The Hills Are Alive! Sound of Music SisAdventures

We arrived in Salzburg to a rainy 57 degrees, which was actually quite nice after some pretty warm days in Italy. This is one of the main streets of old town Salzburg – if you follow this path, you’ll run into the house where little Amadeus Mozart was born and grew up. You can just barely make out the surrounding mountains in this photo – the rain brought some mist and fog, which just added to the magical atmosphere.

The following day, we were scheduled for our “Official Sound of Music Tour” in the afternoon. We knew we wouldn’t get to all of the sites from the movie on the tour, so that morning, we made a few stops on our own. “What will this day be like…. I wonder….” We found the Horse Fountain, where Maria splashes as she starts her journey to meet Captain Von Trapp and his seven children – “heaven, bless them.” Here’s my reenactment:

It rained on and off that day, but we were very lucky to borrow the last 2 umbrellas at our hotel. They came in handy, and the rain certainly didn’t dampen our excitement.
We made our way across the river to the bus stop. After a detour through Mirabel Gardens, we found our way to the very clearly marked pickup area.

Our guide, Christine, met us in full traditional Austrian attire. As we loaded the bus, she said, “I hope you are all going to help me sing – I brought the soundtrack!”

The tour was so informative – we learned more about the “real” Von Trapp family story, and we learned that many of the locations in the movie – the gazebo, the home where they “lived,” the house where they pushed the car out of the courtyard to sneak past the Nazi’s – were all SEPARATE RESIDENCES. The magic of the movies pieced these locations together to make it seem like they were all the same property.
First stop on the tour – Hellbrunn Gardens. We didn’t go in the gardens on the tour, but we were able to view this lovely driveway – the one that Maria skips down singing “I have confidence!” and also, later in the movie, the children are in the trees while Captain Von Trapp, the Baroness, and Max are driving past.

Also just outside the gates of Hellbrunn Gardens, you can find THE gazebo! I’m sure you recognize it from “I am 16, going on 17.” You probably have the same thought we did – that it’s pretty small! Well, they only used this for the outside scenes. All the inside scenes were filmed in a re-created, much larger gazebo in Hollywood!

Please note sister’s sweatshirt, worn in honor of the playclothes Maria made from the curtains. 

“Oh Captain, you’re home!” Here’s the scene from the movie (above), where Maria and the children are so excited that the Captain is home – right before they fall overboard. This is now a private residence, but we were able to walk on the opposite side of the lake and get a pretty grand view of the place (below).

Next the bus took us out of Salzburg, into the “Hill and Lake Country.” We wound around mountain roads and true to its name, lakes would appear along the way. This is when the soundtrack kicked up and the entire bus sang along…. And the Maddox girls had a full-blown emotional come apart. I’m sure Christine thought we had some major issues. Thankfully, we were able to pull it together before the next stop. If you want, click here to hear a snippet of the “yodeling song” and see some shaky bus window scenery.

We stopped in the town of Mondsee, where the Captain and Maria’s wedding took place – in the film. In real life, they married in town, which is where the convent is.

Back in Salzburg, we returned to Mirabel Gardens, and we both had to prance around the fountain singing “Do Re Mi.”

And… we both had to jump up and down the stairs for the grand finale, including the high “Do” at the end…

This selfie shot gives you an idea of the different levels of beauty that surrounded us the whole time we were there. Immediately behind us, Mirabel Gardens. Behind that, you can see the tops of some of the “old town” buildings. And behind that, you can see “The Fortress,” which gives Salzburg its name. Salzburg means “salt fortress.” If you’ve seen the movie “Monument Men,” or if you’re familiar with WWII history, you know that the Germans used the salt mines to hide artwork and other valuables during the war.

The final “find” as we made our way back across the city, was the cemetery of St. Peter’s Cathedral. I had read in one of our brochures, that even though the escape scene was filmed entirely in Hollywood, the cemetery was modeled after the one at St. Peter’s. We found it and walked through – the graves were so beautiful! Instead of temporary flowers, each one was like its own little memory garden.

The other “real life” information we learned on our tour – there was no dramatic escape from the Nazis at night across the mountains on foot. In fact, if the Von Trapps had walked over the Alps from Salzburg, they would have been walking straight into Germany! In real life, the Von Trapps did leave Austria – but by train. They stopped in France and England before making their way to the states, where they settled in Stowe, Vermont and opened the Trapp Family Lodge – still there today!

Sorry for the long post – I may have to get shorter with the narration on other days, but I especially wanted to share the highlights and details of this day, since it was where we started “at the very beginning” in planning our trip!