So on the first full day we were in Salzburg, we went on a Sound of Music tour. This was probably the most ridiculous experience I have ever had in my life (well, it must be at least in the top three or four) but was also, of course, awesome. How could a Sound of Music tour not be? SO. We arrived at the pick-up point for the tour and got on the bus, which was huge. The tour guide was dressed in some sort of traditional-ish costume (clearly intended to scream "AUSTRIA! SCHNITZEL! THE HILLS ARE ALIVE!" with every thread of its fabric) and was borderline crazy. I'm not kidding. I suppose it was probably just part of the routine (since after all she probably does this several times a day and has to be a little weird to not lose her mind) but, MY GOODNESS. Imagine a combination of very lame jokes [actual example: "Captain von Trapp married Maria after he lost his first wife. He must have been very, very absent-minded to have lost her like that, don't you think?"] and awkward quotations from the film [actual example: "Hi everyone my name is ---. Let's start at the very beginning, shall we? It's a very good place to start."] and, of course, the mandatory group singalongs. I felt excruciatingly awkward for the first five minutes and considered hiding under my seat to avoid such shenanigans. Then I was like "You are here, dude, just roll with it" so I sang along with gusto (relatively speaking at least) and enjoyed it all quite alot. Except for getting soaked, which I will get to later.
The first place we went to was the site where they shot all the scenes that took place in the front of the von Trapp house. Or in the back? I always get mildly confused as to which is the front and which is the back. Anyway. In any case this is the lake you see by their house in lots of different scenes, for instance the one when the children and Maria are all in the boats on the lake, and they capsize as they are waving hello to the Captain; or the one where the children say that they've been to pick strawberries, when really they had gone to the Abbey to see Maria. They shot all the scenes from the other side, though--that is, from right in front of the palace, looking across to where I took this picture.
This shot is a little better because you can sort of see the path along the front of the water, which is where, for instance, the Captain and the Baroness stroll along while they are talking about the parties in Vienna. And the clearing at the very left of this picture was where the gazebo originally stood (it has been moved since then to another site).
This is the next site we went to...it is where they shot the scene in which Maria gets off the bus with her guitar and carpetbag and sings "I Have Confidence" as she goes down the lane to the von Trapp home. You can just barely see the line of the yellow fence here, below the trees...
...but here is a better shot, looking down the lane (though sadly you can't see the yellow fence here; I think it must have started a little way up the road). And she would have been going down the road behind me; in other words this picture is taken in the opposite direction to how you see the road in the film. Seriously the more I try to make that sentence make sense, the more confusing it sounds. Hopefully you will know what I mean! Haha.
The gazebo, in the place where it has been moved to. They only used this one for the exterior shots; they built another (and bigger) one back in LA to use for interior scenes. That is something I hadn't known before the tour--that they only shot exteriors in Austria, with one exception: the wedding scene in the church. All the other inside scenes were shot back in the States, on indoor sets.
ALAS, this is as close as we got to the abbey!! We only got to see it as we drove past, and from quite far away. It is the one with the red roof. I was hoping to go for a walk at some point during the visit and see if I could get any closer to it, but it pretty much rained the entire time we were there, so that kind of put the kibosh on that idea. Oh well.
From Salzburg the tour bus drove for probably about 20 minutes to the nearby town of Mondsee, which is where the church is that they used for the wedding scene. It would have been a very gorgeous drive I think, but sadly it was very cloudy and the visibility wasn't very good. This will give you some idea:
It did clear a tiny bit for a few minutes and I got a couple of nice pictures, this will give an idea of what the countryside was like. Very beautiful. I think there were even higher mountains that were hidden by the clouds.
Alice and me in the bus...Alice is apparently overcome by the tour.
One of my favorite things on the tour: the church in Mondsee where they shot the wedding! I don't remember it being pink in the movie...maybe they have painted it since. Or maybe they just adjusted the colour when they shot it. Anyway it was cool to be there! You probably can't tell from this picture but I was SOAKED at this point; on the way to Mondsee it had started raining in earnest and by the time we walked from the bus to the church I was pretty much damp right through. Like, dripping. And my shoes and soaks were soaked. BUT. It was worth it. :) Still, I was not all that impressed.
This is also in Mondsee: apparently these are the trees that the children were in when they were all dressed in their clothes that Maria made from the curtains, and the Captain says something like "who are those hooligans" as he is driving by in the car with the Baroness and Uncle Max. (I forget the exact line.)
Back in Salzburg! These are the Mirabell Gardens, where alot of the "Doe, A Deer" song was shot. We actually went back to the Gardens a couple of days after the tour, when it was not-really-raining-but-merely-threatening-to-rain, in order to get some decent pictures. The Mirabell Gardens were one of my favorite places to see, mostly because they are so recognizable from the film. For instance, this:
And THIS one is me running through the--what are these things called--an arbor? Anyway, it is the one that they run through. You can't really tell from the picture but I really am skipping. (I do not skip often, let me tell you, but this moment seemed to demand it...)
The fountain (you can see it in the picture taken from the top of the steps, but this is a closer shot) that the children all dance around the edge of!
This next place wasn't on the tour, but since it is somewhat related to the movie I will include it here. It was actually probably my favorite of all the things we saw in Salzburg. I had found it in a guidebook so we went to check it out. It is a cemetery and 'catacombs' connected to St. Peter's Church. The cemetery part is made up of a pretty normal cemetery (you can't see it in these pictures, but it's off to the left of the first shot) together with the line of arched cubicles that you see running along the bottom of the cliff, here.
This is a better shot of them. Each little cubicle is a sort of above-ground crypt for a particular family. So there are headstones and memorials in each one. I would have liked these anyway, but they are extra cool because they are the direct inspiration for the cemetery that the Trapp family hides in when they are fleeing the country (when they go to the abbey, and hide in the shadows, and Rolf finds them? remember?). They built a replica back in the States but it was modeled on this cemetery. I loved this place.
This next place wasn't on the tour, but since it is somewhat related to the movie I will include it here. It was actually probably my favorite of all the things we saw in Salzburg. I had found it in a guidebook so we went to check it out. It is a cemetery and 'catacombs' connected to St. Peter's Church. The cemetery part is made up of a pretty normal cemetery (you can't see it in these pictures, but it's off to the left of the first shot) together with the line of arched cubicles that you see running along the bottom of the cliff, here. 
The other cool thing here is something that you can sort of see in the first picture--there are some walls and windows built into the cliff-face above the cemetery. Those are called the 'catacombs' and you can walk up inside the cliff-face and see the caves inside. They are not true 'catacombs' in the regular sense of the word (they were never used as regular places of burial, for instance). They were occupied by hermits in the early middle ages (at least one of the chapels was in existence by 1200, and there is some evidence that there was a Christian community here much much earlier, from at least around 700 or so), and there are chapels built into the caves and also some altars. It was very dark inside so the pictures didn't turn out awesomely, but I am including them anyway cause it was such a neat place. This picture is of the Gertrude Chapel, it dates from 1178. The arches in the walls are where clergy would sit during services held here. So beautiful! even though the picture isn't the greatest.
This is looking the other way. It is so cool and moving to be in a place where Christians have met continuously for so long--a thousand years, give or take! (This is a feeling I often get while in Rome and it is one of my favorite things about the city....the sense you get of all the people who have been there and lived and prayed and felt there. It is crazy.) And apparently masses are still held occasionally in this chapel! so it is still in use.
Sorry this is so jumbled! I hope it made some sense. Love you lots! Becky
p.s. Joe, the next post will have lots more WWII stuff!! I promise. :)
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