Do a deer, a female deer

Weeeeeeee

I have confidence

The hills are alive

Another Mozart statue

Mon 20 Jul – Tues 21 Jul 2015

We left for Salzburg early on Monday morning as our free parking in Vienna expired at 9am. We took our time getting to the hostel. Natalie was feeling very unwell as she had about 40+ mosquito bites from sitting out the night before and had a very sore neck. Matt wasn’t in much better shape as he was dealing with a pretty bad head cold and cough. We decided to hang out at the hostel on Monday. We went and got a few groceries and had a nice home cooked meal. We watched a movie in our hostel room and went to bed early. After six days of walking through big cities in the heat we definitely needed a day off.

We were feeling a little better on Tuesday so we headed off to Salzburg to do a self guided Sound of Music tour. We drove into the city and our first stop was the Mirabell Gardens; the place where Maria and the Trapp children sing ‘Do-Re-Mi’ and run through the hedge tunnel. We stopped at the cafe for a large iced coffee ice cream float. Then we drove to Leopoldskron Castle; the façade facing the lake served as one of the views on the house and the boat scene. Then it was off the see the glass pavilion at Hellbrunn Castle gardens. Not far from there, and down a bike only path, we drove to Fronburg Castle; the court and front façade facing Hellnrunner Allee served for other views on the house of the Trapp family, when Maria first arrives at the villa.

We then drove into the city and parked the car for the day to explore on foot. We ‘hiked’ up to Nonnberg Nunnery and then down by the massive fort overlooking Salzburg.  We headed down to St. Peter’s cemetery that inspired the scene at the end where the Nazis chase after the Trapp family. We tried to see the stage at which the Trapps perform during the Salzburg Festival but we were too late as there was a performance on that night.

Then we walked past Mozart’s birth house (we didn’t try to sneak in this time!) and then headed to Residenzplatz to see the fountain and where Maria crossed the square when leaving the convent and singing ‘I have confidence in me’. We stopped for a break to hear the Glockenspiel, then walked over the bridge and ‘hiked’ up to another smaller, abandoned fort to get an amazing view of the city! We crossed over the Mozart Bridge; featured during the ‘Do-Re-Mi’ song and then back to our car and hostel for a quick bite and bed. Another fabulous day in an amazing city but we were certainly looking forward to some down time with friends in the Austrian countryside…