It is Snowing in Europe

The snowflakes are dancing down over the forests and towns in Sweden. Silently, they cover the ground for a little. Then they melt and freeze again as the shadows of the evening approach. The small towns are quiet and dark but there is warm lights in the windows of the houses. The icy streets are like skating rinks. There will not be gravel on them until tomorrow morning.

Later it snows on the cities of the Po Velly in Italy. It snows on Venice, it snows on Padua. The big snowflakes whirl around the white statues and blow in on the sidewalks under the old arcades. The stone pavements, worn by all the steps which have walked over them year after year, become slippery with the snow slush. The clear domes of the churches appear to be transparent against the white sky.

It snows in Vienna. Light, soft snowflakes accumulate on the streets and on the houses of the Austrian capital. The snow crunches under your shoes. But do not stay on the ground! Climb up somewhere high! This city needs to be admired from above on days like this. From above you will see its hidden secrets: the yards between the tall, white, old houses, the small terraces on the top-floors, the walkways on the ridges of the snow-covered roofs. You will wish you were a cat! The city stretches on towards the horizon, towards the gentle hills in the distance. Their forests are all black, now that the leaves have fallen, and they stand in sharp contrast to the white of the snow-covered vineyards.

It is snowing in Europe, and in its different countries people pause to look up in wonder, as the first flakes whirl down, almost as if they were taken by surprise.