Sound of Music tour!

Today Emma and I did the ultimate tourist attraction in Salzburg (especially for Americans) ... The Sound of Music tour!

We had a very charismatic, flamboyant man (read: queen!) who knew the entire script, history and trivia of the film, as well as a lot of information about Salzburg. Here's what I picked up...

The film was released in 1965, and was actually a German film originally, called 'The Von Trapp Family Singers'. US filmmakers couldn't buy the rights to this movie, so it was made into a stage show and elaborated the storyline; it was this which was made into the film. As such, it is not factually accurate, but utilized the surroundings of Salzburg quite well :)

Fun fact! When the family were climbing the mountain at the end to go to Switzerland, they were actually climbing Untersberg (by my uni!) which borders Germany; thus they were going the wrong way.

Fun fact! The real Maria was going to sue the filmmakers because they were taking so many liberties; they silenced her with $900,000.

Interesting fact: A lot of the architecture in Salzburg was built by Italians. Only two churches were built by Austrians!

First stop, saw visited the lake where they fell in from the row boat (when dancing in their curtains) and next to this was the house the wanted to use, but couldn't get permissions, so they rebuilt all the locations in London or Hollywood! They did use the gardens though...

A joke from our tour guide: What happened to the guy with no left side?
He was all right!

Interesting fact: There once was a wall surrounding the city, which protected Salzburg from invasion during the 30 years war in the 17th century. Salzburg only became a part of Austria in the 19th century, following six years of being part of Germany, and one year before that it was a part of France after being invaded by Napoleon. Didn't know that!

Another interesting fact: The burg (castle) was started in 1077 when fortress started. Finished 600 years later; there are lots of artists live in there - there are some private apartments.

Saw the Von Trapp household - the castle Froenburg, the Month castle, by archbishop Markus Sitticus. And a castle owned by Sisi, who was Empress of Austria. We also saw the payola/glasshouse Liesel and Ralph, then Maria and Captain Von Trapp danced in...

Interesting fact: The Abby that was featured in the movie is actually a working abby, and was built in 700! The Mother at the time allowed for filming to take place in the Nunnery.

Interesting fact: Steigl is the oldest privately owned brewery in Austria, it's over 500 years old... And delicious!

After leaving the city centre, we headed off for the lakes and mountains region :) we saw lake Fischl, which is drinking quality water. This is where the Red Bull headquarters are, in an amazing glass building...

We went to Mondsee, which is where they filmed the wedding scene. This was past St Gilgen, where we were yesterday! Interesting fact: Mozart's mother was born in St Gilgen! Mondsee was a beautiful town with colorful, traditional buildings and a huge cathedral and rather large lake. Em and I had some lunch of gulash mit kartofel, and a Radler (half beer half lemonade) for good measure. Unfortunately it took a little longer to drink this and when we got back to the bus, it was pulling away!! We ran, then noticed the driver was laughing at us!! Cheeky guy...

On the bus back to Salzburg, we had a singalong to all the Sound of Music songs, and while it was a little embarrassing and so corny, it really was so much fun!!

And aside from feeling a bit dorky, I'm really glad we did it :)