My Favorite Things...

Today, I danced in on an Austrian hillside, walked down the aisle where Maria and the Captian were married, danced around the gardens that the children danced around, danced around the gezebo and sang Do Re Mi with a bunch of strangers; could life be any better right now?

If you are not an avid Sound of Music fan, first off, you may be crazy, second off, feel free to skip the next couple of paragraphs. Our tour guide, Martina, of Bob's Special Tours came to pick us up at the hotel. We were in a van which was great because we were free to ask questions and stop at smaller venues, things like that. We were really lucky and our other "van-mates" were all girls, all American and all our age. We had a great time together, and yes, there were seven of us and our leader, Martina... sound familiar to anyone?

The Von Trapps were a real family and a lot of the film is actually true. However, there was no Baroness, no Ralph and the character of Max represented the family priest. Maria was actually born on a train, raised in Vienna as a foster child with an atheist family. She went to school to become a teacher and then had a deep desire to become a nun. She requested the strictest of abbeys and was sent here to Salzburg. She taught in the nunnery school where she taught one of the Von Trapp children. She immediately fell in love with the child, and the other six children. There were seven, just two boys, although they were the oldest and the youngest. One day one of the children asked Maria if she liked their father, of course she said yes, what else do you say to a child. They rushed home and told their father, who was looking for a wife and mother for his children. He immediately proposed, story goes that she dropped the ceramic vase she was holding. She went to discuss the idea with Mother Superior and ended up marrying the Captain and they had a good life together. One other thing - he was 47, she was 22.

After marrying, they had three children together. The children did all have incredible voices and sang for people all over Europe, people such as the Pope and the Queen of England. Eleven years after marrying, they family snuck out of Austria on the train. The went to America from there. Although it was not like climbing over a mountain, Hitler did close the boarders the next day, so it was still a narrow escape.

Much of the inside shots of the film were shot in Hollywood, but the outside scenes were all around this area. The house was several different houses in fact, one was the backside, one the front and a different on the inside.

Edeilweiss is not the national anthem, it was composed by Rogers and Hammerstein, and it is a protected flower here that only grows at the peaks of mountains, so you are not allowed to pick it.

Liesel, the actress who played Liesel, sprained her ankle when dancing around the gazebo that was especially constructed for the film. There were actually two gezebos, they needed different size ones for different events. The gezebos were left here in Salzburg as a gift, but because too many people got hurt dancing around in the gezebo, they had to close it. So, we got to see the outside of it, but not go into it.

Our guide took us through the lake country, which was just beautiful and made the tour worthwhile even if you are not the avid van that I am. The lakes were teal, just beautiful and the surrounding towns were shot in the opening scene of the film.

We stopped on a lovely hillside with a huge field that looked like Maria's opening number in the film. We danced about, sang, and acted like the giddy fools we were. We even, as a group of seven, lined up and sang Do Re Me! Oh my! I couldn't have enjoyed myself more!

As a side stop, we went down a luge ride. It was really quick, but lots of fun to go down a mountain as you looked out over the beautiful countryside! We also went to a small place and had delicious, homemade "crisp apple strudel!" Amazing!

We went to the church where the wedding was filmed in one of the small towns. It was a huge church and it looked very different, it is amazing what Hollywood can do, but still, it was the church and I walked down that same aisle! The real Von Trapps were married in the church that is in the Nunberg Abbey here where Maria was a teacher. I hope to take the short hike up there in the morning.

We ended up at Mirabell Gardens where many of the scenes from "Do Re Me" were filmed. We jumped up the steps, pranced around the fountain, posed in front of statues, all of the above! Our tour of the Sound of Music ends there, but it was so much fun! Hailey, somehow we need to find a way to work into a field trip to bring kids here! Not only is it the home to the Sound of Music, but also the birth place of Mozart! I think it sounds very educational! :)

We walked around and enjoyed the small city of Salzburg. I came upon a store where my parents that my parents and I had marveled at before. It is a huge store full of decorated blown eggs. When I say huge, I mean thousands upon thousands of eggs. Have you even blown an egg to decorate for Easter? It is extremely difficult! I had remembered it from the last time I was here and decided that I could not pass up another opportunity, so I purchased a few and had them shipped home!

For the afternoon we went up to the Fortress that overlooks the city. It is one of the oldest and largest in Europe and is situated in a wonderful lookout spot. We spent a couple of hours wondering around the courtyard, the palace and military museums before sitting with a Coke to enjoy the view for a bit.

This evening I went into the Salzburg Cathedral which I thought was truly beautiful and not nearly as gaudy as the other churches in the area I have seen. It was huge and decorated with murals on the ceiling. I walked a few more short steps to St. Peter's, no, not the one in Rome, and happened upon some sort of service. The monks were singing and the acoustics were fantastic. I sat, mezmorized for a few minutes by the beautiful voices these men had.

I went out to the cemetry beside the church which was the inspiration for the cemetry in the film, although that was a Hollywood creation. Although the cemetry is old, the tombstones are not. This is because people rent these plots, they do not own them, so if family members don't pay rent, they're out and someone new is in!

After that, I walked over to the otherside of the river where I wandered down a small road to find the birthplace of the man who wrote Silent Night. Just a small landmark, but quite an important man!

Another soccer game will be on in the square in a few minutes, so we will probably enjoy those festivities again shortly! Tomorrow we head to Vienna, Mary leaves us the next morning, we spend the day in Vienna, the night on a train to Venice and then we will meet up with Angie in Venice! So, you probably won't hear from me for a few days, but we will be fine! Have a great week and I really do appreciate you taking the time to read!