Strudelweiss

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This blog is dedicated to my Mum who turns 65 today. Officially she can now change her occupation from "housewife" to "retired".

Did a tour of Austria yonks ago, so wasn´t keen to re-do the major tourist sights. First stop was Vienna. Visited the Schloss Belvedere to admire some paintings from local dude Gustav Klimt among others. 2006 is the 250th anniversary of Mozart´s birth, so there are performances everywhere. We got some standing tickets to the opera "The Marriage of Figaro" for the bargain basement price of 2 Euro´s each.

Then it was onto Salzburg. Really pretty town and easy to walk around. You can´t come here without doing the mega-kitschy "Sound of Music" tour. It was a lot of fun. Here´s an unknown funny fact - Michael´s aunt taught Chinese cooking to Maria Von Trapp when the family lived in Stowe, Vermont.

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Photos

Monster meal
Wiener schnitzel and turkey breast washed down with Stiegl beer

Demel desserts
Apple strudel and Sachertorte

Geburthaus
Mozart´s birthplace

Salzburg
Residenz fountain where Maria sang "I have confidence in me"

Schloss Mirabell
Gardens featured in The Sound of Music

Von Trapp house
Back of the house and lake

I am 16, going on 17
Famous gazebo. They built a larger replica for the film

Swingers
Remember the scene with the kids hanging in the trees?

Nonnberg Abbey gate
Where´s Maria?

Basilika Mondsee
Wedding church that they used in the film. Von Trapps were not married here but in Nonnberg Abbey

St Sebastian graveyard
One of the graveyards used in the film. Mozart´s wife and father are also buried here.

Climb every mountain
Mountain they used in the movie except it goes to Germany, not Switzerland. Christopher Plummer said "I´m not carrying that fat kid" so they used a smaller substitute.

Comments

[Siah]

Hello!
Hey Ges, glad to see you're having a ball, and still enjoying the great food! Had some really amazing oysters the other day and Hong's heading down to Tassie soon so I'm sure I'll be filling my face with more sweet treats! See ya soon! Siah

[hope]

monster meal picture
I would love to know the name of the restuarant you were eating at that had the turkey breast. I will be in salzburg early next year. I loved looking at all of your pictures. Thanks