Salzburg, Austria

After Vienna and Mauthausen, we headed for Salzburg. 

   I love Salzburg! It is one of my favorite European towns! In 1965 the film The Sound of Music, about Maria von Trapp and her singing family became a hit! It was filmed here in Salzburg! Also, Mozart was born and spent part of his life here. It has so many good things going for it!!

Mary Kathryn and Anna with Salzburg and the Salzach River in the background. 

The name of the river is derived from the word Salz, which means salt. The transport of salt down this river was an important part of the local economy. 

Mozart's Birthplace 

Salzburg Cathedral

That morning we toured the town and went for a climb up to the castle. 

Austrian ice cream does not equal the goodness of Italian gelato!!!

Hike around the Castle

Views from the top.

Fraulein Maria's view from the top.

A stop for pretzels!

That afternoon we went for a Fraulein Maria bicycle tour. It was so much fun and we got to see so many Sound of Music sites!!

Here we are with our bikes!!

Anna had Friedrich...

I had Marta...

Mary Kathryn had not been on a bike for awhile and was a little shaky. 

Mirabell Palace and Gardens

This is where Maria and the children sing Do-Re-Mi. 

The Pegasus Fountain that they sang and danced around. 

Singing under the arch.

We did a little of our own singing…
(sorry it is sideways) 

The Dwarf Gnome Park

Fraulein Maria twirling in the fields...

Us twirling in the field...

This isn't the same cemetery the movie was filmed in, but it was the inspiration for the set built in the movie.

The Horse Pond in Herbert von Karajan Square is where Maria and the children ran by while singing My Favorite Things. 

This was an old riding school, now open air theatre, where the Von Trapp sang before they fled the Nazis. 

This was the building in the movie that had the huge Nazis flag hanging from it…needless to say the people in Salzburg were not happy about it. 

Maria skips through this square singing I have Confidence and playfully splashes the water in the fountain. 

Here is our reenactment…

The Nonnberg Abbey, which is where Maria stayed was built in 714 by St. Rupert and is the oldest abbey in the world!

Here is our best nun-like pose.

The front of Frohnberg Palace which was the front of the house in the film. 

This was the back of the house, which is an entirely different mansion. 

This is where Maria and the children fell off of the canoe. 

The Gazebo is not in it's original location…it had to be moved after crazy movie fans illegally trespassed onto private property to get pictures of the gazebo. 

And yes, we would have been those crazy trespassing moving fans…

The bike ride back...

We ended our day with a Sound of Music Musical…of course!!

On a serious note...

When I think of Salzburg, I will always think of Adam Ross. Anna and I learned of his death while we were in Salzburg. PFC Adam Ross was killed in the Wardak Providence of Afghanistan on July 24, 2012. He was in 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team of Vicenza, Italy.