My Heart Has Been Blessed..By the Sound of Music

We spent the night in Munich, but got up at 6:00 to catch the 7:26 train to Salzburg. Right when we arrived, Danielle, Alana and I had to book it to find the Sound of Music tour bus, while Lacey and Lauren ventured around on their own. Luckily, with the help of strangers who pointed the way, we found the bus and boarded it before it left. We were soon greeted by our rather chipper tour guide, Peter-- a fruity older man who operated as if he had just consumed 5 energy drinks. Most of the time you picture places in your head and you are slightly disappointed when you get there. Not Salzburg! It was indeed the scenery that took my breath away as a child and brought a stirring in my soul to run around the mountainside singing. The snowcapped mountains, the picturesque brown houses, the vibrant green hillsides-- no wonder Maria couldn't stay in the abbey! Our first stop was the back of the house and lakeview from their home. Though they used a different house (which we later saw) they used the backyard and lake of this particular home. From a distance, I saw the gate where the kids tromped through in their wet "play clothes." The lake is where they all stood up to greet the Captain when they lost their balance and fell into the water. I love that scene!

While we were walking back to the bus, I saw a little girl (who was on the tour with us) holding her dad's hand. As she swung his hand back and forth, she sang every word to, "I am 16...going on 17." She must have been like 4 years old! My heart was touched because that was about the age that I fell in love with this movie.

Though it was moved from its original location, we went to see the original gazebo from the movie, the gazebo where Liesl and Rolfe meet and where Maria and Captain sing at the end. It was still in beautiful condition, but they don't let you go inside because they said too many people before have danced around in it-- imagine that. I would certainly not have been one of those foolish people..haha...

As we drove through the mountains, Peter played the soundtrack from the bus speakers. Though I wanted to burst out loudly in song, I sang softly to myself, along with the girl in front of me. We saw the cart that goes up the mountain-- there's a shot in the movie of the kids riding up there. It is on that mountain where they learn the Do-Re-Me song. As we sat during our rest stop, I couldn't help but notice how many people were brought together by one movie. From different walks of life, we were all together because this musical touched our life. There were older people, younger people and small children-- yet we were united in our love for the sound of music.

We saw the outside and inside of St. Michael's church, the church in which Maria was married in the movie. It didn't seem quite as big as the movie makes it seem, but it was still beautiful. I loved the yellow color of the outside! The three of us stopped at a strudel place outside of the church. Though they were quite pricey, it was nice to chomp down on one of Maria's "favorite things." (Lyric reference: Cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels...) While we were driving back, we watched scenes from the movie, bringing to life what we had just seen before our eyes.

Unfortunately, we were rushed while visiting the gardens. This, though, would have to be my favorite part of Salzburg! I wish I could have stayed there for hours. We got our picture by all the fountains that are seen in the movie, my favorite being the one with the horse in the middle that the kids dance around. We patted the dwarf statue on the head-- Peter pointed us to the one the kids patted in the musical. We got to jump on the steps! We ran through the vine-covered archway! The flowers were so colorful and in perfect bloom, the sun was shining bright and I couldn't have asked for a prettier day to see this! Granted, I seem like a dork with my obsession with this movie. Let people have their Star Wars conventions, let people dress up like Harry Potter and go to the premiere-- just let Ashton go on a Sound of Music tour!

I think what free travel is all about is giving you a taste of a place so that you can decide to go back there for a longer period of time if you so wish. Salzburg and Austria in general is on my list! I LOVED it. I hope to make it back someday!