Day 9:
We had a hard time finding our hostel
the day before (Day 8), but when we finally got there we met up with another
group of Riva girls and all hung out that night talking about our trips thus
far. We all went to bed relatively early because we had to get up early the following day.
When we woke up that next day (Day 9),
we went downstairs to get ourselves some breakfast at the hostel. I had a
really good roll with honey! (And since then, I've loved eating that combo
whenever there is honey around.) But I had to slightly rush to get ready and
eat because our main event of the day was: The Sound of Music Tour! When in
Salzburg, that's basically a must right?
We traveled by bus around to different
Sound of Music sights in Salzburg, with our tour meeting right outside the
Mirabell Gardens (which we had time to explore later in the day). We got on the
bus clearly for The Sound of Music tour. After settling into our seats, we were
met by an intensively enthusiastic guide for the day's tour. Literally I felt
like this man must have drank 5 cups of coffee before getting on the bus haha
he tried to lead us in sing-a-longs and was dancing around... it didn't bother
me, I just thought it was funny. But most importantly he was knowledgeable about the Sound of Music and the spots we went to so that is what's important.
As we were heading to our first stop, we passed by the Salzburg Mozart Bridge which apparently there was a small scene filmed on the bridge (which I can't seem to remember).
But anyways, our first stop was Leopoldskron
Palace. This is where the famous boating scene was filmed, plus the Captain's
backyard and private palace garden. (The palace in the background was NOT the
Captain's house in the film, this site was only used for the lake and
backyard).
But also at this site on the opposite side of the lake is the Untersberg Mountain where Maria sang the opening scene to the film "The hills are alive with the sound of music..." It was so beautiful on this lake, I could have easily stayed much longer.
We got back on the bus after this brief stop and on our way to the next stop we saw the incredible Hohensalzburg Fortress. One of the largest fully preserved castle complexes in Europe!
But the next stop we got off and walked around is from a scene I think anyone who's seen the movie would remember, and even if they haven't seen the movie most people have heard this song. "You are sixteen, going on seventeen..." That's right! The gazebo where Rofl and Liesl sang there famous song. Also the same spot with the kissing scene between Maria and Baron Von Trapp. Although the gazebo had to be rebuilt, it now rests in Hellbrunn Palace.
After all making sure we got cute pictures by the gazebo, we got back on the bus and were offered refreshments. I had some type of traditional soda pop. It tasted a bit like ginger ale mixed with apple; it was quite good!! Now we had a longer bus between our next stop than the previous one, so our tour guide kept us entertained by pointing out different things along the way and telling pretty corny jokes... "What did the man with only one side of his body say when asked how he was?" "I'm all right" ha ha ha
We took a quick stop at a spectacular view of the mountains and lake region of Salzburg with a little town along the banks. It was a perfect day with clear skies and warm enough not to wear a jacket! Again it was the best time to be in Salzburg, the trees were stunningly bright and colorful.
Here's what I was perhaps disappointed
about with the tour. It said we were going to stop at Nonnberg Abbey...
but there's no way the bus pausing for 5 seconds should be considered an actual
stop. I thought we were going to be able to get off and walk through for a
little bit, but I guess not. Anyways this is the best picture I could get.
And what is this following picture?
It's the actual sight of the Von Trapp family house during the film. I guess I
assumed on The Sound of Music Tour we would get to at least walk up to the
house if we weren't able to go inside. But no :( We drove by and the guide pointed out of
the house, but it was covered mostly by trees. I wish I had been told ahead of
time about not being able to see the house, I think then I wouldn't have been
disappointed.
It wasn't the biggest deal though, I still had one other major site to see on the tour! And that took us to the town of Mondsee. There we got to go into the famous church where the wedding of Maria and Baron von Trapp was filmed in the movie.
After the strudel break, I did a little shopping for souvenirs... but everything was so overpriced! The Sound of Music has become a definite tourist trap. Nothing was worth the prices they were asking for simple things. But on the way back to the bus, I happened to spot such a magical site! A natural tree canopy! The brightest green color with sunlight falling through the leaves, it was like a dream...
On the ride back to the Mirabell Gardens, we heard more about the story of the Real Von Trapp family. It should not have come as much of a surprise that Hollywood fabricated a lot of the story and changed it to ways they saw fit. For example, take the ending of the book. The closing scene has the Von Trapp family climbing the Untersberg to freedom!... except the other side of the Untersberg goes into Germany and isn't that the opposite way the family wanted to go? The actual Von Trapp family took a train to Italy before finally making it to the US and settling in Vermont. Two very different stories I would say. I remember them saying the real Maria Von Trapp was extremely upset about Hollywood's version, but a healthy sum of money apparently kept her quiet. But the true family was indeed singers and did win competitions for their singing abilities. They traveled around America singing and then had people visit them in Vermont to hear them.
When the bus ride back came to a close, we got off at the Mirabell Gardens to explore. Unfortunately it was pretty crowded, but I had fun imagining the children skipping around the fountain signing "Doe, a deer, a female deer. Ray, a drop of golden sun..." and running underneath the canopied path. They also posed with the statues at the end of the gardens, as we replicated haha.
And that about wraps up my Sound of Music part of the day. For the rest of the afternoon, we just relaxed. Not too much on our agenda so we took our time walking around. We went to the Salzburg Old Town area, going in and out of shops along the way. We all ate a soft pretzel as snack before dinner. Later we took a walk by the river running through Salzburg and enjoyed the lovely day. After a while, we went to the Augustiner-Brau Hall to get dinner and have a beer. (Sound familar? The building is the same name as the Oktoberfest tent I was in, expect that was a completely different rowdy atmosphere haha!) I was going to get some type of traditional food, but when it came to deciding what to eat I just wanted vegetables. It's hard to eat healthy on these trips, and that's all I felt I could eat after this 10 day. But I did get potato wedges on the side... still kind of a vegetable right?...
But from there it was time to go back to our hostel and grab our bags. We'd be heading on our final train journey back to Riva. I never like leaving any of the cities I visit, and Salzburg is no exception to that. What made Salzburg so great was the gorgeous day outside; sunshine always makes any day better :) The Sound of Music tour was really fun even though I wish I could have seen other Sound of Music sites as well. Walking around afterwards was an enjoyable relaxing way to see more of the city and end our time in Salzburg.
But we had our overnight train with 4 different train changes ahead of us. Our other option was a train all day Sunday to get home. We decided we'd rather just deal with the annoyance of changing trains at night so we could relax all day Sunday. With some scary close calls and confusion, we managed to catch all our trains on time and made it home safely!
Day 10:
Sleep.
Haha but really I did sleep most of the day. And later on I got prepared for class the next day as well.
This 10 day trip was very different than the previous one. We were in a whole different region of Europe and it was much colder. That being said I had such an awesome time! Every place was as unique as the last one and I loved that. I also felt more relaxed and confident in my abilities as a traveler. I traveled with different groups throughout this 10 day and enjoyed the variety of personalities I was with. Really could not have asked for much more; it was a great trip :)
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