Salzburg Day 2 - Sound of Music Tour

“The hills are alive with the sound of music…”. Today, I visited some of the filming sites for the movie the “Sound of Music”.

See how familiar they are. What? I was supposed to dance? Then who’s supposed to hold the camera??!!


Von Trapp's house. And the lake was where the children went boating, with clothes made from curtains.


"I am sixteen going on seventeen...". The gazebo built for the movie and was later presented to Salzburg as a gift. A similar one was also built in the Hollywood studio. The distance between the benches are wider for that one in Hollywood, therefore allowing Liesl to "jump" from one to the other.


The hills are alive, they really are. Simply breathkaing at Wolfgangsee.


“DO a deer a female deer, RE a drop of golden sun…..”


Mirabelle garden, where the children played.


Untersberg, of altitude 6000m. How do you intend to impress someone who has already been to Everest (foot) with this? Conquering Untersberg is as easy as... "stretching out your hand" :-P

This mountain is the one whereby the Von Trapp family, in the movie, would crossed to get to Switzerland. "Climb every mountain...". Turned out that it is another fiction created out of Hollywood's imagination. The distance to Switzerland is impossible to hike (almost 350km) and behind Untersberg is Germany and not Switzerland... hmmm.


A church in Mondsee, Michaelekirche where Maria and Captain Von Trapp got married
The weather went crazy on our way back to Salzburg. It started hailing in Mondsee and then snowed.



As we rode in the mini-bus, listening to soundtracks from the “Sound of Music”, our spirits were high despite the lousy weather. Trees have fallen, roads were blocked, highway was jammed…. but hey, it’s the Sound of Music tour! Cheer up!

It was great fun being on this tour and I highly recommend it. Also comes with a brief city tour as the van drove around the city.


* * Mishap #2. I lost you for a second.

I dropped something important while at Michaelekirche. I looked high and low inside the church, examined every bench but could not find it. I was wondering how anything could ever be lost inside here, a place symbolic of truth and honesty.

In a desperate attempt, I walked out of the church to search the vicinity. It was hailing. Just as I was about to give up, something “tells” me that I should go back inside the church to take a second look. I did, and I found that important thing sitting on the bench third row from behind.



By this time, the church was empty. The silence was “deafening” but then there was something calming about this moment. There was no sound and it was warm, as if I was totally secluded from the world, from the hail outside. What just happened felt like a miracle and I was still feeling confused. I took a closer look at the altar hoping to find an answer.



This church was where the real Maria and Captain Von Trapp got married, and is also the only thing authentic about the “Sound of Music” movie. I have never said a prayer in a church but it was compelling this time and I did it. I hope for all true loves to have happy endings and those who are destined, to find each other. Just like Maria and Captain Von Trapp, who came together, against all odds and finally made their vows here. Theirs, is one of the greatest love story of our time, most romantic, most melodious.