Armed with as much Google information as I could find and my own knowledge of this delightful musical we ventured to Mirabell Garden in Salzburg and I began my own Sound of Music adventure. With a huge grin and light steps I entered the garden, the husband just walked at regular speed. He admired the beautiful floral gardens. I on the other hand, eyes widened with delight like a child seeing a Willy Wonka chocolate river, wanted to run everywhere to see it all at once. Yes, the gardens were beautiful. The colours of the flowers were like hundreds and thousands sprinkled all over a cake. This vision was only spoilt by a silver coated mime act and a clown busker. Cruel, because to get into the gardens I had to pass by both. I’m terrified of clowns and masks!
Those of you who are Sound of Music fans will recognise this garden as featuring very much so in the song ‘Do- Re- Mi’ . So , lets start at the very beginning…
DO-RE
I ran to the Pegasus fountain. “Photo please! ” I called out as I sang parts of the song while skipping around the fountain. Hardest part was waiting for others to disappear to get a shot of just me so I settled for a at least having a photo.
MI-FA
Off I hopped, up and down the steps, singing Do – Re -Mi. Having read many others’ experiences here suggesting to wait until the crowds passed so as to not look silly, I said ‘YOLO’ and belted out the song loud and clear while demanding more photos . At the time of posting, somehow the photos of me singing on the steps have just ‘disappeared’. Hmmmm, oh well a memory still etched hard forever in my brain and probably those of others who stared watching my show haha ( and lucky no video for YouTube haha)!
SO-LA
My next mission was to find the gnome section of the park. This park has no signage that I could find so we just had to keep wandering.I found it on an upper level. The gnomes stand around a circular pathway in the gnome garden. I tapped the head of the gnome with glasses…of course singing again… and knowing the Von Trapps had done this before me , my hands tapped where theirs once did.
TI
I sang too, as I skipped along the walkway covered in clinging vines forming a cool canopy.
That will bring us back to Do
Oh and we made a trip to the Residence Square to splash a horse in the fountain.
I’ve always longed for adventure
To do the things I’ve never dared
Now here I’m facing adventure
Then why am I so scared?
The hills are alive with the sound of music
With songs they have sung for a thousand years
The hills fill my heart with the sound of music
My heart wants to sing every song it hears
First stop was the gazebo. As she spoke about its history I decided the best photos would be before the bus crowd encroached so I walked ahead and got my photos listening with one ear to her stories . I must admit I seemed to know them all from interactions with my friend Google and from having read the book STORY OF THE TRAPP FAMILY SINGERS by Maria Augusta Trapp. By the time The Husband arrived from the talk I was ready to sing and sing I did! I tried to tell him the lines of Rolf’s to sing but he wouldn’t, so I sang it all as I ran around the outside pretending to jump from seat to seat. A lot of the bus folk watched and I’m sure they were thinking how weird great my reenactment was.
I am sixteen, going on seventeen. I know that I’m naive.
Fellows I meet may tell me I’m sweet, and willingly I believe.
Before hoping on the bus I hid behind a tree for a photo. This tree was one the little Von Trapp children dangled from as their father drove to the house with the Baroness.
“Oh, it’s nothing – just some local urchins.”
No, I wasn’t going to climb the tree as the Von Trapps had, my excuse… the bottom branches were out of reach 🙂
From there we did a drive – by of the convent ( scene areas not open to the public) Nonnberg Abbey.
We zoomed past Fronburg Castle, the backdrop to where Maria sang at the gates before entering, where the Nazi flag was ripped down and the car was pushed through the gates in the dark as they planned to escape. When we zoomed past the gates were wide open.
Next stop was then onto the residence as seen in the balcony pink lemonade scene where the Baroness hints about marriage and where Maria and the children toppled from their boat. Not prepared to be authentic in the icy water ( which I tested by hand ) I still had a backdrop photo and a balcony zoom.
The Baroness: : Not too sweet, not too sour.
Max: Just too, uh… pink.
By now the weather turned cold – watched the external temperature indicated in the bus, drop from 23C to 15 and the heavens began dropping icy raindrops. We stopped for a photo opportunity looking over the lakes regions the ones seen in the movie introduction. They were beautiful. Yachts with white sails raced across the blue water top. This water, green of the countryside and light colours of the building stood in contrast against the backdrop of a black stormy sky.
Our tour then took us to the abbey where Maria married the Captain. I must admit I always wondered why her wedding march was “How do you solve a problem like Maria” seems a little cruel . Or, did it mean pass on a problem to solve it, in this case pass her on to the Captain? The rain was bucketing down now, little gullies ran through the gravelled walkways. The abbey was closed to the public, not sure if because of the rain or if it’s a regular thing, so I looked from afar and did what any sensible person would- headed for a cafe to sit out the storm. This was an hour stop so there was plenty of time.
Had a delicious hot chocolate and an apple strudel smothered in vanilla sauce ( custard). I tried to get whipped cream on the side but with no luck.
We raced back to the bus. By now our umbrellas were purely decorative as the wind whipped the rain from all directions. On the drive from the lakes and homeward bound the CD soundtrack was played and with the exception of Maria and myself the bus was silent – but we made up for it 🙂
This day was a highlight of my trip. So glad we did the gardens early because at the end of the tour it was very wet to visit.
If you get the chance I’d thoroughly recommend the tour conducted by Salzburg Sightseeing Tours. It was run on time, the coach was clean and the hostess was informative and captivating.
And, so I leave you with…
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu
Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu