Berchtesgaden Trip: Salzburg

This is actually our second time in Salzburg… we were there last Memorial Day Weekend with Scott, Elisha, Dan and Sarah (but it’s still not blogged – maybe someday).  We didn’t do the Sound of Music tour last time and our friends really wanted to do so we thought it might be fun.   We were hoping for the bus with loud print and gigantic pictures… it’s really the only way to go.   The guide was informative telling us lots of things about where the real Maria lived and worked, where they filmed parts of the money and lots of general things about Salzburg.   We even listened to and sang music from the show.   Traveling with a big group of all of our friends, it was nice to just get on and off the bus instead of drive.

First stop: the Van Trapp stately home…

The Salzburg castle from the bus window…

Geneva and Hanna in front of the  ‘I am Sixteen going on Seventeen’ Gazebo now situated on the grounds of the Hellbrunn Castle in Salzburg…

 

Favorite pictures of the day… Can these two ‘bookend children’ and all the kids in-between just stop growing and stay like this forever.  We’re in the golden years (all of our kids here and none of them left the house) and we just love it!!  Time is going by too fast!

This is the ‘lane’ similar to where they filmed the Von Trapp kids hanging off the trees.

After driving around Salzburg for a bit we wandered out into the Salzkammergut Lake District.  Even though it was a little overcast it was still such a gorgeous area.

  

Our last stop was in the little town of Mondsee to see the grand church where Maria and Mr. Von Trapp were married in the film.  Cute little town.  Love that chevron pattern on the square floor.

  

We found really great sandwiches at a bakery in town and sat down to share them.

Goodbye tour bus!  The bus let us off at the Mirabell Gardens – where Maria and the Von Trapp children sing and march through arbors and around fountains.

In the distance you can see the Salzburg castle sitting on the hill…

Matthew, being a goof in the Arbor…

The fountain that the Von Trapps walk around singing… we did it for our video!

The Chuggs at the Do Re Mi finale spot…

We separated from our big group of friends after Mirabell Gardens and a half hour at the big playground.  We had already toured the Salzburg Castle last time we were here so we headed in a different direction.  What had turned out as a rainy overcast morning was turning out HOT.  The kids found the fountain and were thrilled when Dad started a water fight.

 

Beautiful dirndl’s in the store windows… love this one.

We decided to do the ‘Steingasse Stroll’… a street in from the river, which was the only road in the Middle Ages going south over the Alps to Venice.  (this was the first stop north of the Alps).  Such a cool hidden road…

Luke is reaching up to the arch at part of the town’s medieval fortification.  The coat of arms on the arch is the prince-archbishop who paid Bavaria a huge ransom to stay out of the Thirty Years’ War.

  

Emily sitting on the steps of #9 where a plaque shows that Joseph Mohr, who wrote the words to ‘Silent Night’ was born in 1792.  The Christmas carol was composed and first sung in the village of Oberndorf, just outside of Salzburg, in 1818.

Megan and Luke are sitting by door #19.  The carvings on the old door were thought to be notices from beggars to the begging community… kind of a ‘hobo code’ indicated whether residents would give or not.  I’m not sure if this home did or did not?

 

Ryan stands at the corner where the wall is gouged out.  This scar was left even after the building was restored, to remind locals of the American GI who tried to get a tank down this road… (it’s much too skinny for a tank).

From the Steingasse we climbed the stairs up to this view and stopped for a drink and snack.

(Notice the small red dome in the left of the picture below… that’s the oldest nunnery in the German-speaking world (established in 712).  The real Maria from the Sound of Music taught in this nunnery’s school.  In 1927 she and Captain von Trapp were married in that church and not in the church filmed in the movie. )

 

By 4:00 or so we were ready to take a bus back to our car and head back to the cabin to hang out.  A great day in Salzburg!