Ok get ready for today it’s a BIG one!
We had booked 2 seats on Salzburg’s Panorama Tours Sound of Music Tour – and I was SOOOOO excited!
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| The horrible view from ourcampground - definately lives up to the name camping panorama! |
We were meant to be picked up at our campsite (Camping Panorama Salzburg – beautiful view over the town of Salzburg. Great Campsite!) at 9am for a 9:30am start, however by 9:30we had seen no sight of the bus. At about 9:35 they finally arrived – there had apparently been confusion over which campground we were staying at.
So it was on with the tour.... better late than never!
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| Excited much? |
We were lucky enough to be in one of the small vans rather than the big bus, which meant that our driver and tour guide (an Austrian/Spaniard) could drive a little closer to the action at each of our stops en-route.
First was a drive around the old city of Salzburg. Here we saw the Residenzplaz (Residence Square) where Maria jumped on the bus from the Abbey to head off to the Von Trapp house.
Note: The real reason Maria left the Abbey was under a request for a nurse to come and look after the eldest daughter of Captain Von Trapp, and in those days when this type of help was need nuns were the answer. The daughter, Maria (not Leisl – her name was changed in the movie as there could only be one Maria) was suffering from Scarlet Fever, the same illness that had killed her mother. She however did recover and once she was well again Maria (the nun) stayed on to become the governess for all 7 Von Trapp children.
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| The Horse bath |
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And the horsies -these guys have right of way in all the streets of Salzburg so dont mess with them
Well dont mess with the drivers - note this one smokingit up! |
Next we saw the Kapitalplaz (Capital Square) with its horse bath – the first “car wash” in Europe we were told and the Rock Riding School which was converted into Festival Hall where the Von Trapps sang in the festival.
Note: In the movie this was where they escaped, but in reality the family sang in te festival 3 years prior to their escape. In fact they were so well known in Austria that they were asked to sing for the Fuhrer at his birthday. They refused; this being one of the insults to the Nazi’s that caused the family to have to flee Austria later on.
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| Not very exciting but this is a pic of the theatre |
As we made our way out of the old city we passed the Nonberg Abbey (Maria’s abbey) – still a real working abbey, you cant go in or get particularly close so i couldn’t take any photos.
Then across the river Salzach and where we could see the Mozart Footbridge which was filmed in the movie while Maria and the children play and dance around Salzburg in their curtain outfits.
Our guide also gave us some great non-Sound of Music information about some of the very old houses and buildings in Salzburg, some even being built back into the cliffs with only their front facades showing.
We drove south of the city to the Leopoldskron Palace which was used as the back yard of the Von Trapp House for the movie and was where THE gazebo was originally located. The Palace, owned by Harvard University backs onto the lake which was used for the boat scene during the movie.
Movie Fact: The movie was filmed in February, definitely not summer time in Salzburg. The actors apparently always remember being cold – especially in the boat scene where they had to fall into the freezing cold lake. To top it off the actress playing Gretel was 3 and couldn’t swim ad nearly drowned during filming!
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| The Von Trapp's lake (well at least in the movie anyway) |
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| And here we are! |
The lake freezes in winter and when the ice is 10cm thick it is used for ice skating.
The house they used for the inside of the Von Trapp house was actually the Schloss Frohnburg (Frohnberg Palace). The actual Von Trapp house is in the suburb of Aigen, which we unfortunalty didn’t get to see.
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Next stop was yet another Palace at Hellbrunn. This is where the Gazebo has now been relocated to so that the people at Harvard don’t have tourist constantly jumping the fence to sing 16 going on 17.
Apart from that Hellbrunn had nothing to do with the Sound of Music. It was however quite beautiful and originally a hunting lodge for the Archduke/Bishops. Our guide said the grounds have the best Christmas markets in all of Salzburg!
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| The driveway leading to the palace - this is where the best Christmas markets in Salzburg take place in December |
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| Welcome to my ever so humble hunting lodge :) |
Next it was further afield – about a 45min drive to the Salzcammergut – the lakes and alpine district to Salzburg, to the town of Fuschl with its glorious lake Fuschlsee. Although not a part of the movie itself it is a popular summer spot for Austrians. From here we could also see up into the mountains to the oldest Hotel in Europe. The only way to get there is via the cogwheel train up the Schafberg (Sheep Mountain), which did feature briefly in the movie – little red train Maria and the children boarded in Wolfgangsee (Lake Wolfgang) which we visited next at the town of St Gilgen. Here we dipped our toes into the still rather fresh lake and admired more picture postcard views.
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| If you can see on top of this mountain is the hotel |
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| Random site along the way - this is the headquarters of Redbull! The whole building is made of glass, even the floor! Girls are told not to wear skirts unless they are real exhibitionists of course |
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| Beautiful lakeside scenery |
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| This was as close to the water as i got - too cold for me! |
Still in the lakes district we stopped for 1hr at the village of Mondsee (Moon Lake) here we visted the Mondsee Cathedral used for the wedding scene in the movie. Note: The actual wedding was held in Nonnberg Abbey. The director was given special permission to film in the Abbey but he decided against it out of respect. Any scenes filmed inside the Abbey were shot in a studio with sets designed from drawings and photos taken during a visit to the Abbey.
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| More lakes - this is the fields around Lake Mondsee where the children cycle their bikes |
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| The outside of the cathedral |
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| Me walking down the aisle - again :) |
Mondsee is also where the alley of trees is located that the children are climbing when their father returns from Vienna with the Baroness. I tried to climb one (rather unsuccessfully) – let’s just say that the trees were 40 years smaller during filming.
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| Tree climbing (or more like hugging) - note to self thongs are not good tree climbing shoes! |
We also made a stop at Cafe Braun Konditorei, famous for its delicious cakes which did not disappoint.
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| The streets of Mondsee |
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| TaDa - the Lake! |
Sadly the tour was almost over, we listened to songs from the movie soundtrack on the way back to Salzburg. On the way our guide also told us about the nearby Kehlsteinhaus – Eagles Nest, built just over the Austrian – German border on top of Obersalzberg mountain. This was a $300,000,000 house built for Hitler for his birthday. Pity he did like it one bit as he was afraid of heights and only went there on a few occasions. His preferred house was in the foothills of the mountains but totally destroyed by Allied bombing raids. The Eagles Nest, considered a marvel of engineering and design survived but only because it was so high and covered by clouds at the time of the raids.
We finished our tour back in the centre of Salzburg at the Mirabell Gardens, famous for the Signing of Do-Re-Mi. These sights included the Central and Pegasus Fountains which the children danced around, the Ivy cover arched walkway, the Zwerglgarten – Garden of the Dwarfs which the children play and skip though patting the dwarfs, the athletic statures which the children pose next to and imitate and of course the Mirabell Steps or Do-Re-Mi steps as they are now nicknamed where the song finishes... Phew!
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| The beautiful gardens! |
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| SO much detail and effort! |
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| Woohoo - the ivy covered archway |
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| The central fountain |
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| Dave posing with the athletic statue |
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| Me and my friend Mr Dwarf - not sure if thats PC but Snow White didnt seem to care so neither do I! |
After all of this fun we were famished and looked for some lunch in the old city. We found the delicious Wildermann –traditional Austrlan restaurant where we feasted on Zum Wildermann Schnitzel (schnitzel stuffed with mushroom onion and ham), bratworst and sauerkraut – BEST MEAL OF THE TRIP so far! Dave of course had some of the local Salzburg Skegel beer to wash it down.
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| Officially the best food of the trip so far - GO TO ZUM WILDERMAN!!! |
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| Dave: "I'm going to smash this meal!" |
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| A little more polite on this side of the table |
After lunch we toured the old city on foot admiring the Christmas shops
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| The famous Sacher Torte shop |
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| Roaming the streets of Salzburg |
and finding the Dom – Salzburg Cathegral and the St Peters Monastery and adjoining cemetery (a last movie site – where the Von Trapps hid from the Nazi’s before escaping across the mountains).
Note: The family actually escaped via train to Italy before the borders were closed (aided by their butler, who was himself a founding member of the Nazi Part in Salzburg). If they had climbed across the mountains like in the movie they actually would have walked straight past Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest into Germany (plus Switzerland is about 300km away from Salzburg – a very long hike indeed).
After Italy the Von Trapps’ went to America where the Captain was forced to allow the children to sing in public to make money as all of their fortune was tied up and lost in Austria. They became very famous in America singing mainly Austrian folk songs – in German no less, unusual for the time given the anti- German atmosphere.
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| Auf Wiederschen Sazburg - WE WILL BE BACK! |
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