Zugspitze

After the great castles comes a picture from the Zugspitze. Nine thousand, six hundred feet above sea level, and miles above the rest of the world. Here, where the Tyrolean and Bavarian Alps meet, you stand and gaze across glaciers and eternal snows and look across Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. Shoulder to shoulder you now stand with the great peaks of the planet which rise tier upon tier in saw-toothed splendor. You gaze at these rocky pinnacles and realize that here is the breathless hatchery of architectural inspiration which brought forth the great cathedrals that rise all over Europe.

Above your head ravens wheel in circles, floating in the icy wind, resembling those saints and angels that decorate the domes of splended cathedrals far below. The raven's feet, like those of those floating saints, also descend and daintily dangle in saintly respect, perhaps, for the memory of gravity. Later you will leave the Zugzpitze, but no matter how far you go its memories will go with you.

© John Womack, 2006, All Rights Reserved.