The days we spent in Salzburg are among my favorite travel moments of all. As we planned our trip, this had been the city I most looked forward to visiting.
It did not disappoint.
We choose a hotel situated only a few blocks from the old part of the city and our tour began the first morning with a wonderful guide who met up with up while wearing lederholsen. And I thought to myself, THIS is a good day.
We asked for a "Sound of Music" and that is exactly what we got.
Starting with Mirabel Gardens we walked through the beautiful flowers and found the tunnel that is so familiar to lovers of the movie (of which I consider myself a level 9 fan). The weather was mostly overcast during our visit, but we were able to make good progress in spite of the rain.
"Sixteen Going on Seventeen" gazebo. Sadly, this is only a prop. The gazebo used for filming was elsewhere and we couldn't even go inside since it they'd closed it off. Apparently, a 90 year old women was trying to reenact the leaping from bench to bench scene and fell. She probably wasn't feeling 16 after that...
Our tour took us high in to the mountains that surround the city, visibility was limited due to the clouds, but our guide did a wonderful job of showing us around and even had a perfectly timed playlist that made me giggle every time he played it. (Somewhere there is very embarrassing footage of all of us yodeling up the hill...)
Here is the inside of the church that was used for filming the wedding of Captain Von Trapp and Maria. I walked in and said "This isn't right. The train on her dress would fill half the aisle." Then we argued discussed it for a few minutes and our guide walked up and said "You'll notice that this aisle is much too short". Mmmhmm... He told us that is was the correct church, but that Julie Andrews had to do the scene twice and they patched it together. Movie magic!
Here is the front of the church. Painted with that glorious Salzburg Yellow! This color will forever remind me of Austria, its iconic to the houses and buildings.
With dear Mrs. B! She is even a bigger Sound of Music fan than I am. We were in heaven the whole week!
We hiked up to Nonnburg Abbey, near the fortress, to see the view and the church where the real Captain Von Trapp & Maria were married. I've never been in a more peaceful old church in my life. The stone floors were so old and as no one spoke, a woman was kneeling in the pew, praying and at one point she slipped out without a noise. I walked along and read the plaques and wished we had more time.
Our guide had also recommended that us girls not visit the convent, its active, he said. They're always looking for new nuns! I decided that if I'm single at 30 and life isn't working out for me, I'll move to Salzburg and become a nun.
Exit plans, they're good to have.
Oh, how I wanted to flick the water up at this giant horse. However, there was a huge festival in town and tourists acting like tourists, and I get embarrassed far too easily. So I did not. But I stared at it for a good long time. Statues are fascinating things.
So, something I learned while in Salzburg, was that, the house in the movie is actually made up of several different houses. The location used for the "front" of the house was about a 10 minute bike ride down the road. It's now a music school and was all but deserted on a Sunday evening, we even walked right through the door and couldn't find a soul. Anna made a selfie-video of her running up to the door! A la "I Have Confidence"! While I humored myself with a Maria themed cutout.
Yes, we had a blast, why do you ask?
This is a snap from across the little lake looking at the house used for filming the back of the Von Trapp house (the patio scenes and when the children are boating). We spent a night here (it's now a hotel and possibly my favorite place in the world!) I'm hoping to do a separate post on just the hotel. It was funny to me because, in my head I "knew" the whole layout of the Villa Von Trapp, but seeing the actual locations, every time I walked around a corner it was different than I'd pictured. Again, movie magic!
The trees that the children climbed as the Captain, Baroness and Max drove along the road. They've grown a bit over the last 50 years.
Love!! So, so amazing!
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