The Hills are Alive.....

......with the Sound of Music. Ah..Ah..Ah......

Yes. For UN-musical people like me, Salzburg is home of "The Sound of Music" musical starring Julie Andrews; rather than the home of the world renowned Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (btw, that's not even his real name) who was born here. So instead of going for the traditional sightseeing tours, we went for a "Sound of Music" tour - visiting the key locations where the Hollywood musical was shot. With Hollywood being Hollywood, the story was of course exaggerated and changed. In reality, Maria married the Captain earlier than the Nazi occupation, and the oldest Von Trapp child is actually a boy NOT Liesl! And they did not climb over the mountain towards Switzerland as depicted in the end-scene of the movie. If they really took that route via the Untersberg (the mountain shown in the movie), they would end up right into the arms of the Nazis. They actually took a train to Italy....which was deemed too boring for Hollywood. :-)

Lots of other interesting facts about the movie and the reality. Did you know that the real Von Trapp family runs a small hotel in Vermont, America? Perhaps one day, I will visit their Lodge. Yup. I have to say that "The Sound of Music" is one of my favorites! I really enjoyed this tour. Our guide, a Brit was funny, interesting and very animated. Before the start of the tour, I casually asked "Are we going to sing on the bus?" and the answer was a big YES. And SING we did! Hahahahha pretty fun. H, who was rather stoic throughout the tour (probably not seen the movie???) was singing and humming "the hills are alive....." whilst working on his computer just now. Got bitten by "The Sound of Music" bug too! Hehehe...

After the tour, we walked up to the Salzburg Castle (Festung Hohensalzburg). Wallow! I must be sooooooo unfit cause I was huffing and puffing and sweating like a pig! We weren't really interested to go in but after the strenuous climb, I think it is a MUST to enter the fortress. Paid the Euro 5.70/ person entrance fee, took an audio guided tour and came back down. Down was naturally a breezeeeeeee. Visited the main attractions - Salzburger Dom, St. Peter's Monastry, Getreidegasse etc etc before going up to the roof terrace on The Hotel Stein for wine and Italian Antipasti. Lovely views...But abit chilly though. Don't know why they didn't turn-on those standing gas heaters but had warm blankets instead.

And from here, we went to an Austrian restaurant for dinner. H insisted that he must eat Wiener Schnitzel, plus an order of ribs and beer. Couldn't finish, of course.... Had to 'ta-pau'...so that will be breakfast!!?!?
As shops close pretty early, we came back to the hotel immediately after dinner. Otherwise what else to do? Don't fancy going for a Mozart concert...

We will take a train back to Munich tomorrow.... H will be working in Munich for the next few days, leaving me to jalan-jalan ala the Lonely Planet...or maybe not.