"It" was the gazebo from the Sound of Music scene where Liesl and that soon to be Nazi rat fink Rolf do their dance and sing "16 Going On 17." I'm NOT a Hollywood groupie type (I will give you a minute to recover from the shock of that not at all shocking news).
Of all the stuff we saw on the Sound of Music tour we took, the gazebo was probably the most surprising and, in a weird way, thrilling to me.
Yes, we were those people for half a day. Yes, the people who get on a tour bus, shuffle off, listen to the patter of the tour guide, take some pictures, get back on the bus, and go to the next stop. And it was totally worth it -- because it was the Sound of Music tour! In Salzburg! About the Sound of Music!
(Editor's Note: Okay, they get the idea.)
We were actually scheduled to do it Tuesday afternoon, but we had just arrived in Salzburg without time to get lunch. I called and the tour operator company kindly let us switch days and times, to Wednesday morning.
I also rose early to cab to the airport and pick up a car for the rest of the trip. We wanted to visit a few picturesque villages. I downloaded and used the "Free Now" app to pre-order a cab -- although using it is not free, so I'm not quite sure why it is named that. A very nice Egyptian cabby picked me up, and we chatted the whole way to the airport.
He has lived in Austria for over 20 years, coming here to work at a hotel. About six years ago he switched to driving so he had a more variable schedule. His brother is a doctor in Orlando, Florida, so his wife and kids enjoy visiting there. He also goes back to Egypt at least once a year, and then they travel around Europe a lot as well. Nice man. I didn't take Uber because, although it exists in Salzburg, there are not many drivers on it.
The Hungarian woman at Avis was very helpful as well, she even came out to show me how to adjust the seat on the new Skoda (made in the Czech Republic). The car itself is pretty amazing -- on cruise control, it automatically slows down if another, slower car is in front of you in your lane, and then speeds back up to the cruise control speed once the car is either no longer in front, or speeds up.
We parked in Mirabell Square, across from the famed Mirabell Gardens. The coffee stand also had breakfast, so we had our 890th sausage for the trip, checked in, and got in line.
But enough about that. This is supposed to be all about the Sound of Music bus tour!
The first bus loaded quickly, and we had to catch the second bus. We were quite lucky, as the guide for the second bus was a jolly Englishman with a crackling sense of humor and great story-telling skills. A bit of an introduction, and we were off for a nearly five hour tour about sites in one of the greatest movies ever made!
Schloss Leopoldskron (above) wasn't itself used in the Sound of Music, but its terrace and the small lake behind it was. The movie producers had wanted to use it, but they were not allowed to cut down all the trees in front (attention Dan Snyder!). So they used the terrace and the lake backdrop, but filmed any scene that included the palace at another location.
A view of the fortress from the back.
A view of the lake at Leopoldskron. This is the mountain that the Captain (played by Christopher Plummer, of course) said at the end of the movie they would hike over to get out of Austria. Well, the real family escaped whilst on tour in Italy in 1938 -- they bought tickets on a ship to the United States.
Ironically, escaping Salzburg via Untersburg (that's the mountain) would lead right into Nazi Germany (Salzburg is right on the border), so that is one of many Hollywood fictions in the movie.
A personal note about Plummer. In 1981, I went to my first Shakespeare -- Othello, with a college friend (Howard Rodda). The two stars were Christopher Plummer and James Earl Jones. Talk about being in awe!
Not our bus, but our tour company. Best picture
of Julie Andrews on the back of bus I've ever seen.
Schloss Hellbrun, where the gazebo
has been located since 1991.
The very gazebo from the movie.
Unfortunately it is kept locked,
or we would have danced and sang.
This house appears in an opening shot from
the movie. . .when Maria is dropped off from
the bus to go to the Von Trapp home.
The home itself. Alas, this was the closest
we could get to it on the tour. You can see
Christopher Plummer in your mind's eye
tearing down the Nazi flag and ripping it in half.
The abbey. They understandably don't
allow tour groups up because of the
noise. We did not later make a
side trip to see it.
The town of St. Gilgen and Wolfgangsee
were featured in the opening scenes.
The church where they were wed (above). It is stunning. Not as long as in the movie (the wide angle lens fooled us all), it is a church of beauty in the town of Mondsee, a goodly drive from Salzburg. I can't wait to see the movie again -- the church is spectacular.
The Pegasus statute in the Mirabell Gardens.
Parts of the Do-Re-Mi scenes were filmed here.
They ended up copying this move
during the Do-Re-Mi scenes.
The tour was very cool to do for Sound of Music junkies like Carol and I. Torie enjoyed it too, although not as much, because, alas, it wasn't an annual viewing staple at our house like it was during the youth of Carol and I. We all want to watch the movie again as soon as possible, as the scenery and backdrop is imprinted on our minds.
The hills are alive with the sound of music
With songs they have sung for a thousand years
The hills fill my heart with the sound of music
My heart wants to sing every song it hears
With songs they have sung for a thousand years
The hills fill my heart with the sound of music
My heart wants to sing every song it hears
My heart wants to beat like the wings of the birds
that rise from the lake to the trees
My heart wants to sigh like a chime that flies
from a church on a breeze
To laugh like a brook when it trips and falls over
stones on its way
To sing through the night like a lark who is learning to pray
that rise from the lake to the trees
My heart wants to sigh like a chime that flies
from a church on a breeze
To laugh like a brook when it trips and falls over
stones on its way
To sing through the night like a lark who is learning to pray
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