Tony and I decided to take a trip to Austria for the weekend. The weather is still nice and we wanted to get to see Austria before the cold set in. What a wonderful time. We usually travel with other Senior Missionaries which has been so fun but it was nice just to be the two of us. This picture is of the Von Trapp Family home that they had to leave abandoned when they fled from Austria to avoid Hitlers Regime.
The room we stayed in was one of the children's room (Werner). It was the room on the right, upstairs with the shutters. It was so fun to stay in their home. It is true that Hitler made them hang the "new" German flag from the house and Captain Von Trapp tore it down, just like in the movie! As you can see, Tony is coming out of the front door.
We walked from the Von Trapp family home down to the center of the "old" town of Salzburg. Just under 2 miles along the river.
In the town square, there is a statue of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. We had our phones and downloaded Rick Steves tour of Salzburg - it was great! We walked all around Salzburg on the tour!
This picture below is of the Salzburg Cathedral - a seventeenth Century Boroque cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg. It was dedicated to Saint Rupe and Saint Vergillus. Saint Rupert founded the church in 774 on the remnants of a Roman town the cathedral was rebuilt in 1181 after a fire.
On Sunday, we decided to attend the Catholic mass and hear the Choir and the Organ music. It was lovely but way too much incense! I could hardly breath - maybe we should have sat further towards the back. We left during the communion - the cathedral was full!
Baptismal font
St. Peter's is a 16th Century cemetery where royals, dignitaries and a few Mozart family members are buried.
The Von Trapp family actually hid behind the pillars of the cemetery as they escaped after their concert. It was told in the movie that they traveled on foot over the "Swiss" Alps but the Swiss Alps aren't even close to Salzburg. The family actually took a train to Italy and then left by boat to America where they settled in Maine and still live there to this day.
This is the concert hall that the Von Trapp family left from, this is the actual exit at the bottom. There was a race going on in the city so I couldn't take pictures without catching a few of the runners.
Mozart's Birthplace
This is the Mozart Walking Bridge (part of the Sound of Music was filmed here). And the city of Salzburg is just beautiful. The fortress on the hill is called Hohensalzburg Fortress. It was erected at the behest of the Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg. It is one of the largest medieval castles in Europe. It was never lived in but was used as a fear factor against anyone who wanted to attach the city. It was said that over 1000 guards monitored the Fortress against the enemy which was totally false but it kept enemies at bay.
Inside our room at the Von Trapp Villa- was this the window that the teenage daughter climbed thru after her scene at the gazebo with "Ralph"????
The wedding of Maria and Capt. Von Trapp. Maria was actually summoned by the reverend Mother to be a tutor for "one" of the Von Trapp children who had been ill and missed a lot of school. She fell in love with these children who had just recently lost their mother in 1922 to Scarlet fever. Cap't Von Trapp was a war hero in the navy during WWI. Five years after his first wife died, he married Maria who was not in love with him at first but loved the children. Most of the families wealth was wiped out during the Great Depression after Georg Von Trapp transferred his savings from a bank in London into an Austrian bank to help out a friend. Auguste Caroline Lammer), the bank failed wiping out most of the family's fortune. The family came under increasing persecution from the Nazis when the Captain refused to serve in the Nazi Navy. They lived the remainder of their lives in America. (When Maria married the Captain, she was 22 years old and he was 47 years old. Maria and Georg went on to have three more children, making 10 children in the family.
The dining room in the Von Trapp Villa
The living room
The REAL Maria Von Trapp
We took the Sound of Music tour - it was fascinating. The people of Salzburg do not understand what all the hype is about with this movie. Many of them have not seen this movie from America because Maria had done two documentaries about her family so most everyone was already familiar with the family and did not go and see the American movie. This picture below is where the children fell out of the boat after seeing their father return from a trip abroad. This palace was only used for the water scene. Gretal (the youngest) could not swim and Maria (Julie Andrews) was told to fall out of the boat "forward" to catch the little girl and of course, she fell the opposite way and Gretal was so frightened she did not want to do the scene again but with a lot of coaxing with chocolate candy, she did it again and again....they filmed that scene 7 times.
And of course it rained...........
And of course the gazebo.....this gazebo was used but when the dance was performed in the movie, that was from a film stage in Hollywood and not in the gazebo because it was too small.
This was the wall as seen in the film as Maria is heading to the Von Trapp home from the Convent and she is singing "Confidence". The scene ends right after she gets inside the gate because this is not the Von Trapp home
Austria is the most beautiful place I have been since we arrived.
Tony and I have had a ball living here and traveling and working with all these wonderful missionaries and employee's for the church. We feel this has been such a blessing for us and such an incredible experience that we will forever be grateful for.
I'm getting pretty good at these "selfies"
German Apfelsrudel
This was the cathedral used in the Sound of Music where the last scene takes place of the wedding
DO-RE-MI
This was at the Mirabell Palace which is a 16th century structure built by Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich for his mistress. Many wedding receptions are held here today.
As you can see.....we loved the sound of music!
This picture is where Maria and the children were singing in their clothes made from the drapes
Tony loves his umbrella, sometimes he thinks he's Mr. Banks from Mary Poppins.....
Yes, this is real....the country side is so lovely, lush and green....almost unbelievable!
It was recommended to us by some other missionaries and actually our daughter, Michelle to go to Hallstatt. We are glad we did. It's a small village in the Salzkammergut region, famous for its salt production. This village has a long standing history of wealth and prestige. The wealth accumulated from the salt industry transformed it into a glamorous baroque village. We walked the village and had lunch by the lake....it was just beautiful. So grateful for these experiences that we'll remember for ever.
These are pictures I took as we strolled the streets along the late in Halstatt. Beautiful flowers everywhere with beautiful Austrian Alps in the background.
We climbed up these stairs because it's where we parked our car and the views of the lake were stunning. The sun was going down so it looks a bit cloudy but it was unbelievably beautiful!
I couldn't help myself....I took so many pictures of the flowers hanging from everyones balcony and windows.....when I go home, I am putting window boxes on my home. I just love what the Europeans do with their flowers. They don't have yards, so this is what they do to have nature as part of their living.
This is where we ate lunch, right on the lake....just lovely
This was a little shop where a wood carver made these pigs. Very interesting and kind of cute.
I just love this man..... The scenery isn't bad either.
This was taken from our tour bus to Hitlers hideaway in the Bavarian Alps that the Americans later called "The Eagles Nest". The scenery was breathtaking. I will never forget how beautiful Europe is.
Another picture from the bus. Just look at the Austrian Alps and the valley below. So very picturesque.
The Eagles Nest....as the clouds quickly moved in over the mountain. The Views were spectacular. The Kehlsteinhaus is a Third Reich-era building erected atop the summit of the Hehlstein, a rocky outcrop that rises above the Obersalzberg near the town of Berchtesgaden. It was used exclusively by members of the Nazi Party for government and social meetings.
This is a photo of Hitler sitting out on the walkway overlooking a most beautiful valley. The wickedness of this one man is frightening to realize what a wicked person is capable of doing.
We toured the salt mine in Austria....this was the entrance
We had lunch in the little town of Berchtesgaden on our way down from the Eagles Nest.
In the Salt Mines
This was a little lady from a shop in Berchtesgaden.... a lot of the woman will wear the traditional Dirndl to work in.
Our tour guide and bus driver
Another stunning picture of the landscape.
....and ohhhhh the flowers - I just couldn't get over how beautiful!
On our way home after church from a most wonderful trip to Salzburg Austria
