAS VITA… from Psalm 16. ‘You have made known to me the path of life.’
When I’m overloaded with information… thoughts, emotions, duties, activities, worries… I return to the God who in a simple yet profound way ‘makes known to me the path of life’.
malcolmsmusings.org 
What a wonderful post, Sir! I remember the saying, “he’s not worth his salt”–related to “salary”. And the frog proverb, I like–I was thinking a frog might be beautiful when kissed and turns into a prince, in the fairy tales; maybe the frog gets wisdom with beauty 🙂 It would be so like our wow-God to bless beyond what we ask for. And your final note re Psalm 16–such a calm reassurance, blessed me abundantly. It’s almost the weekend–blessings to you!
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