We chose these snazzy purple bikes...they seemed the newest and the most reliable.
I mostly just went for the one with the cutest bell.
How do I live without cobblestone?
Our tour guide was Claudio. He was energetic and outgoing, often breaking out in song as we visited the different point of historical interest and various spots where "The Sound of Music" was filmed. I admit...I ended up being the most excited about learning the history of the city. It's so old! So many crazy things have happened!
Poor Mozart.
He also told us a story about the siege on Salzburg during the Thirty Years War. Their enemies had surrounded them and were waiting for the people of the city to run out of food and surrender. They came up with an idea. They led their remaining cows out where they could be seen by the enemy. Then they led them back down, painted them a different color and walked them back out to be seen again. They painted them over and over and soon the invaders realized the city was so well stocked with cattle they would never surrender. They packed up and went home! This earned the citizens of Salzburg the nickname "Salzburg Steirwashers" and there are now colorful painted statues of cows and bulls all over the city.
Also....Red Bull is made in Salzburg!
I love good stories.
As we rode along, I was fascinated by the way these perfectly precise buildings were built right up against these cliffs. Isn't there a building code or something that prohibits that? It's such a foreign sight to me. But at the same time, I love it!
'
How in the world did they get permission to build their apartment on top of this old archway??
Right up against the cliff!
Outside the Opera house. This staircase was also used in one of the scenes in the movie...when Max is helping the kids rehearse while the Captain and Maria are on their honeymoon.
This was the fist of several photos where we posed due to tour guide peer pressure!
And I think it turned out cute!
And here is "Rolfe's Gate".
Remember? Ha! cool!
I had to get a boost from Claudio and sit up there to reach the water because Maria was standing on a box during filming. Movie magic!!
I've always thought that the horses legs were broken in the fountain. Turns out they are actually MERhorses...kinda like little flappy flippers.
and look! a turtle!
The next time we stopped, Claudio was explaining....something about somewhere, but our noses took over and we followed them to this old door. We were right to trust our senses, we had found Salzburg's oldest bakery.
It was right at the bottom of the Fortress and I got my first glimpse of a funicular. Funicular is a fancy word for "scary, but worth it".
The bakery was nestled right next to a cemetery. I love the way they plant flowers and bushes on the graves. It makes it way less creepy and gives you something to tend and care for. I wish we did that in the the United States.
These beautiful gates were the inspiration for the scenes where the family hid in the abbey as they escaped the Nazis.
The view of Salzburg from Nonnberg Abby where the real Maria was a postulant. Such a beautiful city. I love the green rooftops and the domes.
Once again convinced to do a silly pose. Why am I such a push over?
But mom sure is cute!
This is the gate to the Nonnberg Abby where the children come to see Maria!
Everywhere we went we could spot the amazing Fortress. My mom told me that it never was conquered and was given to Napoleon. I could see why. It is truly formidable.
Here is the home that was used to film the scenes on the back veranda with the Von Trapp children singing and falling into the water from their canoe.
I made several attempts to take an over-the-shoulder photo of both of us riding along...
This one is the the one!
We rode past the home that was used the front of the house scenes....when Maria first arrives and when the captain tears down the Nazi flag and when they are pushing the car and trying to escape. It was looking a little run down, but the guide told us that is used as a school of music and the students lived there as they study. We could hear someone practicing a few lines of a piano piece nearby. I kind of think that the Austrians have a pretty practical view of how to preserve and honor historical places. Many of these buildings stay in use! I really love that.
As we were zipping along, we came around a slippery corner pretty fast and right as mom came around, there was a car right there and it sent her into a ditch. She hit her head and hip and really cut up her hands. Claudio did his best to wrap her wounds, but I'm pretty sure he was flustered because he wrapped the wrong hand!!
Mom kept on for a bit but was feeling shaken up and I'm sure was hurting. By the time we reached Hellbrunn, she decided to take a bus back to the hotel. I finished up with the tour, but I was worried about her and wishing I had taken the bus back with her.
The tour was mostly over and we were just traveling back to Mirabell Palace. I did like this bridge, though. It was fun to see everyone's padlocks up there. I tried to find out where to buy a padlock, but I never could seem to find anywhere to get one.
I did my best to find a bus back to the hotel, but accidentally got on the wrong one and it stopped out in who-knows-where for a break while I sat on the bus and wondered how in the world I was going to get back. For about 2 minutes I let the tears come and the panic roll over me. I was in a foreign country! I wanted my mom! But then, you know, I just had to stop the bawling and ask again for help. I spotted another bus driver and asked him if his route went back to the hauptbanhof. He said it did, so I hopped on and determined to ride it until I got back, no matter how long it took.
I eventually stepped off that bus in triumph!
And mom was all cleaned up and showered. I told her about my bus terror and she told me about the looks the hotel staff gave her when she arrived back all muddy and bleeding. We had a good laugh, scrubbed out her favorite pants and white shirt and headed back out to the Mirabell Palace gardens to look around and see those last few spots where the Sound of Music was filmed. Here are the steps where Maria and the children hop up and down singing "do re mi"....
If I had been braver, I would have hopped or posed like Maria with my hand on my head. What can I say? I'm not an uninhibited person.
We wandered the gardens and came upon a cool little park off to the side where two dwarf statues on a bridge led you to a little glen where a half dozen or so other dwarves were arranged in a circle. They seemed so interesting and purposefully made. We googled it (yay, technology!) and learned this:
A funny thing we saw on our bike tour and then again as we were walking around...this old fountain with its paintings of horses is really an old horse washing station! You lead your horse down one side, give it a scrub and then you head out the other end. Wow. That's alot of architecture just to wash your horsie.
They were truly masters of their craft.
What a day! We started and ended with Sound of Music. Bike rides and crashes, blood and tears, dwarves and mangers. Salzburg is turning out to be one of my favorite places!
Right up against the cliff!
Outside the Opera house. This staircase was also used in one of the scenes in the movie...when Max is helping the kids rehearse while the Captain and Maria are on their honeymoon.
This was the fist of several photos where we posed due to tour guide peer pressure!
And I think it turned out cute!
And here is "Rolfe's Gate".
Remember? Ha! cool!
The Residence Fountain where Maria reaches up to splash as she sings about having confidence in sunshine....or was it rain?
I had to get a boost from Claudio and sit up there to reach the water because Maria was standing on a box during filming. Movie magic!!
I've always thought that the horses legs were broken in the fountain. Turns out they are actually MERhorses...kinda like little flappy flippers.
and look! a turtle!
The next time we stopped, Claudio was explaining....something about somewhere, but our noses took over and we followed them to this old door. We were right to trust our senses, we had found Salzburg's oldest bakery.
It was right at the bottom of the Fortress and I got my first glimpse of a funicular. Funicular is a fancy word for "scary, but worth it".
The bakery was nestled right next to a cemetery. I love the way they plant flowers and bushes on the graves. It makes it way less creepy and gives you something to tend and care for. I wish we did that in the the United States.
These beautiful gates were the inspiration for the scenes where the family hid in the abbey as they escaped the Nazis.
The view of Salzburg from Nonnberg Abby where the real Maria was a postulant. Such a beautiful city. I love the green rooftops and the domes.
Once again convinced to do a silly pose. Why am I such a push over?
But mom sure is cute!
This is the gate to the Nonnberg Abby where the children come to see Maria!
Here is the home that was used to film the scenes on the back veranda with the Von Trapp children singing and falling into the water from their canoe.
This one is the the one!
As we were zipping along, we came around a slippery corner pretty fast and right as mom came around, there was a car right there and it sent her into a ditch. She hit her head and hip and really cut up her hands. Claudio did his best to wrap her wounds, but I'm pretty sure he was flustered because he wrapped the wrong hand!!
Mom kept on for a bit but was feeling shaken up and I'm sure was hurting. By the time we reached Hellbrunn, she decided to take a bus back to the hotel. I finished up with the tour, but I was worried about her and wishing I had taken the bus back with her.
The tour was mostly over and we were just traveling back to Mirabell Palace. I did like this bridge, though. It was fun to see everyone's padlocks up there. I tried to find out where to buy a padlock, but I never could seem to find anywhere to get one.
I did my best to find a bus back to the hotel, but accidentally got on the wrong one and it stopped out in who-knows-where for a break while I sat on the bus and wondered how in the world I was going to get back. For about 2 minutes I let the tears come and the panic roll over me. I was in a foreign country! I wanted my mom! But then, you know, I just had to stop the bawling and ask again for help. I spotted another bus driver and asked him if his route went back to the hauptbanhof. He said it did, so I hopped on and determined to ride it until I got back, no matter how long it took.
I eventually stepped off that bus in triumph!
And mom was all cleaned up and showered. I told her about my bus terror and she told me about the looks the hotel staff gave her when she arrived back all muddy and bleeding. We had a good laugh, scrubbed out her favorite pants and white shirt and headed back out to the Mirabell Palace gardens to look around and see those last few spots where the Sound of Music was filmed. Here are the steps where Maria and the children hop up and down singing "do re mi"....
If I had been braver, I would have hopped or posed like Maria with my hand on my head. What can I say? I'm not an uninhibited person.
We wandered the gardens and came upon a cool little park off to the side where two dwarf statues on a bridge led you to a little glen where a half dozen or so other dwarves were arranged in a circle. They seemed so interesting and purposefully made. We googled it (yay, technology!) and learned this:
"The Zwerglgarten, or “Dwarf Garden,” in Salzburg, Austria was created in 1715 by Prince Archbishop Franz Anton Harrach. Many of these creepy dwarf statues were modeled after dwarves who lived in the court and served as entertainers to the archbishop. The rest were inspired by peasants and foreigners.The Dwarf Garden resides at the north end of the beautiful Mirabell Gardens, but for a time, the gardens were dwarf-less, thanks to a very superstitious resident of Mirabell Gardens. In concern for his wife and their unborn child, Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria had the disfigured creatures with their goiters and hunchbacks removed from the Dwarf Garden (they were to be destroyed). Fortunately, they were only auctioned off and the dwarfs were forgotten for over one hundred years. Not until 1921 did the Salzburg Society for the Preservation of Local Amenities recall this part of Salzburg’s cultural heritage to mind and convince the city councilors to place the nine dwarfs then in the city’s possession in their historical positions."
Our next order of business was to find Rouladen. I have never had it, but mom said she really wanted to try it. So we googled and walked and mapped and turned around. Then we googled some more.
We just couldn't find it! So we ended up picking a place to eat and rest our tired feet. Then we walked all over "old Salzburg" looking for a particular little shop that sold hand carved nativity sets. We just couldn't seem to find it. We did find the birthplace of Mozart, though!
We walked up one street and down another and through some miracle, ended up staring right at the shop that we were looking for!
We went in and Mom chose out each piece that she wanted. She shipped them to a neighbor back home and it should be waiting for her when she gets back. I'm so glad we found it!
A funny thing we saw on our bike tour and then again as we were walking around...this old fountain with its paintings of horses is really an old horse washing station! You lead your horse down one side, give it a scrub and then you head out the other end. Wow. That's alot of architecture just to wash your horsie.
We walked straight from there down to the Marionette Theater and enjoyed a production of the Sound of Music. My favorite part was when they lifted the curtain at the end and you realized that they had completely convinced your mind that those marionettes were life sized! The puppeteers heads were HUGE! And they were so cute as they bobbed their heads up and down to bow as we cheered for them... big happy grins on their faces.
They were truly masters of their craft.
What a day! We started and ended with Sound of Music. Bike rides and crashes, blood and tears, dwarves and mangers. Salzburg is turning out to be one of my favorite places!
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