Well, what can I say about the "Sound of Music Tour"? It was fabulous on so many levels, I hardly know where to begin. Well, I'll start at the very beginning, a very good place to start (funny huh!). I had to catch my bus at Mirabellplatz close to the gardens where "Doe a Deer" was sung. I sidled up to it with a low sinking feeling in my stomach. The bus was just so conspicuous, with a large picture of Julie Andrews and some of the children plastered on the side. There was really no way to play this cool, clearly I was here to celebrate my inner "Sound of Music" dork.
Inside the bus I was surprised to discover that most of the other passengers were other Europeans, with a smattering of Americans, and a small contingent of Japanese fans. The leader of our tour was a suitably enthusiastic American named Peter, who had relocated to Salzburg (I didn't catch why) and had been so touched by the movie, and its fans that he took this on as his day job. Speaking to him one on one, as I did while he flirted outrageously with me (sometimes my red hair gets me into trouble!), he had a perfectly normal voice. However, as soon as he got that microphone in his hand, Peter started to channel his inner Jon Lovitz. For those of you who may not know who Jon Lovitz is, he is currently annoying us all in his commercials for Subway (sandwiches). Anyway, nothing in my mind could be funnier than Jon Lovitz expressing his love for the "Sound of Music", acting out favourite scenes and singing some favourite songs. I spent the first ten minutes of the tour trying not to giggle before I acclimatised.
I must say I had a fantastic time. I saw things I would not have otherwise seen, including the Lake District outside of Salzburg. The bus wasn't tightly packed so I had two seats to myself, and lots of window to gaze out of.
Here are some of the interesting facts I learned about the movie and greater Salzburg.
- Salzburg has 45 Catholic churches (that's a lot of bells)
- below the fortress on the mountain that I visited yesterday is a little cottage sitting all alone. That was the town executioner's house. No one else wanted to live anywhere near him, so he was left alone in the middle of this enormous field tending his garden, where occasionally he would take a few practice swings at some heads of lettuce.
- the real Maria died of gangrene in the 80's due to the fact that she had an almost exclusive diet of cheese.
- the Red Bull head office is a series of round gazebo like buildings that seemingly float in a network of infinity pools.
- The gazebo used for the exterior shot of "I am 16" used to be located next to the house they used as the back of the Von Trapp mansion. It remained there until 1989 when it was removed because of the constant flow of tourists who would illegally sneak onto the grounds of the house (now a convention center) and dance around singing "I am 16 going on 17" loudly. It disrupted the conferences and was thus moved further outside the city.
Honestly if anyone is in Salzburg in the near future, I would say go for it. It was an afternoon well spent.
Inside the bus I was surprised to discover that most of the other passengers were other Europeans, with a smattering of Americans, and a small contingent of Japanese fans. The leader of our tour was a suitably enthusiastic American named Peter, who had relocated to Salzburg (I didn't catch why) and had been so touched by the movie, and its fans that he took this on as his day job. Speaking to him one on one, as I did while he flirted outrageously with me (sometimes my red hair gets me into trouble!), he had a perfectly normal voice. However, as soon as he got that microphone in his hand, Peter started to channel his inner Jon Lovitz. For those of you who may not know who Jon Lovitz is, he is currently annoying us all in his commercials for Subway (sandwiches). Anyway, nothing in my mind could be funnier than Jon Lovitz expressing his love for the "Sound of Music", acting out favourite scenes and singing some favourite songs. I spent the first ten minutes of the tour trying not to giggle before I acclimatised.
I must say I had a fantastic time. I saw things I would not have otherwise seen, including the Lake District outside of Salzburg. The bus wasn't tightly packed so I had two seats to myself, and lots of window to gaze out of.
Here are some of the interesting facts I learned about the movie and greater Salzburg.
- Salzburg has 45 Catholic churches (that's a lot of bells)
- below the fortress on the mountain that I visited yesterday is a little cottage sitting all alone. That was the town executioner's house. No one else wanted to live anywhere near him, so he was left alone in the middle of this enormous field tending his garden, where occasionally he would take a few practice swings at some heads of lettuce.
- the real Maria died of gangrene in the 80's due to the fact that she had an almost exclusive diet of cheese.
- the Red Bull head office is a series of round gazebo like buildings that seemingly float in a network of infinity pools.
- The gazebo used for the exterior shot of "I am 16" used to be located next to the house they used as the back of the Von Trapp mansion. It remained there until 1989 when it was removed because of the constant flow of tourists who would illegally sneak onto the grounds of the house (now a convention center) and dance around singing "I am 16 going on 17" loudly. It disrupted the conferences and was thus moved further outside the city.
Honestly if anyone is in Salzburg in the near future, I would say go for it. It was an afternoon well spent.
1 comment:
I think you have picked up some travel writing tips from Rick Steves!!!! Who I hope you still like, because I mean that as a compliment.
I love the Red Bull offices, they're so calm, somewhat ironically.
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