The Hills Are Alive With The Sound Of Salzburg!!

Day 16: April 9th, 2014

This morning we started the drive to Salzburg. It was a beautiful drive through the Austrian, or should we say Osterrich, countryside. There were massive castles and palaces along the way in tiny villiages, and beautiful views of the Alps. Well when we say beautiful, we say that with a side note. They were beautiful for as much as we could see of them. The problem arose when we were about 20 miles outside of Salzburg, and it came in the form of pouring rain. Pouring rain means clouds. Clouds mean you can't see the tops of the mountains. That is a depressing thought when you are next to the ALPS! Oh well. I guess that means that we have to come back. Shucks. We are heartbroken. We did get a few good pictures of the parts we could see though.

Once we got into Salzburg we went in search of out accommodations. We knew the place was out from the city, but the problem started clear back in Vienna when we tried to plug the address into the GPS of our car. When we entered the city, it didn't exist. That gave us a lot of confidence. We eventually found a combination of city and streets that got us somewhere close to where we thought we needed to be and headed out. Miraculously it got us within a few kilometers of her home. There was a little backtracking and wandering around the area, but the first house that we knocked on was the right one, and it was such a cute place! Close your eyes (or as best you can while reading a blog. . . ), and imagine with me a beautiful green countryside made up of rolling hills and trees with massive majestic mountians framing it all in. If that didn't work for ya, just read on for a bit and you will see some pictures.  Her house is in a tiny little village with only 15-20 houses. It is quite and quaint, which also describes her house. How 'bout you just watch the video for an explanation.

"Onion" top churches :)

An adorable store in her little village

After we found the place we decided to take a day and relax. We sat up in here little nook and read and took in the sights. It was the perfect rest afternoon.

The best buy this entire vacation: Divergent! We got it at the airport first leaving Spokane. Amber has now read it and Jeff finished it not long after this picture was taken :) And he said he didn't like to read ;)

Right after we arrived Marianne told us about this sweet traditional delicacy. I don't remember the German name but the translation had to do with "Food even higher than the King." We were interested so she made it for us while we unpacked. So sweet of her. It was delicious. It had a similar taste to German Pancakes, but they were fried in a pan. 

Week 26 week of pregnancy

Marianne gave us each a pair of slippers to wear! The first think to put on when we came into the home. They were cozy, just like her home!

After the relaxing Marianne up'ed her host status to phenomenal when she went with us to dinner so that she could help us order traditional Austrian food.It was pork with a delicious gravy and a bread product of some kind that was also delicious.Here are some pictures:

Nudelsuppe : Perfect to warm the body and it was delicious! Had a broth base. 

Dessert: another egg dish, but this one was fluffy with sugar crystallized on the bottom! So yummy!

Day 17: April 10th, 2014

Today we embarked on our own Sound of Music Tour. We could have paid somebody to take us around, but then we would have missed out on getting lost and wanting to rip the GPS out of the car in order to silence the infernal voice emanating from the dash. Other than that small detail it was a great day. That and the rain. We were able to see many of the sights including the gazebo where they sing 16 going on 17.

The gazebo in the Sound of Music is in the park on the property of the Hellbrunn Palace. The journey would not be complete without a little singing!

Amber's dream come true! She will never watch the movie in the same way again!!

 The front of their house, the back of their house, the entrance to the Convent, the inside of the Convent and the church where Maria and Georg  were married. The interesting thing is that none of these sites are within 4 or 5 miles of each other with the convent and the church attached to it being an astounding 30 miles away! They must have had secret tunnels that connected everything because Holywood would never lie or take theatrical license.

The first stop on the tour was the Hellbrunn Palace built byPrice - Archbishop of Salzburg Markus Sittikus in 1619. This man had a sense of humor and a sense of grandeur. He wanted it built after the style of the Italian palaces he grew up in: Check and he also wanted to have some fun with the people who he entertained: Check. This was accomplished with water. "How was this accomplished?", you may be asking yourself. This is how:

Hellbrunn Palace

All the walls were very colorfully painted

You can see the water coming out from the seats

The devil fountain that sticks his tongue out at you

It was quite fun seeing all the Italian teenagers get soaked, of which we were spared, thanks to the pregnant woman. The man in charge always seemed to wait until Amber passed to play the jokes :) 

Next we went into Salzburg where we had a battle with the GPS lady, but eventually parked under the mountain, literally. It really was a parking garage burrowed out of the mountain like we were trolls and this was the parking garage for Moria. It wasn't as expensive as  Vienna, thankfully, but it wasn't cheap either. We then walked around and tried to see as many sites as we could before we got too cold and hungry.

The center of Salzburg has this castle up high on a cliff. It is a stunning sight. To reach the center of the town we got to drive through the mountain!

Maria passes this fountain as she leaves the convent in the movie!

The cool cars that Jeff sees in this region never seem to cease! A Lamborghini Countach

In the building right behind Amber is the singing hall from the end of the movie that the Von Trap Family Singers performed at. The real family performed there as well for a contest. 

the biggest PICKLE! Amber loved it :)

One of the oldest Christian graveyards known of in the world. It is situated in the center of town right up against the cliff that the castle is on. It is also the scene where the Von Trap Family hides at as they are escaping at the end of the film. 

We payed extra to see the catacombs that were discovered carved out of the cliff walls. They were said to be built around the time of Christ. There was a chapel and some grave sights. It has mostly been used by monks that were hermits who lived up in the caves.

A view of the catacombs from the outside. 

St. Peters church, were the cemetery is located, has a famous bakery where they use a water wheel to grind the wheat and power the machines. 

They are famous for their sourdough rye bread. We bout half a loaf and it weighed 1kg, which is 2.2 pounds. Crazy heavy!!

The back of their home. After Maria and the children fall out of the boat Maria and Georg have this fight :)

The fountain in the main square where Maria sings "I Have Confidence" when leaving the convent!

Jeff learned about this boy and girl in his music history class at BYU! Super fun to see. They are in different parts of the city. But she looks in his direction. 

Also during the day we had delicious Borsa, which is a traditional Salzburg sausage with Curry, Onions and Parsley. It was delicious. We were directed to it by Marianne in the old part of the city. It is where all the locals go! It was delicious and we would have never found it without her help.

On Getreidegasse street. Ask where the Bosna Place is from any shop owner. It is in an archway hallway on the end of the street closest to the cliff(castle) wall. 

After that we went home and warmed up in preparation for the next days activities.

Day 18: April 11th, 2014

We started off the day by going and finding the church where the marriage scene was filmed. It is in the cute little town of Mondsee nest to the lake of the same name. It was fun to see the sights and get a little glimpse of the Alps before we headed off to Munich.

Were Maria and Georg got MARRIED!!!

Beethoven came over to play with Amber :) 

The drive to Munich was uneventful, other than the glorious return of the unrestricted autobahn! I got up to 180 kph (112 MPH) before Amber had had enough and we slowed back down and even then we still had Audi, BMW, and Mercedes station wagons on our tails. Someday I will drive faster than them and not be a hindrance in my 4 cyl diesel.

We arrived at out next place a little early, so we waited in the car for our host to get home from work. While waiting Jeff finished Divergent, and now we both can't wait to go and see the movie. Maybe Amber will have made a reader out of Jeff yet. Only time will tell.

We are staying with a  delightful lady named Jenny, but what we are most excited for is the internet. One of the problems with cute, quaint little villages out in the middle of picturesque Austria is that high speed internet has not quite made its way out there. Oh well, it was worth it.

Till next time when we begin the adventures of Munich in earnest!