The Hills Are Alive (in Salzburg, Austria) with the Sound of Music

So Tom and I set off in the car on our epic three-week adventure around the European Alps, and our first stop is just 3 hours away in Salzburg, home of The Sound of Music.

Nothing says, "Welcome," like a cow, right?

We had to prepare for this by watching The Sound of Music, and I'm glad we did.  I'd watched the play numerous times over the past years, but hadn't actually watched the Julie Andrews version of the film in quite some time.  I started recognizing places everywhere!  And when we were on our tours around the city and the surrounding hills, singing the songs and experiencing the nostalgia, I was able to go all out.  :)

We toured the hills that are alive on "The Original Sound of Music Tour", of course, and yes you could hear them singing (unless that was the other tours in the hills (or the echo of my loud voice)).

Back in the city we saw some of the sights such as the main house from the film,

the trees that were made for swinging (even though they told me I couldn't ):),

well, you know what happened here...,

the wedding chapel,

inside said chapel

and we definitely had to come up to Nonnberg Abbey.

They wouldn't let us in - apparently it's only for nuns.

It had already started to rain steadily at this point

We could see the rain coming

(which became a constant for the next couple weeks), but it was still a nice hike.  After the Abbey, we decided to go to the castle on the hill that overlooks the entire city.  That was a less-friendly hike in the rain.  Just so you know, my way of preparing for the rain is by donning a hat, Tom at least had a jacket.

Abbey from above - it's the red-roofed tower

 
The castle was huge!  You can see if from virtually everywhere in the city, but you don't realize how big it is until you walk around in it.

We walked in through the courtyard to get to the exhibitions and other things on display, as well as to the view point.  Wow, Salzburg would be gorgeous in the sunshine.  But it was still pretty in the rain.

Animation showing what it looked like in 1560

After a ride down on the funicular and playing a game of wizard's chess (not really, but the board was not one for the kitchen table!) in a plaza, we walked the old town.

For the Win!

Looking back up at the castle

The rain had picked up and we were getting drenched again, so we ducked into an ice cream parlor (a regular thing, whether raining or not) for some frozen goodness and waited out the rain while watching the World Cup match. 

Salzburg is also the birthplace of Mozart, so we switched back and forth between learning about him and The Sound of Music on our next city tour.

Mozart Bridge

The downtown gardens were beautiful, and it seemed every flower was in full bloom.

Church was interesting.  We found the Salzburg ward and, of course, it was a German-speaking ward, and I hadn't (still haven't ;)) learned any of the language yet, so we got a missionary to translate.  Funny thing, I think I understood as much as he did.  He did warn me, though, that it would probably be the worst translation I've ever received.  Turns out, missionaries tell the truth. :)

Great way to kick off the excitement of the trip, and gave me plenty of songs to sing in my head (and outloud) for the next few days.