Mass at the Salzburger Dom

It's the end of the second day, and I can't sleep! I think all of our body clocks are still catching up to the new time zone. It's only 7:30 p.m. at home, but it's 1:30 a.m. here.

This morning, Zach B and I walked to mass at the Salzburger Dom. Although excited to see the famous church, we had hoped for a slightly closer one. However, the 45 minute walk there was full of new sights. We took Alpenstrasse into the Altstadt and enjoyed many colorful houses on the way. We've come to discover that we live in a very residential area of town called "Sud-Salzburg", which is really neither in the Altstadt or the Neustadt. (Old-Town and New-Town). Our part of town is a bit far from most of the sights, but is full of locals, rather than tourists, which makes for a unique experience.

We arrived at the Dom-Platz around 9:30, just as the Archbishop was starting the procession out of the church, since it was Palm Sunday. One of the biggest differences that I noticed was that the locals bring their own palms--decorated flower arrangements with colorful ribbons perched atop a tall stick, somewhat like a maypole--rather than the flat palms we are given in America. Zach and I grabbed a few leafy branches out of the bin--meant for the losers that didn't make it to the floral shop that morning, I guess. After the Archbishop said a few prayers, he led everyone on a walk in a circle around the Dom-Platz, before leading us all inside.

The church was packed full, and of course extremely beautiful. The Salzburger Dom was built in 1628 over the site of an older church that dated to the 900s. You can still see remnants of this older church--in objects like the baptismal font. Mozart was the organist at the cathedral for two years during his early career and the church boasts tall organs on the second level. The pews were very old and the kneelers were unfortunately very hard and uncomfortable.

For the most part, mass felt very familiar. I understood some of what they were saying, simply because I knew exactly what it was in English. The Petitions and much of the consecration was easy to comprehend. However, the gospel was completely sung by their fantastic choir that, as much as I hate to say it, puts ours to shame. I wonder what the audition process is like for the Salzburger Dom choir, and whether the singers are paid. The Palm Sunday gospel took about a half hour and when it was over, we felt as if we'd heard a free concert. The other big difference about mass in Salzburg was the whole communion process. They didn't have ushers dismiss us; we didn't even dismiss row by row. The priests just came down with communion and it was kind of a free for all. Everybody walked up and crowded around, waiting their turn. It came as kind of a surprise, as the rest of the mass was so orderly and formal.

After mass, we broke up the long walk back with kababs at one of the only restaurants that was open on Sundays. The kabab was kind of like a sandwich-gyro on a large roll, with all of the usual toppings. I was surprised to find that the store owner thought we were British students. We have definitely decided to go back there, and bring others next time, because the food was cheap and really good.

After church, I lay down for what was supposed to be a short nap and ended up lasting the whole afternoon--I was really tired. We spent this evening hanging out in the dorm lobby again. Tomorrow morning we start class--hope it's not too difficult!