Germany, Austria, Italy - July, 2013: May 2013

Day SDay DAY SIX-Thursday: “High on a hill is a lonely goat…” Salzburg and the Lake Country, Austria

The sun is shining, and it shined all day! Yippeee…

Our morning started with a short walk over to the funicular which climbs up the side of the mountain to the Hohensalzburg Fortress. This castle dates back to 1077 and looms 400 feet above the Salzach River. It is of note that it served its purpose of protecting the people, as it remains unconquered by enemy troops to this day!

On our walk we passed several street performers, one putting his face on for the day, and one floating in thin air!

When Bill and I were in Salzburg last January with Lulu, we didn’t have a chance to tour the Fortress so it was a treat to do so this visit. And we were blessed with (finally!) a day full of sunshine and clear skies, so the view from the top was amazing.

The Fortress is quite extensive with many mini-museums within. The first one we came across was the Marionette Museum “World of Stringed Puppets”, which had a huge collection of beautiful old marionettes on display.

Of course one is reminded of the scene in "The Sound of Music" where Maria and the children put on a show for Captain von Trapp and the visiting Baroness. We were told that there is a performing arts theatre in Salzburg that puts on a “Sound of Music” marionette show where the marionettes amazingly orchestrate tiny marionettes in their rendition of the show.

Another small museum showed paintings and documents from World War I.

The top floor of the Fortress was originally the private quarters of the Archbishop. It wasn’t until 1803 when the doctrine of the separation of church and state kicked in. This is a photo of the Majolica Stove located in the The Golden Chamber. “This absolute gem is divided into 3 segments and in its lower part, 4 rows of tiles are decorated with fantasy flowers and fruits. This is of note as the representation of exotic fruits – many of them pineapples – was inspired by the expeditions of European seafarers at the end of the 15^th century. In other words, fruit that the people of Austria had never seen much less tasted are depicted in the design of this colorfully glazed stove."

While Bill and I toured the Fortress, Willie was running around providing the much appreciated service of taking group photos as a courtesy to the many tourists. This way he met people from Romania, Australia, Saudia Arabia, India, Japan, China and even a family from Santa Monica!

Hi Willie !!!

There were groups of school children everywhere - seeing the sights must be a big part of the summer

camp program!!

At the base of the Fortress is yet another church, St Peters Friedhof, with another beautiful graveyard. Look closely at the photo below to see the small chapel built into the side of the mountain.

After lunch, we decided to visit two of Salzburg's musical landmarks, so Bill headed in one direction, and Willie and I in another. Bill decided to stroll down the street and visit Mozart's birthplace. Salzburg is very proud of its association with Mozart, and the Mozart Music Festival would be starting next week. There are Mozart dolls, toys, pictures, and books in every gift shop. The bright yellow building of Mozart's birthplace is one of the most visited spots in all of Salzburg. Bill commented, "The birthplace is now a museum, and is filled with Mozart's personal memorabilia as well as important handwritten musical compositions. In addition there are portraits of Mozart and his family, with accompanying history on each. His father was a re-known music teacher and his mother a pianist. He had one sister who was also an accomplished musician, although not in the same class as the prodigy Mozart. At the age of 5, Mozart's father began taking him "on the road" to perform at various royal courts in Europe to showcase his extraordinary talent. Tragically, Mozart died at the young age of 35."

Willie and I chose to visit another musical landmark and jumped aboard "The Sound of Music" tour bus. It was a sing-along tour that stopped at various places around the city where the movie was filmed. Then we headed out to the countryside and if we didn't sing loud enough, the driver would circle round & round the 3 round-abouts until we did! Along the way the tour guide pointed out to us the specific locations of where the 1965 beloved movie was filmed. She shared a lot of "behind the scenes" information - such as the front of the von Trapp mansion (see below - Leopoldskron Palace) was actually the back of the von Trapp's mansion in the movie.

Leopoldskron Palace

"Sound of Music" Tour Bus

Hellbrunn Palace - location of Gazebo...

"I am 16 going on 17..."

It took 10 attempts to complete the scene where Maria and the children fall off the boat while singing "Do Re Mi". The water was freezing and the youngest child, Briggita could not swim and was supposed to hang on to Maria, but in the last attempt Julie Andrews fell out too early, and a camera man had to jump in to save the child! Speaking of Briggita, the actress who played the 5 year old was apparently quite a "diva", and in order to get her to cooperate the director would give her chocolate. By the end of the movie she had gained so much weight that Christopher Plummer refused to lift her in the final scene - the one where the von Trapp family climbs up the mountain to freedom, so the director had to use a "stand-in". When watching the movie, if you look closely you will see that all the children's faces are shown except Briggita! (I would say Christopher Plummer was a bit of a "diva" too!)

Back on the bus where we enjoyed a BEAUTIFUL drive through the lake country of Austria, singing all the way, heading towards the village of Mondsee.

On the way, we passed by the headquarters of the Austrian company Red Bull, maker of Red Bull energy drink (your teens know of it!). The office buildings look like a cross between a spaceship and a thatched hut in Fiji! In 2011 over 4.7 BILLION cans of Red Bull were sold in over 161 countries worldwide, a result of a wildly successful advertising strategy where they distributed free cases of the drink to college students in an attempt at "viral advertising". It worked, and worked well. Now their sleek marketing strategy targets young urban professionals through many sports and entertainment based advertising campaigns. "Red Bull gives you Wings" and "No Red Bull, No Wings" plays directly on the "stimulating" properties of the beverage.

Back to "The Sound of Music" - What a pretty village Mondsee is, right on the edge of a big beautiful lake.

The Mondsee Cathedral was what we came to see, as it was chosen as the location

for the wedding scene in "The Sound of Music".

Mondsee Cathedral was chosen since it has a very long and wide center aisle, to accommodate the very long train
on Maria's wedding dress (WHO does not remember THAT scene...goosebumps!)

The tour ended back in Salzburg at Mirabell Gardens, which at this time of year, was full of blooming flowers. These gardens were the site of the song "Do Re Mi".

After walking through the garden, we crossed over the Makartsteg pedestrian bridge, of note for the hundreds of padlocks attached to the fence on either side - known as "love locks". The tradition is that couples in love come and place a lock on the fence to "lock in" their love.

On this trip I wish I'd had 2 locks to show my love for Willie and Billy!

Germany, Austria, Italy - July, 2013

Wednesday

Day FIVE: travel day to Salzburg, Austria

Thursday

Day SIX: Salzburg and the Lake Country, Austria