Oh, the Mountains of Austria!

One of the things I love about traveling especially to new places is that you learn things about yourself that you would otherwise not realize. For example, I'm a summer girl who craves warm weather & yet I have discovered that I'm inexplicably drawn to the mountains. Their quiet inspiration makes me feel like soaring or, more practically, like walking and walking and walking. Was it Rogers or Hammerstein who wrote, “…the hills fill my heart with the sound of music, my heart want to sing every song it hears?” That’s the way I feel in the mountains. And it is somehow appropriate since Salzburg is the birthplace of Mozart, the home of the Von Trapps, and, thus, the setting for the Sound of Music.

And so I looked forward to our visit to Austria only to discover that Vienna is on a flat plain. Who knew? But not Salzburg! Salzburg has a backdrop of mountains as well as big hills in the middle of town. It's all very beautiful. We didn't expect to see the mountains as it was supposed to rain all the days we were visiting. Instead, after driving from Vienna in the rain we woke to sun peeking under the clouds to light up the mountain tops already streaked with snow. It cleared from there and we had sun every day - an unusual occurrence in rainy Salzburg. Weather karma was with us again!

We took advantage of the crisp, cool days by visiting the fortress high on the hill above town which provided stunning views of the mountains. Of course, Salzburg's trademark is the bounty of gorgeous, baroque churches each topped with graceful green domes. The churches and other monuments were built primarily by an archibishop (with 15 children) from the proceeds from the nearby salt deposits (which gave Salzburg its name). Siena and I particularly enjoyed strolling the pretty narrow streets filled with shops of traditional clothing- wools, knits, hats and scarves - and Christmas goodies. Siena took home delicate, hand-carved Christmas ornaments and I made off with a beautiful, handcrafted, wook jacket. Mike, not to be out done, bought a very fashion-conscious wool hat for 3 euros. He was irresitible!



On our first stroll into the old town of Salzburg we came upon a charming, small market at the foot of a large, white church. The market stalls were filled with pretzels in all shapes and toppings, pastries, fruitcakes, and decorated gingerbread. Christmas wreaths of fresh greenery, berries, and pine cones were laid out for early holiday decorators. Siena surprised us with a gift of a wreath which is now hanging in our house in Cotignac.

Each morning I enjoyed beautiful walks and runs along the river and up the hills that overlook the city. There are large parks on the hilltops with paths meandering through the tall trees. This time of year, their leaves created a soft blanket of russet under my feet so thick that it almost obliterated the trails. The air was fresh and clean and smelled of leaves. I could see the mountains framed between tree trunks in the far distance. Those early mornings in the quiet, exploring by myself, are some of my favorite times.

It was good that I got some exercise each morning because our ambles through town and the churches, each more elaborate than the next, were interrupted with breaks for meals of sausage, sauerkraut, wiener schnitzel, wine, beer and, my favorite, pumpkin soup. Another treat was a cup of warm mulled wine sipped while winding our way thru the streets on a cool, fall afternoon. The young woman who sold the wine and grog was from Michigan!

Sculptures, large and small, are in each square and throughout the gardens. They included soaring fountains, spooky empty figures, a pegasus fountain to a circle of dwarfs in a delightful garden at Schloss Mirabell, the archibishop's palace. The last two can be seen in the Sound of Music. When conversation lagged, Mike tried engaging more suitable company! One square had a sculpture of Mozart - a popular subject in Austria. Mike & I toured his birthplace and saw his first violin and the clavichord where he composed many of his most well-known works.

After two days of exploring the narrow streets of Salzburg and the baroque churches, we tore ourselves away to get into the countryside. Mike, Wil and I visited the salt mines in a village outside of the city. We reached the mine by winding thru a tiny road in the foothills dotted with farmhouses. The salt deposits under the mountain have been mined since 500BC. The tunnels crisscrossed 600’ below the surface and wound between Austria & Germany with the border marked inside the tunnel. After dressing in protective - and fashionable - clothing we got to zip down the wooden slides that the miners used to get out after each day’s work. On the way back from our visit we drove thru the small village of Hallein where Franz Gruber wrote Silent Night. I remember as a kid in Smithville hearing the story of Silent Night and how it was written for guitar in some indistinct place in Europe. The place will no longer be indistinct. That’s the other thing about travel, it brings life to life.

That afternoon Mike and I went on the Sound of Music tour. It seemed a little kitschy but I'm glad Mike wanted to go(yes, I know all the words to all the songs). It was worth the trip to see the filming sites for the movie and see all of the Hollywood tricks. For example, the Captain's house was filmed using two different houses- one for the front with the long driveway and the other for the back which fronted on a charming lake. It was this later site where the kids and Maria fall off the boat into the lake. In addition to fun stories about the filming, we had an unexpected surprise. We were talking with two young men on the tour with us and discovered that one of them knew Smithville! In fact, he knew someone who lives in Smithville and whose name seemed to ring a bell for me. I told Mike that we would have to ask Mother and George if they knew him. Our new friend interrupted to say, “That wouldn’t be George Burns, would it?” How amazing is that – running into someone in Salzburg, Austria who knew George….although, knowing George , I shouldn’t be surprised at all! He knows everyone.

But back to the tour. One thing that surprised me was how closely the movie followed the real Von Trapp family story. The main exception occurred at the end of the movie when they hiked over the mountains to escape the Nazis. In reality Germany lies across the mountains from Salzburg. The real family took a train to Italy just hours before the Austrian border was closed. We are full of stories about the filming of the Sound of Music – just ask us! But we didn’t realize until we returned that this is the 40th anniversary of the movie. One of the best parts of the tour was the lovely Lake District with mountains rising behind peaceful towns, graceful church steeples framed by the blue water and the late afternoon sun glancing off the peaks. This area was the opening scene for the movie and, once again, it was the mountains that provided the ambiance.

The mountains were our constant companions on the drive back to Vienna the next afternoon. Unfortunately, they were our only companions. Wil came down with an illness and couldn't make the trip back. He was fine within a day or two and they are now safely back home.

While the trip didn't end the way any of us would have preferred, we'll all remember the richness of Salzburg framed by the beauty of the mountains.