Epic Summer Part III: Mega Trip--Salzburg

When we first moved to Europe we asked each of the kids what place they most wanted to see. S, after a year of watching The Sound of Music nearly every weekend, of course chose Salzburg. Now, I’m not poking fun. I would have said the same thing at her age. I’m also the one who answers yes every time she asks to watch the movie. And when A and I were in Salzburg for just a day in February of 1998, we spent half of it taking one of the SoM tours. I was thrilled at the idea of spending more time in this city—especially in warm weather with blooming flowers and flowing fountains.

We spent three nights in Salzburg, which gave us two and a half days in the area. We headed to Austria after visiting the Eagle’s Nest. On our way we stopped just outside of Salzburg at the Hallein Salt Mine. A and I had both had this fun experience on previous trips, and we knew the kids would love it. There are several salt mine tours in the area, but we chose this one because we thought it would appeal to the kids with a train, boat, underground border crossing, and, the highlight, two miners’ slides. When we arrived we were told to don our white miners’ costumes. By this time the kids were really psyched and bouncing up and down. Then it was time to head down and board the train that would take us into the mine. It’s a little train you straddle. The kids loved this. Once in the mine our guide led us through tunnels, stopping every ten minutes or so to show a short movie giving the history of the mine (this was the super cheesy part). We slid down a 40-meter miner’s slide and the kids’ fun level was off the charts. There was a boat ride through an underground salt lake and we learned that the miners created the lakes by pumping water down into the mine in order to more easily extract the salt. Pretty smart! There was one more slide, and this time we raced, boys vs. girls, and S and I won by a good margin. (E was sure we “won because Mom has the most weight.” Thanks kid!) During the walk through the tunnels we crossed the border into Germany for a bit and then back into Austria. We thought this was fun since we’d crossed the border up in the mountains a few days prior. We hopped the train to ride back to daylight. The kids immediately asked if we could do it again. E and S never stopped smiling through the whole trip. The whole experience if fun for adults, but if you’re traveling in this region with kids, a salt mine tour is a must!

Little Miners

On the train heading into the mine.

Crossing the border back into Austria.

Salt Rock

Tasting the brine. 

The boat ride across the underground salt lake.

Can you tell they're wired? 

Proudly displaying their souvenir salt. 

We left the mine, headed into Salzburg, and found a place for dinner. The kids have discovered Spezi (thanks to their father). If you've never had Spezi, it's a mix of Coca Cola and Orange Fanta. It tastes about as good as it sounds. Honestly, I think it's one of those things that tastes good when you're in a location where it is traditionally served, but you'd never choose it at home. I think the kids like it because it is soda and they rarely get to drink soda. So they are taking advantage every chance they get!

The kids' new favorite drink--Spezi!

Our first full day was dedicated to Salzburg itself. We toured the city and gardens. The second day we drove to a couple more SoM sites on our way to the small lakeside town of Hallstatt, where we enjoyed strolling the town and a boat ride on its lake. Since Salzburg is famous for music (the Salzburg Festival was just getting started) we also fit in a couple of performances. For simplicity’s sake I’ll share what we did in three parts: SoM sites, other sites in Salzburg, and Hallstatt.

Austrians will go out of their way to tell you that the Sound of Music isn’t well known in their country and those who do know the movie can tell you all the ways the film has exaggerated the true story of the Von Trapp family. Apparently they also don’t believe that the movie depicts Austria in a very positive light, although that had never occurred to me before reading about it in Salzburg. But the reality is that after the Music Festival and Mozart, the SoM is the biggest reason tourists, especially Americans, come to Salzburg. They definitely aren’t afraid to market this point, as SoM tours abound. But (thanks to google) you don’t really need to go on a tour to see the sites. You all know I love learning about the places we visit and their history, and Salzburg is no exception, but it’s also loads of fun to stand in the places you’ve grown to love on the screen as a child.

So here are the SoM sites we visited. (I know I said this was all for S, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a tad bit giddy.) 

The fountain at Residenzplatz. (I Have Confidence) 

Mirabell Gardens Stairs (Do Re Mi)

The dwarf statue in Mirabell Gardens' Dwarf Park.

Mirabell Gardens

Arbor in Mirabell Gardens 

Schloss Leopoldskron--used as the setting for the back of the Von Trapp house.

Sound of Music Pavillion at Hellbrunn Castle and Gardens (Sixteen Going on Seventeen)
It used to be open to visitors, but years ago an older woman was
reenacting the dancing scene and fell through the glass, so now it's closed.

Schloss Frohnburg--used as the setting for the front of the Von Trapp house. 

Collegiate Church at Mondsee--the Wedding Church!

Nonnburg Abbey

Near the Winkler Steps (Do Re Mi)

Salzburg is famous for their Marionette Theater. They do performances of operas and, you guessed it, the Sound of Music! Since we were in Salzburg for S and her love of SoM I had decided to order tickets for a performance (my grandma would be proud). This was the first of this type performance for any of us, so we weren’t sure what to expect. We all really enjoyed it. They did a lot of fun things with the choreography of the puppets and the scenery, especially during the songs. At the end they did a little encore number with mirrors showing the puppeteers. That was fun and interesting. There is obviously a lot to the choreography of the puppeteers working with each other as well as manipulating their puppets. We had a great time and would highly recommend the experience. A said it was his highlight of our time in Salzburg.

Outside the theater.

Waiting for the show to start!

The flowers at the Mirabell Gardens were spectacular. Here are a few more pics.

St. Peters cemetery is by far the favorite cemetery of the ones I’ve visited. This is the site I was most looking forward to re-visiting in Salzburg. You actually don’t purchase a plot here; you rent it. If no one loves you enough to pay your rent every 10 years, they pull up your headstone and give the space to someone else (this is actually a fairly common practice in Austrian cemeteries). The reality of this means that the gravesites in the cemetery are very well cared for by families, with a variety of beautiful flowers. I saw one lady who looked to be on her way to work, but had stopped by to water her loved one’s plot. Even in the winter they keep it looking beautiful.

The SoM abbey cemetery scene wasn't filmed here, but St. Peter's was the inspiration. 

Of course Salzburg’s big claim to fame is as the home of Mozart. On our previous trip we toured Mozart's Geburtshaus, which is set up as a really neat museum. This time we thought we would avoid the crowds and see his other residence in Salzburg, the Mozart Wohnhaus. Other than having once been his actual home and housing his piano (which they need to make a bigger deal about), there isn’t much to see here. It’s actually set up as a museum of pictures of Mozart, many of them prints, with a lot of discussion about the many different variations to his appearance. We did get to see a very famous painting of Mozart and his sister at the piano with his father and a portrait of his mother. That was neat for me, as I’ve seen this family picture in many books growing up. But if you’re visiting Salzburg, definitely do the Geburtshaus and not the Wohnhaus. We also attended a Mozart Piano Sonata Concert in a small hall of St. Peter’s Abbey. It was recommended for families since it was fairly short. The pianist was from Sweden and we’re pretty sure he had family in attendance, because the people in the front row would not stop clapping. After the fourth encore I thought E was going to lose it and A had stopped clapping altogether. But I enjoyed the entire performance—I was able to hear Mozart in Salzburg. And one of the encores was a Satie piece, who is one of my favorites!

Mozart lived in this home for 5 years as an adult.

He was born here and lived on the third floor.

Waiting for the Mozart Sonata Concert in St. Peter's Abbey.

And here are a few other places we saw.

 

Salzburg Cathedral 

The churches up here are such a contrast from the dark churches in Rome. 

Checking out a water wheel. 

Doughnut Pretzel. It looked better than it tasted.

On the Getreidegasse--the busy main street in town. Love the iron signs.

Hohensalzburg Fortress above Salzburg.

While in Salzburg we took a day trip to the small lakeside village of Hallstatt. A’s brother and sister-in-law recommended Hallstatt to us and we’re so glad we went. The town is sandwiched between a mountain and the lake. We started off by renting a small electric boat and cruising around the lake. The kids had lots of fun taking turns at the steering wheel.

The beautiful town of Hallstatt. 

Can you see the parasailer? 

Castle Schloss Grub--Hitler used it as a youth camp, but it's been restored.

Taking a break 

Next we had a surprise in store for S. The moment we arrived in Bavaria/Tirol she had spotted the traditional dresses worn called dirndls. And she really wanted one. Badly. I wanted to get one for her, but after popping in countless shops for days we hadn’t found anything above souvenir quality for less than €100. And since we just couldn’t see her wearing the dress once we get back to Italy (no matter how cute), we couldn’t really do a splurge. She was pretty devastated and trying her best to move on to a new dream when A read about a rental place in our guidebook. So after the boat ride we headed straight to Dirndl to Go. S chose a dirndl and the cuteness was overwhelming! (I’ll confess that I really wanted to wear one too!) We spent the next couple hours strolling through the town and snapping photos of our little Tirolean lady. I’ll go ahead and apologize right now for putting too many pics on here, but she really looked so pretty and the town offered such a lovely backdrop…

This one is my favorite!

 

 

I think she was getting tired of being asked to pose. 

Other things we looked at in Hallstatt besides S:

Another beautiful cemetery. 

The bone chapel. They ran out of room in the cemetery so they moved everyone in here.
Apparently you were allowed about 15 years in your grave before they dug you up and added
your bones to the chapel. Once the Catholic Church allowed cremation, space became less of an issue.  

Playing at the park on the lake before heading back. 

The hills are alive, and I would run around singing about it everyday if I lived here!
(Thank goodness for the neighbor I don't!)

Back in Salzburg we ended the Austrian leg of our trip with a traditional dinner. Schnitzel and strudel. Well except for me. I was schnitzeled out on day one so I had pasta. Good thing for me we are visiting Austria and live in Italy!

Auf Weidersehen! Next post—Berlin!