The Sound of Music (Melk to Linz to Passau via Salzburg)

 Another night cruising down a very shallow Danube found us in Linz in the early morning.

Early morning on the Danube

This is exciting, if for no other reason than today we are heading for Salzburg, The Sound of Music territory. Yes, dear reader, I have hyperlinked the songs for your enjoyment. The title was a bit of a give-away wasn't it, my dear reader? That classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical from 1965. It's true, I was only a youngster, but I do remember travelling into Sydney by steam train to see the movie. It was one of My Favourite Things. Yes, steam train, like the one we rode on in Hungary. The electrified system didn't reach our far flung suburb until 1968.

This was always going to be a big day, firstly because we had to be on the coach by 8 am to drive to the small town of Mondsee and then onto Salzburg for the walking tour of the iconic city that provided much of the backdrop to the venerated movie classic.

We were greeted at the coach by our guide, Elisabeth, attired in Austrian traditional dress, but fessing up that she was actually a South African who moved here in the 1990's to pursue an operatic career, married and stayed on.

Thankfully we didn't have to Climb Every Mountain

Very early on in the guide script, Elisabeth declared her devotion to The Sound of Music, and from then on, the day was punctuated by performed excerpts of various songs of the sound track. Thankfully, Elisabeth's range and pitch mirrored Julie Andrews.  Imagine if she'd sounded like The Lonely Goatherd  - the day could have irrevocably scarred us!

The building where it happened.

First port of call was the quaint town of Mondsee where we walked to the Basilica of St Michael, the scene of the wedding of Maria to Captain Von Trapp. As is generally our experience in Europe, we arrived on a public holiday - the Feast of the Assumption and so we were on  a mission to be in and out of the Basilica before the 10am Mass. The upside of this constraint was that we were spectators of the community as they arrived at the church in traditional dress to observe the religious day of obligation. We learnt about the culture of passing the unwashed lederhosen (yes, unwashed) down from father to son and the position of the bow on the apron, denoting the marital status of the women. The complete lederhosen outfit, including jacket, vest and belt cost in the vicinity of €2000. I guess you'd save money on dry cleaning.

The room where it happened.

We also heard the choir and ensemble, practising prior to the commencement of Mass, as the community gathered. Outside the church, Elisabeth regaled us with a portion of Maria? before we moved off to the lakeside which was the scene of the children and Maria riding bikes around in their repurposed curtain play clothes. 

In real life, this is a natural freshwater lake that provides all kinds of water sport options, against a picturesque mountain backdrop.

Not all watersports are easy.

From here, we travelled to Salzburg to start a walking tour of the sights, woven around, but not exclusive to, the production of the movie. We first went to the Mirabell Palace and gardens which were the locations of the shooting of the Do Re Me scenes. 

The Do Re Me steps - well, part of them

The Do Re Me fountain

The dwarf hugged by the children

Another Do Re Me scene

From there, we headed across the river to the Castle Church and shopping districts, which were crowded because of the public holiday. At various pertinent points, Elisabeth burst into song which attracted other people to pause and wonder at this wandering recital. The impromptu songs made it seem like a real life musical. We were very fortunate to have such a theatrical tour guide, even though I Have Confidence, I would not be singing in public like Elisabeth did.

As has been the case right throughout Austria, there were horse drawn carriages you could hire to provide a tour of the city with commentary. Some of the drivers thought their horse was an Audi and controlled them in a similar manner, cutting corners and yelling at people on the footpath.

A friendly driver.

The city has many claims to fame besides The Sound of Music, not the least of which is the birthplace of Mozart. His presence is very obvious in the city and the Mozartplatz was in fact our focal meeting point after the official walking tour finished and we were left to navigate the holiday crush for a couple of hours. It was here that we were set adrift to Edelweiss to wander the old town and were warned to be back at 3 o'clock and 3 seconds.

Our meeting place

The first priority was to find a shady spot to sit and eat our boxed lunch, so we left the main area to sit and survey the river in relative peace. That lasted about 2 minutes as, immediately in front of us on the cycle path, a cyclist stopped for a kodak moment of the castle and another cyclist ran into the back of him. 

A view to die for.

A loud and robust discussion ensued around cycle path etiquette, in which the two were joined by a third cyclist who then tried to enlist our support. We pleaded the language barrier and 2 of the 3 cycled off. The culprit took his photo, shrugged his shoulders at us and cycled off to pass the other 2 who had paused to assess the damage to the bike. The argument reignited up the path but thankfully, we were no longer in proximity so we ate our lunch and resumed our discovery of old Salzburg.

Ladies in traditional dress. Check out those hats.

After a successful shopping expedition, (and that was Something Good), we circled the precinct, looking for somewhere to drink the obligatory people-watching beer. After a number of failed attempts, we scored a table in the Mozartplatz, rescued 2 fellow cruisers by inviting them to share our hard won table, drank a beer and made it back to the rendez vous with a few seconds to spare.

Jayne's only disappointment on the day was not seeing the rotunda where Liesl and Rolfe sang I am Sixteen Going on Seventeen. Maybe next time.

We boarded our coach, ready, after a big day, to snooze on the relaxing drive back to meet the ship which by now would be at Passau, across the Austrian-German border. Alas, our driver was on a timeline and the trip back became an exercise in how to keep your passengers alert. Whiplash was a possibility. A number of us remarked on his driving ability, particularly his skill in overtaking numerous vehicles, at one time, coming into a blind corner. He was very skilled in this area and practiced his expertise all the way to Passau.

Despite his attempts, we made it to the port safely where Elisabeth farewelled us with that Austrian traditional song, So Long, Farewell.

From there it was back to the mundane. Drinks, dinner, drinks.

So long, farewell, until tomorrow.