The Hills *Are* Alive

Sunday morning. We wake up to another lovely breakfast at our host hotel and then the kids go off to their room to finish the end of the movie. I had told them the story that when I was a kid, The Sound of Music was on TV maybe once a year, and it was always a treat to see it. However, unlike my children who think 9:00 PM is an acceptable time (now) to start dinner, I always had to go to bed by 9:00 – ensuring missing the ending of the movie *every time.* Never got to see them escape – never knew that they had to escape. It always ended with the commercial break right after the wedding (as she marched down the aisle to “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria.” Does anyone else find that a bit of a strange song choice??”) But I had the soundtrack (record version of course, which none of my kids quite comprehend. Ed can’t even tell you what a videocassette is) that Hilary and I listened to quite frequently. Along with Grease and Bugsy Malone. So started my love of The Sound of Music. It was – and will continue to be always – a special event.
So we cleaned up the car, packed up the stuff and headed into Salzburg again – crossing the German/Austrian border for the umpteenth time in 2 days. We were early for our 2:30 tour, and Brian had some computer work to do. We found parking near the Mirabell gardens and headed up to find a place for the kids to play while Brian did work on his presentation and my blogwork. My ovarian “child-magnet” sense of direction prevailed and I found us just the spot. Shaded benches for computer work, and a “WICKED! – says Ed – playground. It wasn’t until after our tour that we learned that we were in the Mirabell palace gardens. Pretty cool.
We grabbed a quick hot dog and pretzel lunch – outside the bus stop for the bus “Sound of Music” tour – the one for wimpy tourists. The hearty tourists (us) went across the street and took the far more interesting bike “Sound of Music” tour. Since we had called the day before, the company arranged a special later tour for us, so we had the tour guide – lovely Finnish/English Miriam (not like the “awful” Aussie one)- all to ourselves. She got the bikes ready for us and after pulling one out for Edwin, I asked if there was much riding in town to be done. She replied yes, and it was then that we pulled Ed off his own bike and got him on the trail-along on Brian’s. – Edwin is not quite yet comfortable with the steering around people and braking thing. Neither is Colin, really, truth be told – and evidenced by the huge bruise on Brian’s calf from their collision.
Biked up and helmeted (well, the kids at least) we started off on the tour. We went over the bridge and through town. Up to the Abbey. Down the hill and over to the “lake” (where they all fall in during one scene of the movie) in front of the house and over to the gardens where the city of Salzburg has moved the “16 going on 17” gazebo to. Originally, the gazebo was built next to a private residence (now and maybe then too a seminary.) It was moved many times due to the huge crowds of tourists seeking the gazebo for pictures and singing the song while jumping over the benches. The people of Salzburg, apparently didn’t appreciate all the fuss over movie. In fact, Miriam pointed out that you’d be hard pressed to find someone from Salzburg (or Austria for that matter) who has actually seen the movie. It’s just non-issue to all those Austrians not currently employed by the Sound of Music tour industry.
The ride lasted about 3 hours with lots of stops and breaks in between. Every so often, Miriam would stop and point out some place in the movie and ask if the kids recognized it. At one point, during a longer stretch of riding, she handed out MP3 players with neck straps with the soundtrack cued up. We could listen to the music while riding down the streets of Salzburg, through the meadows and by the river, all with the Alps in view. FANTASTIC! A huge high point for me in the trip. Probably – not just one of – “my favorite thing” we’d done on the EuroTour. It was too cool. When we got to the garden with the gazebo (locked up now after one too many bones had been broken re-enacting the dance) we had a short break. Brian took the kids to the play area with the “cool zip-line” while Miriam and I took off to the café for a coffee (and ice-cream, but don’t tell the kids.) It was great having a conversation in English and we swapped stories for a bit. Then it was back to the bikes and the rest of the ride. It was a pretty straight shot back the rental spot that followed along the river. In total, we biked about 15 km (10 miles) so it was a great experience all in all. Bike ride. Sound of Music soundtrack. Movie trivia. All the makings of a fun afternoon.
We headed back to the car and made the 2 ½ trip to Vienna. We checked in to the ritzy Marriott where Brian always stays and then headed out for dinner. We got lucky (as it was Sunday and most things are closed) and ate in one of the restaurants Brian and I had found during our trip there in February. It was part self-service buffet, and the other part table service. We ordered a variety of foods and finished off with apple strudel. Delicious – as was the whole day.