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Published: November 21st 2013
Sound of Music Gazebo
The real movie prop, not in its original location. We sang with gusto!We got on the buses for Salzburg at 8:00 this morning. I enjoyed the drive through the country, although I am out of practice for bus tours since I was happy to get out and stretch at the
Stille Nacht (Silent Night carol) memorial chapel. The chapel and local tower with gift shop were almost devoid of content. Nevertheless, it was a pretty spot, and by going up a few stairs we could see across the
SalzachRiver to Germany.
Back on the bus for about twenty minutes, we stopped at the location of the real story and the filming of
The Sound of Music. Arranged by the guides, we sang Lisle and Wolfgang’s song, “
Going on Sixteen ”. We glimpsed the grand house which is the setting of most of the story. The guide pointed out the abbey. The mountains, however, are a considerable distance away, so I don’t know how that part of the story really played out.
After another twenty minutes on the bus, we came into the traffic of Salzburg and then into the heavily trafficked busy streets of the old town. Here our walking tour started. The loveliest site was the
Mirabell gardens , in a beautiful formal design. Exiting into a
Mozart's home
An early, unsalubrious childhood home, bombarded now by traffic noise. Maybe then, too, because it is near the gates. street, we saw Mozart’s home (one of them) completely overwhelmed by wires and traffic. Once into the pedestrian prescient (mostly – there are always a few vehicles), the views improved. Small shops in medieval buildings, cobblestones streets, and a billion tourists taking photos – including us, of course. Our guide was quite good at pointing out buildings of interest and providing a few salient facts.
In the centre of the old town is the gigantic
cathedral , seeming even bigger because of the tightly winding streets. We walked partway around it to an old, beautiful cemetery, crowded with striking gravestones and monuments, all very well cared for. Through the path we came to the
St Peter restaurant , established in 703 and once lunch spot for
Charlemagne , apparently. As we were shown upstairs and along to one of their banqueting rooms, we caught some hurried glances of a stone interior and courtyard. The room for our lunch looked like it might have been part of the former monastic area – plain windows and walls. We were served an unexpectedly good soup of beef consommé with strips of toasted pancake (crepe), roasted chicken leg and potato salad with a light cucumber
dressing, plus beer. No dessert - we were urged to try coffee and cake in one of the cafés.
Ian and Deirdre took the funicular to the castle/
fortress on top of the cliff directly above the restaurant. Barbara and I wandered at a moderate pace (many fewer tourists) along the old streets, looking at Bavarian dress shops, candy stores, bakery windows, and trinket shops. For a souvenir, I bought “Mozart Balls”- chocolate covered marzipan. We almost spent our last half-hour having coffee and cake, but I noticed at the crucial moment that we were on the wrong side of the cathedral to meet our group. Getting to the correct side was more confusing than I expected, although we had the bonus of walking through a market – probably mostly for tourists. A couple of stalls (trailers that opened on one side) sold about a dozen kinds of pretzels – mostly outrageous ones such as the doughnut pretzel or the pizza pretzel, each of which were the size of a dinner plate. When we were at last at the café where we meant to have coffee, it was too late, although we did make good use of their washrooms.
Fun from the crew
A giggle from start to finish! On the bus again it took a long time to get out of Salzburg – lots of commercial and light industrial businesses. Disappointingly, once on the motorway the mountains (Alps) virtually disappeared, plus most of the road had sound barriers, masking the scenery. I entertained myself by talking pictures with my little Nikon; most were garbage but a few looked reasonable.
Our ship was berthed in Linz, a large industrial city. On the ship in time to wash up and have dinner.
This evening some of the crew put on a show for the passengers. A few did cute magic tricks and one of the waiters sang. Different groups did some funny skits – amateurish but in good fun.
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Shiela Pardee
non-member comment
Cruising too . . .
We just got back from our first river cruise from Budapest to Linz and then by bus to Saltzburg and then Prague. Beautiful! Your posts are so detailed and interesting. Hope you are well.