SALZBURG, AUSTRIA

This was my my idea of Austria before I went there.Quite honestly, that image hasn't changed. The Austria of The Sound of Music still looks much like it did then, and with good reason. That's where the movie was filmed. I knew that, but it was still wonderful to find that the pictures in my mind were still there. Plus a whole lot more!

Our first full day, we took a tour of the lakes and mountains around Salzburg. This is the area that you see in the first scenes of the movie, before Julie Andrews as Maria begins singing, "The Sound of Music." Our first stop was St. Gilgen, where the mountains and lake are incredibly beautiful shades of green, blue and purple. After living in the Saudi Arabian desert for a few months, these colors made our hearts very happy.

Our bus driver pointed out the following building as we made our way through the town of Fuschl am See. At first, I thought the sculptures on the outside of this building looked like gigantic termites, but then I realized my mistake when the driver said this building was the international headquarters for the energy drink RED BULL. Those, of course, are bulls stampeding out of the building.                                                                                                                                                                                                
                           
                       

One of the founders of Red Bull, Dietrich Mateschitz, is supposedly the richest man in Austria, and Austrians are very proud that this company was founded and is headquartered here. I also learned that Mateschitz came up with the idea after drinking a Japanese energy drink that helped him with jet lag. Something to remember the next time I fly.

Our last stop on the tour before turning around & heading back to Salzburg was St. Wolfgang. This little town was also on a lake and surrounded by mountains. There was a riot of colors with flower gardens all over the place!

 I loved looking at the architecture and seeing that most of the buildings looked exactly like I thought Bavarian architecture would. I'm not sure why that surprised me, but it was a delight to see.

 Tex, in front of the St. Wolfgang's restaurant Dorf-Alm

The previous night when we arrived in Salzburg, we went to a restaurant where Tex got weiner schnitzel, which I tried, fully expecting to dislike it. Surprise! It was great.

The weiner schnitzel at Dorf-Alm

I decided then to try as many weiner schnitzels and apple strudels as possible and find the best in Salzburg and the surrounding area. I tried the W-S in St. Wolfgang's and, while very good, not as good as the previous night. The apple strudel was also good, but not great. As it was the first strudel, it was the one to beat.

Our second day, we went exploring through the streets of Salzburg a bit, and went to both Mirabell Gardens and the Salzburg Fortress. 

Mirabell Gardens smelled as beautiful as it looked, thanks to all the flowers!

 Tulips and other lovely flowers at Mirabell Gardens

Beautifully planned flower beds

On the street in Salzburg

Locked in Love: Makartsteg

Makartsteg is the most popular of the pedestrian bridges crossing the Salzach River in Salzburg. Couples come and attach a lock to the bridge in an expression of their undying love for one another. I saw this on a bridge in Paris, France also. I am so intrigued by the stories each one of these locks has to tell, but obviously can't.                                  

While Tex and I didn't attach a lock to the bridge, he was patient enough to let me look at many of the locks and take all the pictures I wanted.      
                                                                                                                                                                                

This was the closest I could find to our names, since my first name begins with a D and his with an A. Of course, our lock would have been blue. Blue is THE color in my book!

This was my favorite lock. All I could see at first was this side of the lock. I was extremely curious to see if Claire had given a positive answer.

??????????

And she did! I hope Claire and Sailor Pete are still happy together. 

 After crossing the bridge, our stroll took us down streets that looked like this...

And this....

and then we found this...

Mozart's Birthplace

To many Americans, Salzburg is the home of The Sound of Music, but to Austrians (and the rest of the world), Salzburg is Mozart's home. His music can be heard wafting from university classrooms and in the open areas of the city where street musicians play. It makes the city such a welcoming, wonderful place.

 Tex in front of Mozart's bronze statue in Mozartplatz (Mozart Square) where later that night, we heard a violin concert.

Not too far away from this, we found a beer garden with what sounded like an Oompa Band.

No tubas here, but the music was still very, very fun!

Oh, the Christmas shops!

The Christmas shops were my favorite. They probably should be called Christmas and Easter shops, because in addition to hundreds of Christmas ornaments and decorations, they had hundreds (maybe thousands) of Easter egg ornaments in beautiful pastel colors. It was a feast of color!

Too bad our suitcases were already full to overflowing! However, I'm not sure these fragile beauties would have made the trip safely home.

 Ah, the dirndl, that adorable traditional dress worn by Austrian and Bavarian women and girls. There were several dirndl shops on the streets of Salzburg, making me wonder if these shops catered to tourists or residents. I saw several people wearing them, mostly those working in the tourist trade, but some looked like they were everyday, normal Austrians doing their shopping. Whatever their reason, the dresses are charming.

Mozart Chocolate is another item Salzburg is famous for. It's not associated with the composer except by name. I only tried one kind of Mozart chocolate and it was quite good! I'm not sure how I would feel about owning a piano made out of it. 

Tourist shops abound with items I expected to see in Austria and Germany: marionette puppets, cuckoo clocks, postcards, magnets, beer steins and so much more. The picture of me is terrible, but it's the only one I have with all of those items. I especially loved all of the cuckoo clocks; each one so different, so creative and so fun.

After strolling through the shops, we headed to the Hohensalzburg Castle, also known as the Salzburg Fortress. You get to the fortress by walking up many stairs or by riding a funicular, which is a cross between a cable car and an inclined elevator. No pictures of that because I had my eyes closed most of the time.

The view from the fortress is definitely worth the awkward ride!

(My favorite picture of the view. It looks like a model of Austria--not a real place!)

Below is a picture of one of the Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg, Leonhard von Keutschach, who ruled at HohenSalzburg from 1495-1519. The guide said he was nicknamed Cabbage Head (or something like that--somethings get lost in translation), because as a child, he was hit in the head with a cabbage. It apparently made him a bit difficult to get along with, but it didn't keep him from making many needed improvements to the Castle.

And I thought my childhood nickname was a bit goofy. I'm certainly glad it wasn't Cabbage Head.

 The dungeon at the fortress.  Entrance and exit were only through this hole. 

 The incredible glockenspiel at the fortress.

And then...Lunch!

Instead of small loaves of bread or baskets of chips, we were given a basket of pretzels as we sat down at the fortress' cafe. Yum!

Weiner schnitzel #3--good, but still not as good as #1.

The apple strudel was ok, but not great. Like the previous apple strudel, the apples were fantastic, but not the pastry. I decided at this point, to give up on apple strudel and concentrate on gelato. :)

Marionettes! 

The Marionette Museum

Tex, doing his best marionette impression

I love marionettes, and because of that, my favorite part of The Sound of Music is likely the marionette show. However....

up close and personal? Marionettes are down right creepy. They are not the happy, smiling puppets you see in the movie. Decide for yourself.

 Antoinette, built by Prof. J. Magnus, a marionette master, in 1967

  

The Trick Fountains of Hellbrunn Palace, built under the rule of Archbishop Markus Sittikus between 1613-1615. This is a representation of an actual tourist attraction outside of Salzburg. We didn't make it there, so this diorama with marionettes has to do. 

 The Family Von Trapp

The actual plaque next to these marionettes says:

Die Trapp Familie

aus dem Musical

"The Sound of Music"

(No translation needed!)

 The Peasant Uprising of 1525

 Figur aus dem Sturm, built by Durnberger in 1946

 Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich captured in the "Golden Hall" and then imprisoned for life by his nephew (and successor)

Most of the marionettes in the museum were history-based, and therefore probably more creepy than ones made for light-hearted plays. Nevertheless, they're still not friendly looking to me. What do YOU think?

And then on to more fun...

We didn't eat ONLY weiner schnitzel, apple strudel and gelato. We also tried a few other things, like this Austrian hot dog. It's a frankfurter inside a roll that is much like a french baguette. Tex loved it. Me? Well, I love the basic American baseball stadium hot dog, so I wasn't crazy about the "bun." It was fun to try though.

Day 3--THE SOUND OF MUSIC!

We hopped on this bus early in the morning and headed out to see the sights of the movie. If our cute tour guide wasn't giving us background information, the soundtrack or the movie was playing. We were encouraged to sing along, which of course, Tex and I did. Not everyone was as enthusiastic. Guess they hadn't had enough coffee that morning.

Our first stop is the house used for some of the outdoor scenes at the villa. It is now a music academy and guest house, so this is as close as we got. I could imagine Uncle Max having pink lemonade on the veranda and Maria and the children falling out of the canoe. 

Next, we saw THE gazebo. Because of all the tourists coming to see it, and the property it was on was private, the city moved it to a public park.

Our guide Barbara telling us all about it. I thought it looked much smaller than the one in the movie. How did Liesl do all that "16 Going On 17" dancing in this one?

                        

Barbara explained that the directors of the movie started with the original gazebo pictured behind Barbara and me, but when Charmian Carr, who played Liesl, began jumping the benches, she crashed through one of the glass panes. At that point, the directors decided to build an expanded gazebo for dancing. That explains the size discrepancy.

 Nonnberg Abbey, where Maria was a postulate before being sent to the von Trapp family. This is also where Maria and the Captain were married, although the chapel of the Abbey was not used in the film.

One of the houses used for outdoor and indoor scenes. You see some of the yellow walls when Maria is on her way to the villa for the first time. 

And then to Mondsee (Moon Lake), a charming small town outside of Austria, where this amazing church is. St. Michael's Church is where the wedding scene was filmed. As you can see from the outside, the church is breathtaking.

And inside? It's even more beautiful than the movie makes it. I loved everything about it.

 And they have lovely little touches...like tying baby's breath and ribbon to some of the pews.

Mondsee was the most charming town I saw during our trip. The chevron plaza alone is amazing, but then all of the buildings have that picture perfect look to them.

Back to the bus, and on to the last stop...Mirabell Gardens. When we visited it 2 days previous, it never occurred to us that the gardens were those exact ones from the movie. How fun to rediscover this gem in a whole new way.

Can't you see Maria and the children skipping around this fountain while they sing Do-Re-Mi?

 Or perhaps running through this arbor that Tex and I only meandered through? 

The gardens today look much like they do in this picture taken from the movie. We didn't think to take any pictures of steps the first time we visited, and the second time....

 A wedding party was having their portraits made there. How fun!

Our adorable guide Barbara had trouble understanding why I would want her in a picture! (You can see Hohensalzburg Castle in the background on the right.)

That evening...MORE Sound of Music, but this time in a marionette show performing the musical.

The Salzburg Marionette Theater is a beautiful small theater with cherubs painted around the ceiling. It is....well, charming. Yes, that word again. But it's true. The theater is beautiful and charming, and there isn't a bad seat in the place. They perform on the weekends and have two shows: The Magic Flute and The Sound of Music. We, of course, chose The Sound of Music.

Here are the main puppets used in the show.

At the end, a black curtain opened up above the puppet stage to show us the puppeteers behind/above the curtains. (Sorry for the fuzzy picture!) They grinned from ear to ear when we gave them 4 or 5 standing ovations. It was hard to imagine how they kept all those strings from getting tangled up. 

Afterwards, time for one more weiner schnitzel and gelato. Weiner schnitzel #4 was the winner! Congratulations to Gabler Brau for an outstanding schnitzel!! 

No more weiner schnitzel for me for a while, and I'm ok with that. :)
(Movie side note: We were never served "schnitzel with noodles" like the song says. Always with potatoes, but then noodles is easier to rhyme with than potatoes.)

And in the gelato category, Cafe Habakkuk is the winner. It's close to Gabler Brau, so that area is now our favorite for Salzburg cuisine. The owner Habakkuk is a bit grumpy, but he certainly knows how to make gelato. 

Tex's favorite: Waldbeeren--mixed berries

My favorite: Stracciatella--cream with chocolate chunks

The next morning, we headed to the train station for our trip back to the Frankfurt airport. 

While I might have gotten my fill of weiner schnitzel, I definitely didn't get enough of Austria. I'll be back. So, for now.....Auf wiedersehen, Austria.

More adventures await...like Frankfurt!