The Hills are Alive

For our one fun day in Salzburg, we signed up to take the Sound of Music tour.  I'd already done is back in 2009 during the Mad Dash About Europe, but it's such an awesome tour that I didn't mind doing it again with Maple.  And since I didn't post photos of it last time, I'm not even repeating myself on the blog.  Nice.

The tour company picked us up at our hotel and took us to the bus.  Yes, it's so touristy cheesy awesome that the whole thing is painted with scenes from the movie.  I love it.  There was a tour guide who talked throughout the entire trip.  When he wasn't talking, the bus played the soundtrack and we were encouraged to sing along.  We did.  Again, that's part of what makes the whole thing so awesome.

We drove through the city and learned some of the history of the movie, and then headed out to the lake where those scenes were filmed.  

Next off to see the famous gazebo.

I am 39 going on 40...I'll...depend...on you!

Just for fun, here I was at 33 going on 34...

After the gazebo, we drove up into the mountains where we could see the hills that are alive with the sound of music.  That's Lake Mondsee down there.

Me and Maple up in the hills.

In the town of Mondsee, we were given a free hour to see the town, eat apple strudel, visit the church where Maria and the Captain were married, and buy souvenirs.  We met an American girl who was taking a vacation by herself, and so she tagged along with us for the rest of the day.  It was fun to make a new friend.

Inside the church it is PINK!  I've never seen a pink church before!

Back in Salzburg, we ended the tour at the Mirabelle gardens, where the children sang Do Re Mi.

We headed our way over the river to find some lunch and work our way up to the fortress on the top of the hill.

We took a selfie along the way...

(These next two photos were taken that morning when the sun was still shining.  But I wanted to keep all the fortress photos together...)

On our way to the fortress, we knew that we needed to get some lunch.  Figuring out meals is becoming a daily dilemma for us.  I'd read online about the thing to eat in Salzburg are these bratwurst sandwiches from a place called the Balkan Grill...but I'd forgotten to look up where it was.  I figured we could eat there the following day.  As we were discussing that, we saw several girls eating sandwiches that looked just like the description I'd read about the Grill.  We looked down the alley from where the girls had emerged and saw the sign...

We waited in the line and then paid a whopping 10euros to get three sandwiches (they were pretty small).  It was so fun to be doing something all the locals do, and to not have to figure out where to eat or to break our bank over a meal we couldn't figure out.  We were delighted.

The bratwurst had sautéed onions, parsley, spicy mustard and curry.  It sounds odd, but it was SOOO delicious.  It's probably one of my favorite things I've had on the whole trip.

We met back up with our friend near the Gold Ball Statue.  When I'd told her she wouldn't have trouble finding it, she looked a little skeptical.  But then she came walking up and said, "You're right! Everyone knows what you mean when you ask for directions to the Gold Ball statue, and it's impossible to miss!"  I'll never understand the Gold Ball statue, but it is what it is.

A giant gold ball with a statue of a man on it, facing the fortress.  It could be worse, I suppose.

Because we had someone else with us, we didn't have to take selfies!  We finally got a good picture of the two of us together (despite the cloudy mountain behind us).

And a silly photo as well.

The view from the backside of the fortress.

The view from the frontside.

My favorite Salzburg door.  This one is framed and hanging in my home.  Well, it was anyway...back when I had a home.

One of the things we didn't understand about Austria is that they still sell lederhosen...and people still wear them!  They're extremely expensive...we saw boots that cost 700euros!  I was fascinated by it.

What do people wear these outfits to?  Special events like marriages?  Just for fun?  Church?  To be a tour guide?  Does it show that you're an upper class Austrian if you still dress in lederhosen?

We never did find out.  Oh well.  Classify that under the mystery of Salzburg.  

Just like the week before, we returned to our hotel early so that we could watch football games that night.  It was a pretty rough night for my Auburn Tigers, who lost to LSU.  It had been such a lovely day, I was pretty bummed to end on that note.  But then I remember that I was at least getting to watch football, and not by myself.  Life is good.

And the songs from the Sound of Music have remained in my head for weeks afterwards.  Thanks Maria.