SOUND OF SALZBURG

We enjoyed strolling through Old Town Salzburg Thursday morning, but the real highlight came later that afternoon—The Sound of Music tour! After years of hearing Mom belt out “The hills are alive…” with Julie Andrews in our home, I was finally going to see those famous Austrian hills in person. The four of us snatched window seats on the nearly empty tour bus (we were the only college students in a group of about twelve retirees), turned on our cameras, and warmed up our opera voices.

For four hours, Sue, our British tour guide, cheerily led us through Sound of Music trivia, the true story of the Von Trapp family, and the history of Salzburg. We saw every landmark, hill, vale, and flower in the movie and sang along with the soundtrack as we whizzed through the Austrian countryside. We frolicked down the lane on the way to the Von Trapp home, took pictures of the abbey, sang “I am sixteen going on seventeen” in front of Liesl and Rolf’s gazebo, and imagined seven children swinging from trees in their play clothes made of curtains. We simultaneously loathed our cheesy tourist status and relished the opportunity to romp through the live setting of our favorite musical.

That evening, we found a local hangout—Jambo World Music Café—and enjoyed each other’s company and a truer taste of Salzburg nightlife. We stepped out into the Domplatz square much later that evening and sauntered slowly back to the hostel, savoring the sound of church bells ringing faithfully over the cobbled streets of Old Town.