Encountering snakes is always exciting, I love this feeling.

This is probably Vipera berus.

I even felt a slight smell of poison in the air that came out of his mouth and landed on my boot.

Really? :o I've never touched a venomous snake, I only saw them from a distance so I never had a chance to smell a poison... The biggest impression was Caucasian viper (Vipera kaznakovi) in Georgia. A rare snake, black and red, graceful...