After a late breakfast in Innsbruck, we packed up the car again and headed to Salzburg, Austria. The trip was only about 2 hours but took us a little longer because the beautiful sunny weather we had experienced up till now in Europe of sunny days and averaging 25 degrees had changed to rain and fog. The average temperature as we drove was about 13 degrees however it was still a beautiful and enjoyable trip and I still love having my face glued to the window and enjoying the views, trying not to miss anything and also trying to take mental pictures of everything I see. I think the kids are probably sick of hearing me say ‘ohhh, look at that’, ‘look at that castle’, ‘did you see that?”. It is incredible to take in the fabulous views and sceneries we were experiencing, you only imagine most of these in movies but incredibly these landscapes and villages are people’s everyday lives. As much as I love Australia, I really feel it has become a bit bland with the views and images we are experiencing. It really is picture perfect, the quaint little wooden houses with a snow capped mountain as its backdrop was too perfect to be true. We crossed from Austria, into Germany and then back across the border into Austria as we arrived into Salzburg.
The Von Corcoran Family had arrived in Salzburg, the land of Mozart and the Sound of Music!
House where Mozart was born
Incredibly it was only 5 degrees as we checked into our hotel just after lunchtime but it didn’t stop us from wandering down through the town and seeing where Mozart was born. We started to wander back along the river to our hotel however we had to break into a fast paced walk/jog because the temperature was dropping quicker than the sun. It had started to rain by the time we got back to our hotel. The kids needed some play time and Corky and I needed some downtime. Austrian McDonald’s for dinner sorted that out!
The Hills are alive with the sound of music … The Von Corcoran family woke this morning to another overcast and cold day. As we were having breakfast, it started to snow. There were squeals and excitement in the restaurant and then I realised it was coming from us. The temperature is meant to get down to -1 degree over the next day or so, no doubt with some more snow flakes and more squealing. We went back to the warmth of our room and watched the Sound of Music movie (the movie is on 24 hour rotation which thrills Corky no end!) until it was time for the tour bus to pick us up for our Sound of Music tour. Corky was the most excited about this and of course Jack acted all too cool to care though we are sure he is just as excited.
Due to our eagerness, we were prompt and on time for the tour. We joined up with other people and all went on a coach together with an extremely hilarious gay tour guide (actually, when he turned sideways he looked a little like Julie Andrews!) As I mentioned, we were very eager so we sat in the front rows of the bus, prime position. The other boring tourists sat at the back and didn’t say a word the whole trip despite our Guide telling continual jokes and then saying out of the corner of his mouth to us when no-one laughed except us ‘gee, tough crowd!’
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| House and lake where the movie was filmed |
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| Church where wedding scene was filmed |
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| Gazebo |
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| Mirabelle Gardens in the movie |
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| Von Corcoran Family |
The tour went for 4 glorious hours and we viewed many places where the movie was filmed and heard many facts and interesting tid-bits about the movie and the family. We went as far as the lake district of Salzburg and Mondsee where the wedding scene was filmed – these were about 1 hour from Salzburg. On the way there it snowed which once again us Aussie’s got all giddy about.
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| Starting to snow (not that you can see it) |
When we finally returned to Salzburg with the realisation that our tour was over, we climbed out of the bus and into subzero (well it felt like it) temperatures again and went to find the old Monastery that was recommended for dinner by our new gay friend. We finally found it and once again continued our ‘schnitzel and beer’ tour of Europe. I gotta say though, I do hate the fact that with every meal you have no choice by to have a side of ‘passive smoking’. I find the Europeans such a contradiction to themselves. Daily (especially when travelling through the countryside) we see people enjoying the fresh alpine air, beautiful fields and lifestyles whilst they mountain climb, hike, bike ride and/or walk and jog. They all seem such an outdoor healthy bunch of people … but then …. every single person seems to have a cigarette hanging out their mouths (OK, maybe not while enjoying the countryside, but every other person we see in every town or city does). They just don’t care that we have 4 young kids enjoying their schnitzel right next to them, they may as well ash their cigarettes on our side plates!! I did warn the kids that the Europeans would be like this, but it really is horrible since we are so use to strictly no smoking in public places at home. Anyway, enough about that (except, it really peeves me when we check into a hotel room and it smells like an ash tray … err). OK, definitely enough now.
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