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Published: October 5th 2011
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“with the Sound of Music!” that’s right, we studied up by watching the movie before we left again to brush up, and this morning climbed on a big bus to take the Sound of Music tour. It was a totally great time! Our tour guide was fantastic; he was an older gentlemen with such perfect English. He had this radio broadcaster type of voice to him, and a laugh that makes you laugh every time he does. He actually lived in Boston for 10 years, so this is why his English was probably so great. He was witty and funny, and made sure that we all had a good time. Within Salzburg we got to see the mansion that was used as the back of the house adjacent to the lake (the house was actually never shown in the movie itself, just the grounds). On the backside of the lake was the road where Captain Von Trappe drives down with the Baroness to find all of the kids hanging from the trees. We drove by the other mansion that was used as the exterior of the home and then visited the gazebo where the famous “I am 16, going on
17” song was filmed.
After those stops, the fun really began as we headed out of Salzburg towards the “Lake District” on our way to the church where the wedding scene was filmed. For most of the trip, they played the soundtrack on the bus and naturally everyone sings along. It was a kid-like fun trip, and did I mention gorgeous?? The lakes are pristine…they don’t allow anything with an engine on them in order to maintain their purity. We arrived in Mondsee where the church is located, and had time to get lunch and look around. Our tour guide recommended 2 places, one being Italian and for some reason a quick lunch pizza seemed like a nice break from Bavarian cuisine. Our trip back to Salzburg was full of more singing and a short video that recapped a few more sites we were unable to visit. Sadly, all of the mountain twirling/singing scenes were filmed in Germany, but we will find a mountain to twirl on.
After the bus tour we basically walked across the street to Mirabelle Gardens where the “Do Rae Mi” scene of the movie was filmed with the kids and Maria running around
and jumping up and down the steps like they were pianos. They were very pretty gardens! Since Salzburg is the birthplace and where Mozart lived for much of his life, we felt obligated to visit one of the museums for 7€ that Rick Steve’s had said was pretty good. Well, we were way disappointed for shelling out $20 US dollars. The only thing worthwhile was an original Mozart piano (can I say teenie tiny, wow!!!)
We wandered around old town a little bit, and sought out a famous liquor maker that has been a family business since 1903. They are famous for their schnapps and brandies. We had fun tasting a few, and ended up buying an Elderflower Schnapps (just tastes like sweet summer in a glass), a black currant liqueur (to make our fav Kir with) and an citrus/orange liquor that is added to hot water. It was so good, and I can’t wait to dress it up with a cinnamon stick and some fresh orange slices. Good for the holidays or a fall evening.
We are hearing word that the temperature is going to drop and rain is moving in, so we took the advice of
our tour guide again and walked past the very edge of old town to Augustiner Braustubul which is a Beer Garden. There are all of these indoor food stalls selling rotisserie chickens and traditional Bavarian fare. You just pick and choose what you want before heading out to take a seat, and get your beer in these ceramic steins that you rinse out with water and then they fill you up. It was a pretty cool experience! We opted for sausages with sauerkraut – bratwurst (our least favorite) and two kinds of kielbasa type sausages (one plain, one filled with cheese) and of course…a giant pretzel! We loved chilling outside, nibbling on our food, and drinking our beer before we walked back into old town to catch a bus back to the hotel. This is because we really have nothing to do here after 6pm. ALL of the shops close, and as we learned last night most of the cafes and such close around 8:30-9pm. We’ve just decided to hang out at the hotel this evening and do some research on our upcoming stops. Up next Hitler’s mountain retreat and staying in Hotel Zum Turken which housed the SS during
the war.
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Paul
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Everyone should visit Salzburg - and there is sooo much more to see......
One can easily enjoy 2 days in Salzburg the city and several days or a week exploring the province of Salzburg. The Christmas Markets in Salzburg are also worth seeing and a special time of year to visit ! We found this site and their itineraries to be amazingly helpful www.guideyourselftours.com <a href"http://guideyourselftours.com"salzburg austria travel guide itinerary