Salzburg, Austria

Ever since I was a young girl, I've loved the Sound of Music. Indeed when I was about three years old, my mom made me dress up as a nun and sing the entire soundtrack at a church potluck. Which I didn't entirely love. But watching that movie over and over as a child left its impression on me, so naturally I love the city of Salzburg! This is our second trip here, but a first for the kids.

Our music video of Austria/Czechia is HERE.

What's not to love about the birthplace of Mozart with all its glittering fountains...

Gorgeous horses...

Looming Hohensalzburg fortress...

And baroque, pastel buildings.

This city is stunning!

When we first spotted the famous horse bath statue we had to splash a bit in the fountains like Fraulein Maria!

 Then we strolled past these beauties...

 ... and tucked just behind Mozart's birthplace into this cozy spot full of flowers and trinkets, and sat down at a cafe for a bite to eat.

Lorelei meanwhile took over the camera and started snapping away. See her reflection in the silver hearts?

We were enamored by the lovely lanes full of wrought iron hangers and signs.

Gryffin discovered Mozart balls, and went crazy for these chocolates!

His cheeks are stuffed.

There's an old tale about how the people from Salzburg painted the same herd of cows with different spots and daily paraded them around during a siege to fool their attackers into thinking they had anendless supply of cattle. Their aggressors retreated, and Salzburg has been painting cows ever since.

Before our trip to Salzburg, we shopped for a lock to add to the love locks bridge as a symbol of our family bond of love, never broken.

Here are the kids at Makartsteg Bridge, attaching our lock decorated from home. (Gryffy chose a green one.)

Love these little traditions!

Next we wound our way to the gorgeous Mirabellplatz to meet up with...

 ... our Fraulein Maria Sound of Music Bike Tour!

When a tour has five stars on TripAdvisor, you know you can't miss it!

We met up for the afternoon (4:30) tour. Here's our group, led by Claudio, just as we set off. This 3.5 hour bike tour was the PERFECT way to see Salzburg and the countryside. Mark got a tandem bike so the kids could take turns having a break from the kid's bike they shared, which turned out to be a great idea. They were great sports for peddling 8 miles!

And despite a forecast of thunderclouds, we managed to avoid all but a tiny sprinkling (and a few more splashes in that fountain)!

"I have confidence!" -Maria

 The cemetery where the Von Trapp's hid from the Nazis (though another part of it was recreated on a film set).

There's Hohensalzburg castle perched just above us!

This was an interesting work of art in the city center.

 The kids shared a pretzel donut.

This was our only big up-hill climb; most of us walked our bikes.

 The gate at Nonnberg Abbey, where the kids went to see Maria. They had to saw off and later reattach one of the iron bars just behind Gryffin to film one of the scenes in the movie.

Just outside Nonnberg Abbey you find amazing views of the city, also used during the Do-Re-Mi sequence of the film.

Here we are outside the large theater from which the Von Trapp's made their escape.

Two different homes were used in the film; this is the front of the house.

And we all remember scenes of Liesl and Ralph dancing in this gazebo... only Liesl slipped and her leg shattered the glass during the filming.

Ti Doh - OOOOH - OOOOOOOH! Soh Doh!

The rain hit us like a typhoon that night while the kids and I were tucked inside an Italian restaurant, and Mark was in the middle of running back to the car at the hotel to gather our coats. On our walk back to the hotel that night, the streets were all but deserted, and we were making up stories about the zombie apocalypse. Just in the thick of the story, a group of people started following us, and we knew they had to be zombies. Scary fun!

Salzburg, you've love-locked a place in our hearts!