Day 26 - Salzburg, The Sounds of Music

 Day 26 - Salzburg, The Sound of Music


Today was a great day!  Our first day in any city is always a little hit and miss. The travel sneaks up on us, we need to get our bearings, and then by day two we soar!  It helps to understand this in our motus aparende because it keeps expectations low for day one. 


Day two in Salzburg lived up to our hopes.  We grabbed a quick bite for breakfast at our apartment and walked to the Mirabelle Gardens to catch our Fraulein Maria Bike Tour.  Every blog I read about Salzburg raved about this tour, and given the fact that the boys fell in love with The Sound of Music this past year, it just felt right.  


Our tour guide was a young guy from Newark, New Jersey who is studying music at the conservatory here in Salzburg. He spent two summers at Interlaken Music Camp in Michigan.  Given his camp background, I would have expected him to have a bit of a camp counselor vibe. Not the case.  While he was a wealth of information, he didn’t pay close attention to his audience, and I wasn’t a fan of some of his language in front of the boys, or the many stories he told about Christopher Plummer’s sexual inuendos toward cast members.  He brushed off the boys' questions, and took terrible group photos.  Thankfully, most of this went over the boys heads, and his stories about the Von Tramp family, along with the details about the filming of the movie, kept us engaged. 


We spent 3.5 hours on bikes touring all of Salzburg, stopping at the many places the film was shot back in 1964. We visited Nonnberg Abbey, the various mansions that were featured throughout the film, and the infamous gazebo where Leisl and Rolf sang, “Sixteen Going on Seventeen”. I’ve come to believe the absolute best way to see a city is by bicycle. On our way back into town, Aaron said, “If I ever have a second career, I’m going to be a bike tour guide.” So alas, if we decide not to return to the states, I may become a trip planner, Aaron a tour guide, Colton the bike mechanic, and Zachary will simply talk with all of the tourists and make them feel welcome. We’ve got it all figured out!  


After our ride, we were beat!  We walked back to our apartment and decided to grab lunch at a place our host had recommended right next to our apartment, Barenwirt. A locally owned and celebrated restaurant, we had a stupendous lunch of fried chicken, salmon and hash, and sausage and French fries. Aaron has a Austustiner beer from the brewery next to our apartment, and I tried an Austrian country white wine - for 2 euros. It was awesome!  After our ride and our drinks, we needed a nap!  So we all went back to the apartment and watched The Sound of Music, while nodding in and out.  It was the first nap I’ve taken on this entire trip!


After our nap, I took the boys for Boba tea and got some things for dinner at the grocery store while Aaron worked. We stopped on the way back so they could play again at the park right by our apartment, and ended up staying for an hour because they made friends. Enjoying their company so much, they exchanged emails and have already FaceTime’d with them to say hello. 










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