Germany Day 13

Sept. 22, 2011. I wish I had a pedometer to know just how many miles I had walked today! My feet ache and my knee is stiff and I am totally exhausted...I think I'd better stop complaining - after all, I am on vacation in the beautiful city of Salzburg! How bad can it be?

A brilliantly colored tour bus pulled up at our hotel at 9:15 AM, and the painting of Julie Andrews and the Von Trapp children on the side made it obvious that this was our ride for The Sound of Music Tour. A perky young lady with braids in a native costume of white blouse, long blue overdress and red apron beckoned us over and gave us a cheery greeting. Her name was Naomi, and she was about to make our day both informative and fun!

The weather was excellent once again, in fact Naomi asked if we had brought this wonderful weather with us. It seems they had just had a pretty cold streak, which is typical at this time of year. The sun was shining, the temperature wasn't even cool enough to need a jacket, and though there was some haze it soon burned off. Another perfect day! Naomi

The 1965 musical "The Sound of Music" won five Academy Awards including Best Picture and is one of the most popular musicals ever produced. Today we were surrounded by the city, the music and the mountains that made this film so memorable. What is your favorite scene? We likely saw the location where it was filmed. The lake scene where Maria and the children fall in the water? That was our first stop! The scene where the Baroness breaks up with Captain Von Trapp? Right beyond the lake. The gazebo scene where Liesl and Rolfe share a kiss? I have a picture standing next to it!

At Wolfgang Lake; some movie scenes were shot nearby

As the bus took us to each new location, Naomi pointed out landmarks from the movie plus told some history of the city as we passed. The soundtrack played over the bus' speakers, and Naomi had us happily singing along. From Nonnberg Abbey, where Maria was a postulant, to the majestic 17th century St. Michael's Basilika in Mondsee where the Captain and Maria were married; from the mountain lakes and meadows where Maria sang the film's title song to the Mirabell Gardens where she taught the children "Do Re Mi"; from the tree-lined avenue where Maria built up her confidence to approach the Captain's house to the mountains the family climbed to escape Hitler into Switzerland; we saw it all! Interesting side notes about filming were also shared: Christopher Plummer ran up an immense bar tab. The bored children switched all the shoes (left in the hall for polishing) in their hotel from one floor to another on a lark. The water was so cold when the boat tipped that the children refused to do more than two takes. Too soon we were singing, "So Long, Farewell" and leaving Naomi to explore more of the city on our own.

Everyone went their seperate ways to explore, shop, eat or rest. Deb and I took an elevator inside the mountain to the Museum of Modern Art. not to see the museum but to see Salzburg from a high vantage point. The panoramic vista of the city was breathtaking, and we opted for lunch at the museum cafe in order to prolong our time overlooking the city. Side note: the museum was probably very interesting - some of the displays and posters gave hints of very unusual and off-beat exhibits. The Last Supper with thugs was particularly intriguing. Maybe another time! Salzburg

After checking in with Jens and Judy to let them know we were off on another adventure, Deb and I hailed a taxi for Anif, a neighboring suburb. We had some specific shopping in mind that could not be found in Salzburg so headed out of the city. Success! We found exactly what we were looking for and hopped on the city bus to come back to Salzburg. By the way, had you ever heard of the Jello Shoe Store. No? Me neither, until today!

After meeting back up with our group, some of us headed for the old part of the city for their Oktoberfest. Beer tents, food vendors, entertainers, kids' rides and craftspeople filled the square. Hundreds of people, many in traditional costume, were enjoying the fair. We heard Oom-Pah bands, saw musical whip cracking (no, I can't explain it any better than that), and took advantage of fair food at its finest. No corn dogs were to be seen, but we had giant sweet pretzels and something called Langos, which were like ham and cheese wrapped in dough, deep fried and sprinkled with garlic salt. Yum! Calories? Don't vacation calories fall off when you get on the plane for home? I think I heard that somewhere.....yes, I'm sure I did! ;-p Big pretzel!

The night wasn't quite over yet. As we walked back to the vans, fireworks exploded from the castle high above the city, Seriously? Is this a dream or something? Perfect weather. The Alps. Alpine lakes. Castles. Centuries of history. Oktoberfest. And now fireworks. If it's a dream, please don't wake me! Guten Nacht, mein Freunde!