Salzburg

this was the day I was finally waiting for! a visit to the place of Sound of Music! I wanted to see all the spots and locations of the movie and visit all the magestic sights you get to see during the songs etc. so the day dawned - rainy, freezing, windy, and down right bloody cold! I nearly cried! for a start - these were those awe-inspiring Austrian Alps in the movie!

see what I mean! ok - in saying that we did visit some of the important locations (im sorry but i'm a great sound of music fan - so you have to bear with me! dave did) the rotunda where they danced around (going on sixteen! song)Its been relocated to a summer palace's gardens. can you see what is happening behind the rotunda while I practise my leaps from seat to seat? (use your imagination!)it is the rest of our bus singing the song! i kid you not. we had the soundtrack played to us on the bus and the words to the song given out and were asked to sing it at the rotunda! and they all did! (except me and dave of course - we were being silly taking photos round the back! naughty children that we were)

then we went to the gardens where they all danced around singing do re me! as you can tell it was freezing and I wasnt dancing (recognise any parts?)

believe it or not this was where Maria danced and swished in the fountain during 'Confidence in me' i swished too! however the fountain was rather high up.

Do you remember that graveyard the von Trapps hid in to get away from the Nazis and nearly got caught? well we found the one that was used (well they remade it in the studio, but still ..)

Lastly this was the abby! you cant get in it (full of nuns that dont communicate with outside world!)

So I guess you could say I was sort of happy! one of the main tourist things about the city was that Mozart was born there and lived there until he got married and moved to Vienna. we toured the old town in the rain - quite gorgeous the ball in the photo on the side of the old town hall on the clock tower and tells the phase of the moon at that time! neat eh! every town hall should have one

We went up a cable car to the imposing castle up on the hill right in the middle of Salzburg - the city is built around in in a circle below. Spectacular views, even in the rain - and it even hailed on us coming down!

Just to prove how cold it was this was the temp. outside the bus on the way back to the boat (2hr bus ride - took that long to thaw out! )

so disappointing but the positives were I got to see what I wanted to see! through the rain of course! wouldnt have minded the alps in all their glory but i guess it wasnt to be!