I Take Thee...

On our drive back to the airport, we stopped by the lake town of Mondsee to see our final Sound of Music site. This lovely church is where the fictional Georg and Maria married; the real ones are reported to have married in Nonnberg Nunnery. It looked different to us because the metal gates at the back separating the nuns were just there temporarily for filming. A nice ending for a great trip. Too bad that we waited until Betsy was about to move to Houston to discover that we make good travelling companions.

Hellbrunn Castle...

On our final day, we stopped at Hellbrunn Castle to see the Sound of Music pavilion, which was at a different castle for filming, but had been relocated since. Our timing was perfect as we got to watch a procession of vintage race cars. Since we had some time to kill, we took an audio tour of the castle, built in 1615 as a Summer Palace for Archbishop Markus Sittikus.
Afterwards, we took a guided tour of the gardens. We had no idea what to expect and were pleasantly surprised and amazed by the trick fountains, all built without electricity. Apparently the Archbishop liked to invite his guests to sit around this table. He always sat at the head of the table, the only spot that stayed dry when he pushed the button to start the fountains. The guide had fun trying to get us wet at the different hidden fountains throughout the immense garden. Definitely a castle worth visiting.

Fun Rides in the Salt Mines...

There were two slides within the mine. They were wooden with grooves for our legs. The second one had a clock at the bottom to track how fast you went. Ashlynn’s pants didn’t have the rubber panel and she flew down at a whopping 32 MPH versus Veronica’s, Betsy’s and my 19 MPH. To exit the mine, we went on a small train which was also pretty fun. Afterwards, we walked in the rain down to the lakefront and had a delicious Austrian meal.

Off to the Salt Mines...

One of the other big attractions in the Salzburg area are the nearby salt mines. We chose to drive to the charming lakeside city of Hallstatt to visit a mine. We started by taking a funicular, then an elevator before hiking up the final bit up the mountain to the mouth of the mine. We changed into our miner’s clothes—pants with a rubbery panel on the bottom. It was interesting walking around inside the mine, however, we were disappointed not to actually see any salt being extracted and the guide did a poor job explaining things in English.

Sixteen Going on Seventeen....

We were disappointed that the glass pavilion was locked so we couldn’t jump around the benches singing Sixteen Going on Seventeen. Apparently it used to be open to the public, but closed after someone fell off a bench and crashed through the glass. Here you also see the girls singing Do-Re-Mi.

Do-Re-Mi...

Luckily the rain stopped so we could run through Mirabell Gardens, considered to be one of the most Baroque gardens in Europe, singing Do-Re-Mi.

So Long, Farewell...

We took a tour of the Salzburg Festival Halls, which included two other beautiful stages not used in the movie. The Felsenreitschule, the infamous stage where the von Trapp Family Singers perform and the father sings Edelweiss (which isn’t an Austrian folk song after all, but was written for the movie) was actually built in the late 1600’s as a riding school for viewing of horses. It wasn’t until 1926 that it was first used as a stage for classical concerts as part of the Salzburg Festival. In 1969 a roof was installed that can be opened on a sunny summer day, which it was not.