The Hills Are Alive!

The hills are alive with the Sound of Music! Today was the day we took our touristy 4 hour-long bus tour. We arrived in Salzburg and boarded the bus at 9:00. We drove around Salzburg with our enthusiastic guide Birgit, who is originally from Germany. It seems that Austrians don’t really embrace the story of the Von Trapp family compared to the rest of the world.

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We drove by Nonnburg Abbey where Maria Von Trapp was a postulant. Various parts of the movie were filmed within the abbey walls and at the gate. Our next stop was at Hellbrunn Palace where the iconic gazebo used in the movie is located. The gazebo is very small and the famous “I am Sixteen Going on Seventeen” dance sequence was actually filmed in a Hollywood replica, but all the outside shots were in front of the original gazebo. Also located at Hellbrunn Palace is the tree-lined lane where the children climbed the trees in their play clothes.

The tour then took us a couple of kilometers to the Leopold House. The stunning white mansion was used to film the back patio scenes on the lake with the breathtaking Unterberg Mountain in the background. We learned that when they filmed the scene where everyone falls out of the boat into the lake, there was a scuba diver underneath in case of an emergency rescue.

We then drove along the mountain ridge singing Sound of Music songs, until we came to Wolfgangsee. This mountain lake is about 45 minutes east of Salzburg. From our scenic overlook you could see all the little villages nestled along the lakeshore stretching as far as the eye could see! A few minutes further on we drove into the village of Mondsee and spent an hour walking round. We saw the church where they filmed the Von Trapp wedding. However we got to see a “real” wedding at the front of the church! The wedding party, family, and friends were all lined up out front. The bells rang and the bride and groom exited as a brass band played. Everyone was dressed in traditional Trachten…lederhosen and wool jackets for the men and colorful dirndls for the women.

After observing the wedding the church was open to the public. We then purchased meats, cheeses, breads, and amazing strawberries from the Marktplatz in front of the cathedral. It was a beautiful spring day to sit on the edge of the fountain and eat lunch together as a family!

The tour ended with a video on the bus about the making of the movie and another sing-along. Our final destination was the Mirabell Palace in central Salzburg. Mirabell is known for its fountains and gardens many of which were used in the “Do Re Mi” song (steps, Pegasus fountain, and arched path).

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After the tour we meandered around the gardens, got a little lunch at a café by the Salzsach River, and then began hiking around the city. We walked up and down the old town main street, ate a Mozart kügel treat (chocolate covered marzipan ball), saw Mozart’s birth house, the Salzburg Dom Cathedral, and shopped in a little market.

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I particularly liked St. Peter’s Cemetery, but unfortunately the church was closed due to renovations. We climbed the old carved out caves near the cemetery which afforded us lovely views of the rooftops, cemetery, and Dom Cathedral. The stone chapel inside the cave dated from 1178 and the other old alcoves were a reminder of Salzburg’s past. The town’s wealth came from salt mines in the hills.

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We then took a quick walk past the oldest restaurant in Europe, which dates from 803 AD. As we made it back to our car we passed the church where Mozart’s Mass in D Minor premiered and crossed the “Do Re Mi” bridge used in the film. The rain clouds settled over the Salzburg Fortress as we settled into the snug dry corner of a traditional Austrian restaurant from the 18^th century.

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