Sound of Music Tour - 16 September

Sam magically got us on this tour, when all my online efforts had failed.  Just the right balance of Sound of Music information/trivia and sensational landscapes for me.  This photo captures the mood and could be my favourite of the trip.

and then there's this one!

Austria apparently has 25,000 lakes and the few we saw were pretty noteworthy.  All lakes must have some form of public access, even those privately owned.  Law enforcement patrols are the only petrol boats permitted.  All other craft must be electric, sail or row.  Nice work, Austria.  Similarly to maintain the landscape, soil, environment, ecosystems (you know, science!), for each tree felled for logging, the logger must plant two trees within twelve months.  Seems to work exceptionally well, and no apparent Greenie/political-correctness gone mad, type outrage.  Imagine.

One of the pristine lakes ...

With hang gliders ...

We saw the two houses used to film the movie, one was used for front scenes and the other for back/water scenes, the infamous gazebo, the gates at the end of the do-re-mi sequence, the actual church of the wedding scene and a few other gems.  It was great fun.  

The interior scenes were filmed in a half-gazebo film set as the original building was too small

Chapel of the wedding scene - it was not in the Salzburg Abbey which not considered grand enough.

outside of the chapel at Mondsee where the wedding was filmed

Gates at the end of the Do-re-mi sequence

Fountain in Mirabelle Gardens which featured in Do Re Mi

Can't have a photo sequence without the Fortress!

In the town of Mondsee, we happened to visit when they were holding a Harvest Festival, so the town square was full of food and beer tents and locals of all ages dressed in traditional garb.  A slight tremor when we couldn't locate our bus for reboarding, but we ended up making it in time. 

Harvest Festival at Mondsee

Mondsee town square

We finished off the day with cable car ride to the amazing lookout, had some warm and awful drinks, some okay food, but wonderful views before riding back down.  Our plans of take home antipasto ingredients for at home dinner were temporarily foiled by the Sunday closure of nearly everything. Perseverance won out, we trekked to the only open Spar and bought sufficient supplies for our last night in Salzburg.  

From the cable car