5 minutes in Salzburg

"Imagine you will completely lose your memory of 2010 in five minutes. Set an alarm for five minutes and capture the things you most want to remember about 2010."

Wow, what would I remember most about 2010. There's so much! The feeling of being sober for the first time; the smell of being smoke free for the first time in 15 years; the sensation of moving cross-country and starting a life over.

But I think the thing I wouldn't want to forget is Salzburg, Austria in the snow. It was a beautifully overcast morning in this medieval looking town. The huge fortress bore down on the landscape, surrounded by snow-capped mountains. I took my coffee in the sunroom and watched the snow start it's drifting to the ground. I watched as it covered the rooftops and chilled the air.

After breakfast I bundled up and headed outside. Into the cold, and out in the snow, the world was perfect. The little city buzzed with people on their way to work. The old Mirabell plaza was covered in white flakes, and the chimes of the church bells rang out into the silence. I stood in the gardens and felt the snow fall in large flakes onto my nose and eyelashes. It stuck in between the toes of the golden statue. It coated the trees and the fountains.

Riding the gondola up to the fortress, the snow kept falling. Unlike in certain states, the snow didn't deter people from going about their business, but like snow everywhere it made the world a silent haven for thought. The fortress itself was chilled and windy. The old windows letting in every draft, the thick stone floors chilling you through your boots.

But the view. The tiny city of Salzburg covered in snow. At once, I wanted to live there: to be a part of the snow all the time. I wanted that morning in the sunroom, that walk to the gardens, that chill in the middle of the alps. It was perfect.