Sound of Music Tour

Salzburg, Austria

May 13 - 15

4 pm on Friday afternoon, Julia, Ilse, Carol and I piled into my car headed for Austria. Julia is the queen of road trips and had packed us tons of snacks, smuggled excursion sandwiches and chips galore. It was unbelievable and perfect for me, I love snacking while driving.

It took us about 6 hours to get there because we had a couple of potty breaks and Ilse started to get nervous anytime I exceeded the speed limit. I had told them multiple times I only stop when we run out of gas but there were a few small bladders in the bunch so I didn't get my way.

When we arrived we found the parking lot rather easily with only a couple of illegal turns involved. Again, Ilse got nervous but I just told her to keep her eyes closed and things would be all good. Luckily, I was the wrong way on a one way street for only a couple of minutes and there was no traffic so late in the evening. We quickly found our apartment on the major pedestrian road in Salzburg and got settled in for the evening.

On Saturday we woke up bright and early ready for our biking Sound of Music tour. Unfortunately it was overcast and the clouds in the sky looked like they were going to open up at any minute. During our walk towards the meeting point, the clouds did open up to an absolute down pour so we decided to kill the next 30 minutes at a quite cafe for breakfast. During that time the rain came and went but the clouds hung low overhead. When breakfast was over we headed back out in the rain and decided to pass on the biking tour and instead jumped on a charter bus for a 4 hour driving tour of the set of the sound of music.

On our way to the Sound of Music tour. Still in good spirits

Carol found Mozart on our way to our tour! She had to stop for a kiss!

Betty, our guide, struggled at first because her microphone didn't work and she couldn't project all the way to the back of the bus. She was telling us a story about the real Von Trapp family but I missed the majority of it. Then we made it to our first stop, the location where Maria was walking through the trees on her way to the house. In a distance we also saw the front of the house but because it was private property we were unable to get close enough to take pictures.

Frolicking like Maria

The next stop was the gazebo where Alice sang I am Sixteen going on Seventeen. It was locked and we were unable to dance among the benches but we did get a group shot in front of it.

From there we drove to view the back of the house and the lake where one of the boating scenes took place. During that scene one of the kids fell into the lake, after the littlest girl refused to get back into the boat so the scene had to stay as is and be used in the film.

The famous gazebo!

Back of the house used in the film

Next stop, or not really was driving past the abby where the movie begins and where the Maria and the Captain actually got married in real life. In the movie they were married in a beautiful church outside of the city in a cute small town that we stopped in for coffee and crashed a traditional wedding.

The actual abby

The church from the movie

The streets of the town

I am fantastic rider and can usually fall asleep at the slightest motion of a vehicle. Today was no different and I missed some of the explanation for the time between hour 2 and 3. So we stopped at a beautiful lake and heard a few more stories before heading back into Salzburg just as the sun was coming up.

Beautiful lake...it has some significance in the movie that I am not sure of! The girls weren't listening well either.

Betty!

After saying goodbye to Betty and getting one last shot together we found a place for lunch and strolled through the gardens and the streets of Salzburg on our way to the Augustiner brew house for an afternoon drink. On our way there we walked through the main square and through the cemetery. From the cemetery we went up into the catacombs that had been carved out of the inside of the mountain.

Mirabell Gardens, location of some of the singing shots in the movie

After the girls indulged me with the catacomb tour they also followed me up a steep walk to the fort. We knew before we started walking that we wouldn't be able to go in but we wanted to get a glimpse of the city from above. I think it was worth the walk but the girls may not have agreed. Oh well, they humored me!

The catacombs

St. Peter's Cemetery

When we were back in the main square we stumbled upon a parade of sorts. It consisted of about 12 different bands following one another through the streets. There were young bands as well as some retired soldier ensembles. It was an unique parade for sure.

Salzburg from the fortress

Some of the youngest musicians.

The Augustiner was a neat location with tables spread out throughout the gardens and a self service fountain of beer. All we had to do was grab our mugs off of a shelf, rinse them in the fountain and put them underneath the keg to be filled. It was wonderful! The halls were lined with stalls selling food, from pretzels to meats and cheeses and full on meals. We opted for the pretzel and beer because we decided we would have sushi for dinner.

Food stalls at the hall

What every beer hall needs. A monk to look over all the drinkers!

Enjoying the first beer of the evening!

On Sunday morning we slept in! It was wonderful and then we walked to our breakfast place for quite a feast before getting back in the car to head home. Everything went rather smoothly until I got my first speeding ticket since my arrival in Europe. Luckily the police officer didn't want to deal with an international licenses so he just fined me 30 euro and let us go. Fantastic!

It was a great weekend and a nice way to begin wrapping up the school year with some great friends!