Let's start at the very beginning. It's a very good place to start.
I was 8 years old when The Sound of Music came out. I remember my mother taking me and my sister, Lisa (18 months younger), to see the movie. We loved it! Who wouldn't? There was singing and kids. As we got older and watched the movie again and again we began to see the larger story that involved Nazi's and war. I can't begin to tell you how many times I've seen the movie. My sister felt the same way.
In 2006 we were able to spend a day in Salzburg, where much of the movie was filmed. We walked on the stairs where they sang Do-Re-Mi and through Mirabell Gardens. We saw the cemetery where they hid from the Nazi's. We thought we saw the Cathedral where Maria married the Captain. More on that later. It was very exciting for both of us and after returning home we watched the movie again.
In 2010 Jim and I, along with Barbara and Sascha, made another day trip to Salzburg. This time we went up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress. From the rooftop we could see for many miles in every direction. It was so beautiful that we decided that if we had the opportunity to return and spend time in the countryside we would. And I decided that if we ever did, I wanted to take a Sound of Music tour. Maybe it's corny, but so what!
Now we are here. I did a lot of research about different tour companies. I didn't want to do a big bus tour. Bob"s Special Tours seemed to be what I was looking for. Then I found out the price. Hmmm...I decided I didn't want to do it that much! But after considering it further I decided that we may never be here again and I didn't want to have any regrets about not going. I've made decisions before based on how much something cost, and at times I later regretted not doing something or buying something because of the price. We went into the tour office yesterday and made a reservation for today at 2:00 p.m. We got a discount by showing our Rick Steves guidebook and paying cash.
Today we took the train to Salzburg. On the way we passed a pillar for a bridge that had some graffiti. Not unusual. But this was the only graffiti on the pillar. It spelled out in capital letters - ANGE. That's the name my sister always called me. Strange. After we arrived we walked through Mirabell Gardens on the way to the old town. We collect watercolor paintings from places we have traveled to, and yesterday we bought one in Salzburg. Today I took a photo of the same scene.
We got to the office for the tour, paid and then waited for the 2:00 departure. Apparently they had a lot of people, so we would be split between two vans. We were with a woman that lives in London, her 5 year old daughter, and the woman's parents. The parents live in Australia. So 6 of us. Perfect! We left early because we were all ready to go. The guide told us some history about Salzburg. He also told us some things about the making of the movie and the real Von Trapp family.
SPOILER ALERT - Don't read the next paragraph if you don't want to know the difference between fact and fiction.
In no particular order -
The oldest child was actually a boy. As an adult he used to introduce himself as Liesl.
There was no Ralph and no Baroness. The characters were only there for drama.
Maria was hired as a teacher, not a governess.
Edelweiss is not an Austrian folk tune. It was written for the Broadway play that preceded the movie.
Maria was 26 years younger than the Captain.
They were married for 11 years before they left Austria.
They didn't make a daring escape to Switzerland, they traveled to Italy to perform and didn't return.
When Christopher Plummer was singing, the voice was dubbed.
The person singing is the man who was the voice of Yogi Bear.
Christopher Plummer's actual singing voice is used at the festival towards the end of the movie.
There's more, but I think enough bubbles have been burst.
IF YOU AVOIDED THE SPOILERS IT IS NOW SAFE TO READ! 😀
We drove past some movie sites in Salzburg. We stopped at the Palace of Leopoldskron, where they used the exterior to show them out on the patio, and where the children fell into the lake. We went to Hellbrunn Palace to see the gazebo. It had been moved there and is now sealed off because people were hurting themselves trying to recreate the scene of Liesl jumping from bench to bench. We drove through the Salzkammergut Lake District. The countryside is gorgeous! Everything is so green. Probably due to the average of 180 days a year of rain they receive.
Now for the wedding cathedral. The exterior shots are of the cathedral in Salzburg that we toured yesterday. Apparently they couldn't get permission to film inside, so they had to find a substitute. They used a church in Mondsee. It's not quite as grand as the cathedral in Salzburg, but it's pretty darn nice!
Cathedral in Mondsee
During the 4 hour tour the soundtrack from the movie was played between the guide's commentary. I had read about how people on the tour sing along. On one hand I thought that would be just too cheesy. On the other hand I was secretly hoping it would happen. Cheesy can be good, right? Sweet Jim was such a good sport about going on the tour (I told him it was okay with me if he opted out), because I knew he was only doing it for me. So who do you think started singing? That's right. Jim!
Ha!! No one came right out belting the lyrics, but I know I heard soft singing coming from the back of the van.
The guide dropped us off at the train station after the tour ended and we took the next train back to St. Johann im Pongau. It was a great day! One more thing checked off of my bucket list.
I saw the ANGE graffiti again on the return trip and I had my mother's passport with me, as I have had every other day. I really felt like they were both with me today.
