A Trip to Remember: Part 4

The weather forecast today looked set to make things hard for my next tour.  With predictions of snow and rain, I went out today hoping for the best.  My last tour is something you cannot go to Salzburg and not do, the Sound of Music Tour.  Overall, I was actually a little disappointed with this tour, but I'm not sure if it was because of the weather or the actual program itself.

We started off the tour with a drive around the Miralbell palace gardens, where the Do Re Me song was performed, but we only drove around the outside.  Our first stop was lake and the villa outside which Maria and the children fell in the water.

In the movie, this house is never shown.  All shots at this location were from the house looking OUT over the lake.  Shots of the house from other angles used a different house altogether.  From here the weather turned really sour and it actually started snowing and got really, really cold.  But for a boy from Melbourne, snow falling from the sky is still a rather unique phenomenon.  From here we hopped the bus for a ride out to the Hellbrunn Palace to see the gazebo from the scenes in the movie.

It was moved here  from it's original location near the house in the first picture because that house is privately owned and they wanted it in a place where the public could go and see it.  Something interesting about the scene in the movie when Leisl was supposed to run around the seats in the 16 going on 17 scene, apparently when she was rehearsing the scene, she was doing the lap of the gazebo on the chairs but at the end forgot to stop and went flying through the window and sprained her ankle.  After being taken to hospital and coming out shortly after, she went on the finished the scene. According to the tour guide, in old VHS copies of the movie, you can actually see the bandage on her ankle in this scene. After a short stop, we got back on the bust and drove past the villa shown in the scene when Maria is singing "I Have Confidence In Me" and then out to the town of Mondsee where the weeding scene was filmed.  Here again snow started falling heavily.

We had some spare time in the town to look around and try the local food, and I have to say traditional apple strudel with vanilla sauce is very, very nice.  From here we headed back to town.  As I said, the tour itself was a little disappointing in what it showed us and how long we had at each place.  Once we got back it was still quite early, so I set off for the Mirabell gardens.  Walking through them and seeing the famous scenes it's hard not to break out into song.

From here, I decided to take a stroll through old town and make my way up to the citadel and from there make my way to Nonberg Abbey.  The walk took a little time and in my usual fashion, I completely missed the turn to get to the stairs that led up, but on the bright side I stumbled upon a rather interesting find.  Just before the stairs up there is a walled cemetery. I strolled in because I saw mobs of people going in and out and I was quite shocked to see just how many people were wandering through.  It might sound kind of grisly, but it actually was a rather beautiful place.  So much colour and decorations, and not only that, but, as it turned out, the scene where Maria and the family hid from the Nazis when at the abbey.

I've always wanted to go up and rattle those gates like they do in the movie, but there were way to many people watching...

So, after strolling through the cemetery I found the stairs up and the stairs up and the stairs up and the stairs up and wait while I catch my breath and the stairs up.  Thank god I didn't have to go all the way to the top.  I strolled around and got to the front gates of the Abbey.

And turning left from here, and a little bit back, is the scene, just at the end, where the car comes driving out and the nazis just sit there trying to start theirs because the two nuns have sinned.

Something else interesting is that there are still nuns in this abbey, but they are actually a silent order of nuns, so there are no singing like there was in the movie etc.

As I said earlier, I was a little disappointed in the tour and what it did and didn't show us.  With the exception of Mondsee, which is about a half hour drive from Salzburg, everywhere else is either accessible on foot - Mirabell gardens, the cemetery and abbey or by taking a local bus - Hellbrunn palace.  I would like to come back and do it again but this time on my own.  One thing I do really like about Salzburg is that almost everywhere in the town is accessible on foot, the old town and all the sites in there, can all be reached with a little walking.

Overall I've really enjoyed my time here and would definitely come back. Tomorrow sees me hop the train to Vienna.  See you there.