The Hills are Alive

I would like to say that I am visiting the birthplace of Mozart or the birthplace of Doppler (the Doppler Effect). I would like to say I am visiting a beautiful baroque city in the Austrian Alps. I would like to say these things, but in my mind, I am visiting the setting of the Hollywood musical "The Sound of Music."

I spent my first day wandering around the city. The old town is backed by a steep ridge, which I climbed up at one end and walked above the city for an hour and a bit. I attempted to get a photo of myself with the city, but as you can see, it wasn't working out for me this time.







Here is the city without me...



A modern "sculpture" with neon lights shaped as number in the Fibonacci sequence.




Around the city:




The Birthplace of Mozart:



The Mirabel Gardens where a few scenes from the Sound of Music were shot:








The second day I headed out on the original Sound of Music tour.

“Salzburg. What a beautiful city!” exclaimed out tour guide. His voice projected a strange mix of passion and disinterest. His attitude and nasal tone made him sound like a cross between the Rocky and Bulwinkle narrator, a game-show announcer and an infomercial host. It would be an understatement to day that he made sure I was never board for a moment.

Our bus driver, Ted, took us to all the major sights. We saw the Abby where Maria was a nun and the back of the Von Trapp mansion from across a lake. The front of the Von Trapp mansion was a different building that we couldn’t stop at because there was no parking on the highway. We did, however, get to see the gazebo where a famous love scene was shot and we drove though he countryside to the church where the Baron and Maria were married. “Isn’t it wonderful, Ladies and Gentlemen?” remarked the guide. For a few intervals the guide stopped talking and played music from the musical. “The Hills are Alive” came on when we first left the city and “So Long, Farewell” was played as we neared the end of the tour. Everyone had fun, and I don’t think it would be the same without all the cheesy jokes and gray haired group members.






The only suggestion I left on the comment form was that they should stop at a look off point so people could take pictures of the lakes and mountains from above. I wasn’t so interested in shopping for souvenirs in a mountain town we stopped at for 30 minutes.