Salzburg - Sunday Mass in Salzburg Cathedral

Date: 13th April 2014

It was a pleasant weather that Sunday morning when we were in Salzburg. The white clouds hid away the blue sky from our gaze. With poor natural lighting, my Nikon DSLR with attached tiger eyes has failed to give good picture. Hence, I depend on my Iphone and Anne's camera for blog entries in Salzburg.

Our first destination was heading towards the courtyard of Salzburg Cathedral using a guide map given by the hotel. After some photos on the area, we went inside to join the Sunday mass. The church was full. We were truly blessed with such peaceful sights where the choirs and majority of Sazlburg citizen were worshipping our same, monotheist God. The Christians and the Jewish are our brothers and sister reunited under the chain of Holy Book. I like this cathedral much more than St Stephen Cathedral in Vienna. In my opinion the church reflected and suited humbly for worshiping house of God but the other 1 was more grandeur reflecting human desire of the worldly life. 2 cathedral with 2 different perspective in my eyes. 

I'm using mostly the photos, snapped using Iphone of internal side of the cathedral for this entry as it's beauty truly captured my heart. This 833 year old Salzburg Cathedral is the 17 century Baroque cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg dedicated to Saint Rupert and Saint Vergilius. It was founded by Saint Rupert in 774 on the remnants of a Roman town, the cathedral was rebuilt in 1181 after a fire. In the seventeenth century, the cathedral was completely rebuilt in the Baroque style under Prince/Bishop Wolf Dietrich Raitenau to its present appearance. The baptismal font in which composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was baptized is still safely kept safe for tourist to see.

The first cathedral was built under Saint Vergilius of Salzburg, who might have used foundations by St. Rupert. The first Dom was recorded in 774. The so-called Virgil Dom was built from 767 to 774 and was 66 metres long and 33 metres wide. Archbishop Arno in 9^th century was the first to arrange renovations of the Dom, which was in place for less than 70 years. In 842, the building burned down after being struck by lightning. 3 years later, the re-erection of the building started.

The original church experienced at least 3 extensive building and rebuilding campaigns during the early Middle Ages, the final result of which was a somewhat ad hoc Romanesque basilica. In 1598, the basilica was severely damaged, and after several failed attempts at restoration and reconstruction, the building was finally ordered to be demolished by Prince-Bishop Wolf Dietrich Raitenau (Archbishop from 1587–1612). Wolf Dietrich was a patron and supporter of modern Italian Baroque architecture, having seen it from its origins in Italy and particularly Rome. The Bishop was also responsible for the building of the nearby Alten Residenz, which is connected to the cathedral till to date.

Wolf Dietrich hired the Italian architect Vincenzo Scamozzi for a comprehensive new Baroque building. Construction did not begin until his successor, Mark Sittich von Hohenems (Archbishop from 1612–19), in 1614 laid the cornerstone of the new cathedral. The present cathedral, designed by Santino Solari, who fundamentally changed the original Scamozzi plan was completed in less than 15 years, being finished by 1628. At its consecration on September 24, 1628, 12 choirs positioned in the marble galleries of the cathedral sang ”a Te Deum”, (meaning the score of which is since lost) composed by Stefano Bernardi, the Kapellmeister to the Salzburg court. The present Salzburg Cathedral is built partially upon the foundations of the old basilica. The relics of Saint Rupert were transferred here when the cathedral was completed.

Salzburg Cathedral is located adjacent to Residenzplatz and Domplatz in the Altstadt (Old Town) area of the city. The Domplatz is accessed by three open arcade arches in the north, south, and west. These "cathedral arches" unite the cathedral with the Salzburg Residenz and St. Peter's Abbey to form a unique self-contained square. According to a plaque on the side of the cathedral, the figure group shows reactions to the mystery of the Immaculate Conception where the angels are delighted, human wisdom vanishes, the envious devil growls, and the triumphant Church rejoices.

The body of the church is made of dark grey conglomerate; the ornamentation and façade are made of bright Untersberg marble. The richly decorated facade is framed by 2 towers and a curved gable. The north tower houses an old oven used for baking communion bread. The façade is divided into 3 horizontal sections. The lower section has 3 high round arches or portals that provide access to three bronze doors. The portals are flanked by 4 large sculpted figures representing the diocesean and cathedral patrons.

The central section of the facade contains statues of the 4 evangelists, Saint Matthew, Saint Mark, Saint Luke, and Saint John represent the salvation offered through their preaching. The mantelpieces over the central windows contain a lion and an ibex, the animals depicted in the coats of arms above, and a golden crown that aligns with the Marien column in the Domplatz. The top section tympanum bears the coats of arms of the builders of the cathedral, Markus Sittikus and Paris Londron. The figure group on the pediment represents the Transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor, showing Christ as Salvator Mundi, with Moses holding the tablets on the left and the prophet Elijah to the right.

Everything inside the cathedral offerred an awesome views as it has the best collections of a very fine arts from centuries ago well maintained. What I like most was watching a beautiful church choir performing collections of prayer songs from the Psalms, the Holy Book of Prophet David. I even recorded a full songs in my phone. For those who has read the Psalms (I read from King James translation, the best that I would search of it's originality from the hebrew version) would definitely deeply touch by the sweet soothing life performance. 

For those who has not read Psalm (zabur) before, I'm sharing below Psalm 4 verses 1 to 4 given to the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments. A Psalm by David :-

4:1        Answer me when I call, God of my righteousness.

Give me relief from my distress.

Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.

4:2        You sons of men, how long shall my glory be turned into dishonor?

Will you love vanity, and seek after falsehood?

            Selah (take a moment to asses yourself).

4:3        But know that Allah has set apart for himself him who is godly:

Allah will hear when I call to him.

4:4        Stand in awe, and don’t sin.

Search your own heart on your bed, and be still. 

Last but not least is the front view of the cathedral that is visibly alright to share from my Nikon DSLR and 1 out of the 3 bronze door which is so beautiful.

Salzburg - City of Mozart

Date of visit: 13th April 2014

It was a great feeling waking up in early morning been in another city though in the same country, Austria. We were in a busy city of Vienna a day before and was in a quite, peaceful town of Mozart, Salzburg the next day, i.e.  Sunday. It was nice to have a different day in a different city. After breakfast we went straight ahead crossing the bridge over Salzach River to the old city of Salzburg. Before I went further, let's look what Wikipedia has said about Salzburg and Mozart in their website. 

Photo courtesy of Andreas Stiasny, Wikipedia

The city of Salzburg is a historic centre and being recognised by UNESCO as World Heritage Site, inscribed on the World Heritage List being an old town. The name literally means "Salt Fortress" and is the 4^th largest city in Austria and the capital of the federal state of Salzburg. 4 of us were in the same view, that Salzburg is a very quiet city as in comparison walking the busy street in Vienna. For the record, we did not even take any public transport to visit all places as listed in our itinerary.

Salzburg is famously known as the city of Mozart where you can see its presence everywhere in the town since it was the birthplace of 18th-century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In the mid‑20th century, the city was the setting for parts of the musical play and film The Sound of Music.

Mozart's birthplace was the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at No. 9 Getreidegasse in Salzburg, Austria. The Mozart family resided on the third floor from 1747 to 1773; Mozart himself was born here on 27 January 1756. He was the seventh child of Leopold Mozart who was a musician of the Salzburg Royal Chamber.

Since 1880, Mozart's birthplace introduces visitors to the early life of the composer, his first musical instruments, his friends and his passionate interest in opera as it turned as a museum.  The third floor exhibits Mozart's childhood violin, harpsichord, as well as portraits, documents, family letters, and early editions of his music. There are also records of his life in Vienna and of his wife and family. The second floor is devoted to Mozart's interest in opera and includes the clavichord on which he composed The Magic Flute. The first floor replicates living conditions in Mozart's day with period furniture. Original documents and paintings illustrate his life in Salzburg. Other items in the museum are an incomplete portrait of Mozart painted by Joseph Lange, his brother-in-law in 1789 (one of Mozart's striking portraits), pictures of his childhood, and his childhood violin

Mozart Wohnhaus was the last place that we visited and it was very brief too as we have a train to catch-up that evening. In addition, we were so stressed out with the photos and the walks. Please take note that you have to pay an entrance fee to this place.

The back courtyard where Mozart spent his time

The Mozarthaus Vienna was Mozart's residence from 1784 to 1787. This building in Vienna's Old Town, not far from St. Stephen's Cathedral, is his only surviving Viennese residence and is now a museum. The house is located on Domgasse. It was built in the 17th century, originally with two storeys, and redeveloped in 1716. Mozart rented rooms here from 1784, at which time it was also known as the Camesina House, after the family which had owned it since 1720. Since the original entrance of the house facing the Schulerstraße (the one Mozart used) was walled up to make room for a shop, the house has to be entered today from its rear in the Domgasse.

I was the only 1 who insisted to explore the house in more details despite little time has left before we need to go back and cleared our luggage from the hotel. The other 3 did not follow my lead this time, they cunningly waited outside making a joke about my passion. With a heavy heart, I had to gave up. Nevertheless, I bought sufficient momentous from Salzburg to remind myself that I have indeed been in the place where he used to stay.

To be continued..

Beautiful sights of Salzburg

Before I start to record all our details itinerary in Salzburg, I wish to share some photos collection to show how I remember and what a beauty of the Salzburg city to me during our short stay. Their mountains and the green valley are simply breathtaking. Most of the photos that I''m sharing herewith are taken from the Salzburg Fortress (Festung Hohensalzburg) which I'm going to share soon of the details.

I hope you guys may agree that the city, indeed, do bring some kind of peace and calm to your heart merely by looking at the views of this quiet town. This is a place that you wish to retire, spending the rest of your life doing nothing... maybe.

Train Rides 2014 - Vienna to Salzburg

Date of travel: 12th April 2014

It's time to continue and finish off my Europe travelogue of which last entry was made on 22 July 2014. So far, I have written about the following cities:-

• Istanbul
• Bucharest
• Budapest; and
• Vienna

The next city in our itinerary was to Salzburg where we took OBB train, Railjet 662 from Vienna to reach Salzburg within the same afternoon. The railjet, i.e. the fast train was taking us to our next destination for less than 3 hours.

Main cities in Austria is served by comprehensive rail connections, with frequent east-west trains serving Vienna, Munich, Innsbruck, and Zurich, including daily high-speed ICE services. The city acts as a hub for south-bound trains through the Alps into Italy. In Salzburg city, trolleybus system and bus system with a total of more than 20 lines service the public for every 10 minutes. Salzburg has an S-Bahn system with four Lines (S1, S2, S3, S11), trains depart from the main station every 30 minutes, and they are part of the OBB network. Suburb line number S1 reaches the world famous Silent Night chapel in Oberndorf in about 25 minutes.

A photo snapped inside the taxi showing a unique building of Vienna Train Station or famously called as Wien West Bahnhof, with OBB logo

The train we took that day from Vienna to Salzburg, railjet 662

I have mentioned in earlier entry (Train Rides 2014 - Budapest to Vienna) that the Railjet is a high-speed train of the Austrian Federal Railways (OBB), which operates at speeds of up to 230 km/h. The railjet is the premier service of the OBB and operates both domestically within Austria and on international services to adjacent countries. We were excited to spend our Sunday weekend in a hill plateau of Salzburg, best known for its Snow Cap Mountain and green green grass.

OBB opted for locomotive-hauled push-pull high-speed trains, which could be hauled by its existing fleet of Taurus high-speed Siemens EuroSprinter electric locomotives. On 9 February 2006, Siemens was awarded a contract to build 23 sets of 7-coach trains, with the Siemens design viewed to be the best at the best lowest price. In September 2007 Siemens received an additional order for 44 more Railjet trains from the Austrian Federal Railways. The total value of the order was €798 million for 469 passenger carriages. Recently, OBB took up an option for a remaining 9 railjets fom Siemens.

The journey time between Salzburg and Vienna is 2 hours and 20 minutes following the completion of the track improvement works on the Westbahn, at a running speeds between 200–230 km/h (120–140 mph). Railjet trains have 3 levels of service; economy, business and premium classes. Ours was on economy class due to a short distance travelling.

All luggages belong to our group, properly stack up at a dedicated luggage area

Monitor track showing train's speed and the map locater

Premium class has the highest level of service, premium seating for 16 premium passengers is located in the front part of the control car at the opposite end of the train to the locomotive. The seating plan is in an 'open compartments' style intended to be a considerable improvement over previous first class accommodation. Business class seating occupies the remainder of the control car, the second coach and half of the third coach which also contains spaces and facilities for wheel chair users. There’s restaurant in the third coach, which we did not had a chance to visit.

Apart from a technical details of the Railjet and the OBB, our experience in the Railjet 662 was very pleasant as a short distance train allows us a relax journey without any hassle with the immigration. In addition, travelling between western Europe cities, crossing borders are with freedom. We noticed that there's no immigration stop once we entered Austria from Budapest till we reach Paris. We had the train stamped logo at the immigration check point at Paris Gara de Nord and London St Pancras when we took a day trip with Eurostar to London from Paris.

Our coach was quite empty especially after passing so many cities from Vienna to Salzburg. When we passed Innsbruck, my thought goes to a nice lady that we met on the rides from Budapest to Vienna. We could see how great is her life enjoying a countryside of Austria in her village home. I could picture  how she cycles on the green sight plateau. My sister, Rosnani views that the European who occupies this area are quite fortunate to have a lovely house on the green plateau which looks so clean and so peaceful. My husband uttered almost the same thing when the snow capped of Kullu-Manali in Himachamal Pradesh was within our reach. How wonderful would it be if we could have a snow cap mountain at our back yard.... 

There's still light when we reached Salzburg that day. The weather was below than 12 degree. After posing few photos, we straightaway approached the next available cab to take us to the hotel. Salrzburg is very very much quite and less crowded as compared with Vienna. Within 10 minutes, we have reached our pre-book hotel. We had dinner on our own and it was a good rest that night too in a comfortable hotel room.

Let us see our place of interest for tomorrow's entry. Ciao....

Phoenix

It was about a year ago when we had a nightmare having to see Phoenix so sick (check my entry in November 2013). On eid, a month back Phoenix was losing his appetite despite how much we tried to feed him. I made him plain chicken meat boiled full cooked without any flavor. He ate the chicken the first few times, thereafter refused the meat too. Hubby bought a box of 6 packet food of ProDiet, "Chicken & Tuna". He loves it until the 2nd box, he back to eat literally so little that saddened us both.  

Who would be able to turn a love by looking at his gaze? It was full of sorrow...

Few days later, Syahirah took him to the same veterinar who treated him in November last year. The doctor assured that there's nothing wrong with him but to make sure that he is 100% healthy, he suggested a blood test. Syahirah did not have much money with her at that time, so, she refused as the blood test for the animals are much more expensive than the test to the human. Medicines was given, mostly a supplement to boost his appetite. That was the time he was eating the chicken & tuna.

Almost 2 weeks ago, while on my stay up night to study, I accidentally stepped on his body as it was dark and I didn't knew that he was on the floor. He gave a loud sound and quickly hid himself under the seat. An hour later, Tottie disturbed me with his "meow meow". When I put my notes down, I saw bloods on the floor. It was a horrible sight as it was flowing from his mouth. I was devastated to see that and quickly wiped the blood on his mouth and on the floor.

I took 2 photos below and shared it on family group chat. Syahirah immediately came down and shared my worries. I tried to go to bed as it was about 30 minutes after 0100 hours. I couldn't sleep instead weeping silently. Naim came to my room and offered to take Phoenix to the hospital which according to his friend open 24 hours in Plaza Phoenix shop lot area. 

A pain to see

The sample that Naim took to the clinic

I was crying and praying so hard to Allah in bed that night that nothing bad will happen to Phoenix. Hubby could not say anything as his word not able to stop my tears. Naim later called to inform that he was at the pet's clinic in KL city centre as the 1 that his friend initially advised was apparently closed. He passed the phone to the doctor who advised me that there's nothing physically wrong with Phoenix after he carefully examined him. But he recommended to carry the full body screening test including a blood test that will cost a rather expensive treatment. It was 3am in the morning.

One of the nurse advised Naim to take Phoenix to UPM, where hubby usually took our pets including when Lola was hospitalized for a week after she was hit by the car 3 years ago. Naim later called me to inform that he was coming back and will send Phoenix the next day to UPM. He added that I could now can sleep peacefully as the doctor told him that there's no danger due to the fact that Phoenix eyes was clearly show a good sign. A very sick animal can be seen from the look of their eyes. So, Phoenix was perfectly alright. With such promises I managed to sleep as my exam was on a day after. That kind doctor did not charged anything for his services, May Allah reward him for his kindness.

The next morning, I wake-up with a straight thought to Phoenix who was outside my room. I was so afraid to check him out, instead silently pray that Allah was not taking him while I was asleep... "You better don't do that Allah please forgive my sin and accept my prayer for Phoenix". Alhamdulillah, Phoenix was alive but the blood still flowing slightly from his mouth. I wake Naim up before I went to the library but Naim was so tired after last night incident but promised to send Phoenix later.

Syahirah called around 2pm informing that she was in the clinic for Phoenix blood test not knowing that the reason why Phoenix was like that maybe because of me (because I accidentally stepped on him). Anyhow, doctor had carried out a proper examination and prescribed 3 types of medicine. The next day the lab called to informed that the blood test showing a positive results that Phoenix is free from all disease. Few minutes later the clinic called and asked us to collect another medicine for anaemia. Anaemia was the result of him losing so much blood, according to her. 

Phoenix was not eating at all on the second day, instead of depending on the full milk intake though in a very little quantity. He was at his terrible state. We were all so worried. Not knowing what else to do, Hubby tried to feed him with kitten food that he bought from the pet shop which pleases Phoenix so much on the third day.  He started eating.

Most difficult time for medicine, Syahirah added glucose water in between the pills

Saw him yesterday in bed with hubby playing and tickling Phoenix was a heavenly sight. In addition, Phoenix has gain his weight (so much this time) made me forgot what I said to hubby urging him to call Phoenix owner and return him 2 weeks ago. My husband is a considerate person who always thought of other people who might have a problem of their own. I thought that it would be best for Phoenix to be with their original family than us. But, I had to agree with him on this as both Phoenix and Kayla changed very much as compared to when they first came into our life. Both are so attached with us especially Kayla and I are connecting in a very special way somehow. 

Anyway, I pray that their family is leading a happy life without us in their life. It's probably good to forgive and forget, let all the unknown story remains unknown, if not the pain will surface leaving a thousand unanswered questions. I hope to save only good memories of us. Life is indeed very short my friend. 

Smile and have peace, faith and compassion towards one another.