Salzburg Day 5
Today Brian and I woke up extremely excited to spend a full
day here. We have totally fallen
in love with Salzburg and everything about it. First things first, Sound of Music Tour.
Sound of Music is one of the greatest musicals and films of
all time and it is set in gorgeous Salzburg. In fact, Salzburg’s wealth is due to tourism because a ton
of tourists flock here because of Mozart and the Sound of Music. That is amazing! We booked the tour
through our hostel and saved 10% on the price. Also, a van picked us up at the hostel and brought us to the
big coach bus that was going to be running the tour. Everything about the tour was fantastic. Our tour guide was hilarious and we got
to see some of the greatest sites I have ever seen. We started in the heart of Salzburg and some of the views
there and then drove out of the city and into the Alps. The scenery was fantastic and I admit I
got a little teary eyed. We
stopped in a cute town, Mondsee, where they filmed the wedding scene and where there was
rumored to be a café with amazing apple strudel. We ate “crisp apple strudel” and decided it was definitely
one of our favorite things…I know, I’m a dork. We had the opportunity to see
where they filmed a lot of the movie and heard a lot of information about
Salzburg, the people, and the surroundings as well. Also, while on the bus we got to see some scenes from the
movie and hear music. I loved
every minute of it.
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| Mondsee |
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| Church where marriage took place |
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| Apple Strudel from Mondsee |
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| Most Beautiful View |
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| The Abbey |
The tour ended in front of the Mirabell Palace and the
Mirabell gardens. This location
was used for the Do Re Mi song scene in the movie. It wasn’t part of the tour because we started and ended
right by it and our tour guide recommended we spend time there on our own
because there is a lot to see and we could take our time. Brian and I walked through the gardens
on our way to our next stop: Mozart’s house and Mozart’s birthplace.
We toured both of these locations. The first, Mozart’s house, provided us with a great museum
that had Mozart’s piano and many of his original works. There was also a lot of information
about his family and how they lived.
After this, we walked to Mozart’s birthplace. This was yet another museum that showed us more about
Mozart’s family and his pieces.
And here was also where I learned how oblivious Brian can be
sometimes. While I walked through
the three rooms about Mozart’s operas, Brian only noticed one of them and the
gift shop. And, since there was a
gift shop, he thought it was the end and he went to the exit. Then, I turned around and could not
find him anywhere. So, I figured
he went to the next floor where there were three more rooms about Mozart’s
music and his life. But no, Brian
saw one of the six rooms in the place and thought that was it…because of the
gift shop. I admit, typically a
gift shop comes at the end, but seriously how do you not see 5 rooms? Anyways, I finally found him at the
exit and we laughed a lot about what had just happened. We also decided we were starving and we
should just move on to a nearby café that was recommended by Brian’s harp
teacher for having the best apple strudel.
Tomaselli’s did in fact have fantastic apple strudel, even
better than the one during the tour!
Unfortunately, they did not have much else on the menu besides desserts
and we were famished. So, we
decided to walk to the largest Beer House, Augustiner Brau, in Austria that our Sound of Music
tour guide had pointed out. This
Beer Hall is next to a giant church that sits up on a hill. We climbed up to the church for another
amazing view of Salzburg and then headed to the beer hall for lunch. It was like a food court, but no one
spoke any English. People were
dressed in traditional Austrian clothing and there was a lot of singing,
dancing, and of course beer. This
felt like the most Austrian thing we had done so far and it was really
neat. We had a lot of fun and then
decided to go back to the hostel to chill out before meeting up with Brian’s
mom for dinner.
Brian, his mom, and I all went to a restaurant called Die Weisse,
which was recommended, by the hostel for having amazing home-brewed beer and great
vegetarian options. It didn’t
disappoint and we thoroughly enjoyed our meal. After the meal, we walked Brian’s mom back and then Brian and
I headed out to check out the Salzburg nightlife.
We went to two bars and both were great. The first, Havana, was known for it’s
fantastic cocktails. We both
ordered one and had a good time sitting at the bar and enjoying the atmosphere. Brian had a Mojito and I had a
Cosmo. We were both very pleased
with our choices. Then, we headed
to the Shamrock with was known for being the best Irish Pub in Salzburg. We agreed that this place was
great. Brian had a Guinness with
Cider and I had their house wine. We also ordered a third apple strudel...well apple strudel shots! They tasted just like the dessert :). We
walked back to our hostel a little tipsy and totally happy. I started singing some Sound of Music in
the streets to myself and Brian even chimed in! It was a great day and we were
both so grateful to have this experience.
