I've watched The Sound of Music every year since as early as I can remember, and once Laurel was old enough to join in, she's been right there with me. We love the movie! So on an absolutely beautiful, sunny day last weekend, we boarded The Sound of Music Tour bus in Salzburg and set off for 4 1/2 hours of sightseeing, inside scoop on the movie, and most of all, lots of fun! Our bus was full of Americans and Brits who love the movie as much as we do, and our tour guide was fantastic.
So without further adieu, let The Sound of Music Tour begin!
Our first stop was this lovely house which provided the backdrop for the back of the Von Trapp house and the terrace. This is also the lake that Maria and the children fell into in the movie.
Across the lake, opposite the house, is the Untersberg, the mountain which the Von Trapps climb over at the end of the movie to escape the Nazis. In the movie, we believe the family is going to Switzerland, but in real life, Germany lies on the other side of this mountain!! Not exactly where they wanted to go...lol!
Next up was the Nonnberg Abbey, Maria's abbey. The exterior of the abbey was used in several scenes in the film.
Two more sights awaited us in Salzburg. The first was one of three gazebos built for the filiming of the movie. This was one was not the one used for Liesl and Rolf during the "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" song, but it was still really cool to see.
Next stop was the house that was used as the front of the Von Trapp family home. You'll probably remember Maria going through those gates early on in the movie.
After seeing all of these places in Salzburg, we had a 30 minute bus ride into the countryside. This was when the real fun began on the bus because they started playing the soundtrack from the movie!! Needless to say, the entire ride was one big sing-a-long. Laurel said she never knew she needed to sing Do-Re-Mi on a tour bus with a bunch of British people, but she definitely did! So fun!!
At the beginning of the film, there are aerial shots of lake and mountains, and that's where we were headed. The area is called the Lake District, and it is SO beautiful. I literally could stay there forever. Even though all the trees were bare, it was still breathtaking.
I cannot wait to go back in the summer when everything is in bloom and green against that crystal blue water! Our final destination in this beautiful land of lakes and mountains was the town of Mondsee. The Mondsee Abbey was the sight of the filming of Maria and Captain Von Trapp's wedding. It's a beautiful church, but the inside isn't nearly as big as it looks in the movie.
We had a little time after seeing the church to wander the streets of Mondsee, eat some yummy cheese strudel, and take some pictures of Lake Mondsee.
Our final stop on the tour was back in Salzburg at Mirabell Palace and Gardens. This is where much of the sequence of Maria and the children singing Do-Re-Mi was filmed. We didn't get to experience the garden in bloom, but it was still neat to see this sight from the movie.
This tour was such a blast! It was definitely the highlight of our trip, which is why it deserved its own blog post. We did a lot of exploring in beautiful Salzburg, so stay tuned for that! Until then...So Long, Farewell, Auf Weidersehen, Goodbye!! (Sorry, I just couldn't help myself!!)