The Hills are Alive....

...with the SOUND OF MUSIC!!!

Ah yes, Salzburg... The music you hear is the final song we heard at the Mozart concert we attended in the castle you see pictured here. Enjoy a brief segment of "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" (a little night music). See the five windows in a row in the top middle? That's the prince's chambers, where the concert was!

Hohensalzburg Fortress is over 900 years old!

Before the concert, we had a four course dinner in the castle. After walking around in the rain all day, I changed and primped in the bathroom. My hair was a wreck, but I was able to put it in a decent bun to feel pretty for our special date.

I've never had a meal with three knives before! Everything was wonderful.

OK- don't know why I can't get this picture to turn, but check it out! Fancy!

~The view out the window~

~The concert!~
One song, "Sinfonia da camera" by Mozart's father, used a real Alphorn!

Enjoying the show!

During intermission we looked out the window and saw the city lit up.

~Mozart's adult home~

....the SOUND OF MUSIC tour....

The house itself wasn't used in the movie, but the backyard and lake were. This is the lake where they fell out of the boat and into the water!

"I am sixteen, going on seventeen, innocent as a rose..."

"I am seventeen, going on eighteen, I'll take care of you!"

The building with the red onion-shaped dome is the Abbey.

"I have confidence in sunshine. I have confidence in rain..."

~ The front of the house!~

The back of the house. Imagine Kurt throwing rocks a Leisl's window!

This alley runs behind the house. It's where they filmed the kids playing in the trees in their curtain clothes when Captain Von Trapp, the Baroness and Max drove by. "Are those YOUR children?" :)

The great wedding chapel! I played the processional hymn on my ipod while inside and was brought to tears. It's the Basilika Mondsee and was built in 1072.

Imagine Maria in her beautiful dress with the long train walking down this aisle.

Here she meets the Captain and they bow, flanked by Leisl and Friedrich, and receive the blessings from the priest. Sigh...

"Doe, a deer, a female deer..."

"Ray, a drop of golden sun.

Me, a name, I call myself."

"Far, a long, long way to run!!!"

The tour guide was excellent. But the people on the bus were NO FUN! They played the soundtrack at times and NOBODY SANG ALONG! What's the matter with these people!! Have they never SEEN the movie? Also, it was cold and rainy, which put a damper on things. But it was amazing just to be there and feel like part of the movie. I can't wait to watch it again and be able to say, "I've been there! I've patted that dwarf statue on the head, too!" :) The songs have been stuck in my head for the last week or two as I planned the trip, and I don't see signs of them going away yet!

Salzburg Cathedral, consecrated in 1628, during the Thirty Year's War. (Originally built in 774, but destroyed and rebuilt.) Do you see the statue of Mary in the front? Let's look closer...

Look at how she is crowned Queen of Heaven by the two angels. In reality, the statue of the Blessed Mother is MUCH CLOSER than the angles holding the crown. Look!

You have to stand at just the right spot to have her crowned! It's neat!

We went to Mass here Sunday morning and the music was incredible and so glorifying to the Lord. There are FIVE ORGANS! (Though we only heard the one main organ that day.) The only odd thing was Communion! All order was gone. It was total chaos as people flooded the Communion rail to receive the Eucharist. It's so bizarre!

There's the organ!

We thought of our good friends, the Brauns, here and went inside to have some coffee and strudel! YUM!

I'd like to go to Salzburg again and spend more time there- especially with better weather. It was too rushed and we had some bad luck. Friday we got a late start then drove through storms and construction. We didn't arrive until 12:30 and were praying that we'd still be able to have the room we reserved at our bed and breakfast. (Haus Gassner) I couldn't get the call to go through to let her know we'd be late. When we arrived, I rang the doorbell and she answered. I felt terrible about it. Then we had to sneak through the house, trying to be quiet in a house with old floors and old-fashioned locks with lots of doors. I hate being loud or bothering people and felt like both were unavoidable. At one point I couldn't unlock the door to go to the bathroom and almost exploded with tension. I tossed and turned that night and didn't get very much sleep.
Saturday morning, we got ready and went to breakfast. The bus for the Sound of Music tour was supposed to pick us up at 9:10, but was late. Very late. 24 hours late. There must have been a misunderstanding about the day. There are only two tours a day, at 9:30 and 2 and the tour lasts four hours. We'd already reserved tickets for the dinner and concert at 6:30. I'd planned on going on the 9:30 S of M tour, exploring the old town, coming back to the room and getting ready, then going out. Now my beautiful plan was all messed up. And too add insult to injury it was cold and raining. I was overwhelmed with disappointment. We decided to reserve two spots for the 2:00 S of M tour, then just catch a cab to the castle. We also decided to go back to bed and take a nap, as we were both still exhausted. (We'd been out late Thursday night.)
I've explained the tour and dinner concert above. The dinner concert was really the highlight. It was fabulous. But when it was over we walked through the cold rain and sat at the bus stop for half an hour. Then we got off the bus too soon by mistake and had to walk another 10-15 minutes through the cold rain to get home. It put a damper on things.
Sunday started off beautiful and I was so excited! I'd planned a bike ride and picnic lunch after Mass, but JC really wanted to see Mozart's home, then hit the road, we agreed to do that. It turned out to be a good thing because when we came out of Mass it was cooler and cloudy, and then when we left the restaurant where we ate lunch, it was raining again. And my umbrella was in the car.
So there was a lot that went wrong on the trip. I really had high expectations and was super excited about my schedule and was disappointed in the weather and timing of things. I'd like to go back because I know we'd enjoy Salzburg a lot more with time and sunshine. Still, it was a lot of fun and Salzburg has so much to offer! Despite our troubles, it is probably in my top three European cities. (With Paris and Munich) If you have a chance, GO to SALZBURG!!! I'm glad we did!