Day 11: May 24th, THE HILLS ARE ALIVEEE

As you can guess from the title today was the day of the long awaited Sound of Music tour in Salzburg. Ever since I was a child I've fantasized by the city of Salzburg shown in the film, but I never imagined I would visit it. Yet here I type after a long day of exploring that same city. There is much charm to the city, not only do you get to see your favorite on set locations of the Sound of Music surrounded my picturesque mountains but you also get to see the rich history Salzburg has to offer. salzburg was founded around 800 A.D. as a mining community. It later grew into a wealthy city headed by a Prince Bishop which has resulted in the city having 48 churches. Along with these amazing churches and charming buildings there is the musical history of Salzburg. Home to some of the most famous opera stages music has long since influenced the town even before Mozart made it even more famous. Overall the city has some of the richest culture I have seen so far on this trip and have throughly enjoyed exploring it. It was also fun to to leave the city and view some other sites nearby (this was due to our want to see more Sound of Music sights after the ones in the city). We traveled through many mountain villages sitting next to some of the most beautiful lakes I have ever seen. These lakes have a unique greenish blue color due to the minerals from the mountain, and are often undisturbed so they show a perfect reflection when you gaze at them. While we were unable to go see the hills that they actually filmed on due to complications we were able to visit the city of Mond See to visit the church that was used for the wedding scene. Mond See rests next to the largest lake in the Austria, Moon Lake in English, which is funnily enough privately owned by someone. The church however was free to visit and was just as beautiful as it was in the movie. While it does look a lot different it was still amazing to walk in the same places as Julie Andrews once did. We also were able to eat some amazing Apple Strudel in the cafes near the church. After that we returned to Salzburg to explore the city more before we headed Dorfgastein. Due to Kirsten and I staying here this weekend I didn't really feel pressured to do much and wandered the city enjoying the food and soaking in the culture.

While I do love most of the city there are parts of the city I do not enjoy. Like any tourist destination the streets are crowded with people rushing to see the sights which can make it hard to walk around and enjoy yourself. I often felt more crowded here than I did in Vienna, probably doe to Salzburg being more concentrated in one place. I also didn't like all the traffic. Compared to Vienna Salzburg doesn't use as much public transportation which means there are a lot more cars than one would like in a city so small. As always though the smoking was intolerable but that really is just a European problem not a Salzburg problem. As a whole though I have enjoyed Salzburg and today and can't wait to go back and explore it more this weekend. I am sorry for the lack of detail with the Sound of Music tour there really isn't too much detail to offer. Until next time!