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Published: October 19th 2005
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The Gazebo
The gazebo was not originally here for filming. After filming, it was given to the city of Salzburg as a gift and in 1991 it was moved to it's current site at Hellbrunn Palace Park. I've come to a realization: German is a difficult language to "fake" your way through.
It's supposed to be the language closest to English and all, but really, it's just hard. Thankfully, my sister knows just enough German to be able to kind of tell me how to get to where she is by following signs (although Amy ;-), I still hold tight to the belief that had you said Hauptbahnhof instead of Hauptbahnplatz or Hauptbahnstrasse, I would have had an easier time.) But all in all, we did well. We got all the right train tickets and didn't have to pay any fines for having the wrong ticket or anything. Thank goodness.
I got to Linz late Friday afternoon and then Amy took me to a farmhouse restaurant to have wienerschnitzel. It was quite literally the size of my head, but it was just as delicious as she said it would be. Then we went to meet up with her mentors (Austrian students that help out if she needs assistance with reading German letters and showing her around). Otherwise, a pretty low-key evening.
We took the train to Salzburg on Saturday morning and arrived just after lunch
Anif Castle
Who remembers this scene? This is now owned by Harvard and is used as a teaching facility. time. We went and checked into our hostel, the
Jugend & Familiengastehauser. It was really nice and I'd recommend it to others. The only downfall was that just across the courtyard from our room, there was a heavy metal festival going on. I know, that's just up my alley, right? Not so much....
We also decided to go on the Sound of Music Tour. Since we bought our tickets through our hostel, we got a bit of a discount and there was a van that came to the hostel to pick us up. Can't beat that! The
Tour started at the Mirabell Palace & Gardens and we continued to see the Nonnberg Abbey, Rock Riding School, the Archbishop's Residence, St. Peter's Cathedral, Frohnburg Palace, Hellbrunn Palace, Leopoldskron, Anif Castle, Untersberg, Hohenwerfen Castle, Salzkammergut (the Lake District): Fuschl, St.Wolfgang & Mondsee, and the original Trapp family villa. All in all, it took four hours to see everything. We were hungry for supper and decided to try to find this place we'd seen on the way back on the bus called Pizza Mann. We failed. We walked all over and asked 2 different people in 2 completely different places if they knew where
A great view...and me
The Wolfgangsee and the mountains in the Salzkammergut region. Pizza Mann was. They both emphatically gave incorrect directions. We gave up and ate Burger King from next to the Hauptbahnhof (train station). After that, both Amy and I were completely tired from the entire thing and were in bed at about 9p.
It was neat to see places and things that I grew up watching on TV. I think that I've seen "The Sound of Music" at least once a year (probably closer to 2-3 times a year) since I was born. It would be nice to see it again now that I've been to a lot of the places and see if I recognize how they used Salzburg for the filming. Our hostel showed the movie every night at 8p and we tried to watch it, but we couldn't get seats that were at all close to the screen, so we kind of gave up.
On Sunday, we got up and I convinced Amy that it would be a great idea to climb to the top of the mountain in town to see what we could see from the Fortress Hohensalzburg. Now, the only problem with this plan is that the only guidebook we had was
A high altar
The director of "The Sound of Music" wanted to use a cathedral that had a high altar to show off the dress that Julie Andrews wore for the wedding scene. They went all the way to Mondsee to film even though they could have filmed in Nonnberg Abbey where it actually took place in real life. obviously out of date. We didn't find this out until we'd reached the top. The guidebook said that it was 3.40 Euro to get into the outer courtyard and another 3.40 Euro to get into all the museum stuff in the inner courtyard. Neither of us really had a burning desire to see all the museum stuff, so we were just going to go around the outside courtyard and take pictures of the city and of the fortress from the outside, and then go on about our business. Plus, we're both thrifty and didn't want to spend the money to do both. We could have taken the Festungsbahn (cable car/train) up the side of the mountain with no effort exerted, but that also would have cost money.
We get to the entrance gate and they no longer offer the split tickets. There is now only one ticket that costs 8.40 Euro and you get to see the whole thing. We both looked at each other and decided that since we'd made the climb, we might as well make it worthwhile. I think we spent at least 2 1/2 hours up there...definitely got our money's worth. :-)
After looking
Red Bull HQ
Not a great picture, but this is the headquarters of the Red Bull empire. into every single nook and cranny of the entire fortress, we came back down and ate giant pretzels at a small fair that was taking place in the square. We then set out to visit the cemetary where the getaway scene was filmed for "The Sound of Music." Then, we were off to find Mozart's birthplace and his residence. We had our pictures taken with him!
Then, back to Linz on the train. We both had books to finish (and trade) so the train ride went by very quickly. On arrival back in Linz, we showered ('cause we hadn't at the hostel...too much stuff and not big enough baggage to hold it) and lazed about for a little bit. Then we went out for Chinese food. It was very good and I enjoyed everything but the warm tea-like, throat-burning liquid that they gave us at the end. Could have done without that. By this time, it was becoming apparent that my sister didn't feel so well. Just a cold, nothing huge, but it definitely took the energy away.
Monday came all too soon, but that meant it was time to explore the city where Amy goes to school.
Mirabell Palace and Gardens
The Mirabell Gardens were used a lot in the film. It was used as the children were going up the steps singing "Do Re Me" and also as the "backyard" where Maria and Captain von Trapp dance for the first time. She attends Johannes Kepler Universitat for 3 classes which meet a total of 9 hours a week. She's bored out of her mind during the week because she, like me, is used to having about 2 jobs and going to school. (See, it's not just me. She hasn't had 40 jobs, but I'd hazard a quess that she's had about 15...maybe I'm wrong, though.) She can't get books in anything but German so I took her some to read so at least maybe that'll keep her entertained for the next week or so.
Just as an N.B., Linz was Hitler's favorite city. It has concentration camps and such, but we didn't go there to visit. We did go through the Hauptplatz (Old Town) and view the Danube, which runs through the middle of Linz. We also did some shopping and I was able to procure a scarf and gloves that have come in quite handy the past 2 days in London. Then, it was time to get something to eat and time for me to catch the shuttle back to the airport.
(If you think the Greensboro airport is tiny, the Linz airport has got you beat. There
Dom and Domplatz
The Dom (cathedral) as seen looking across the Domplatz. were only 11 gates in the entire place. There was an observation deck on the roof that you could go on and watch planes land. Only one restaurant-type establishment in the place and a bottle of pop cost 3.20 Euro. I just flat out refused to pay that! In case you're wondering, that's about $3.83....)
The flight back to England was uneventful and I made it home safely after a wonderful holiday in Austria.
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cara garcia
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WOW! I'm totally jealous. All the pics are great and of course I love Sound of Music! :)