...with the Sound of Music!

June 10th—We woke up this morning with the excitement of Sound of Music. We got picked up right in front of our apartment by Bob’s Special Tours. We got in the van and were on our way for a 4 hour Sound of Music Tour. Before the tour got started, we picked up a family that consisted of a dad and his 2 daughters. They were from Houston, Texas so we immediately had something in common. First, we drove through Old Town Salzburg, getting a quick tour of the major sights. Then, we drove out of Salzburg to get a look at the magnificent Palace of Leopoldskron. This is one of the houses used in the movie. The front of the palace was actually the back of the von Trapp house in the movie and includes the lake from the movie. The house is not open to the public because it is still someone’s residence. We then left on our way to Hellburnn Palace. On our way to Hellbrunn, we saw the wall and treeline used in the movie when Maria is singing “I Have Confidence”. Once at Hellbrunn, we got out of the van to see the famous gazebo in the movie. The gazebo is now locked for there have been too many injuries from visitors dancing around singing “I am 16”. From here, we got the opportunity to go down a toboggan run. It was so much fun and a very neat experience. The kids loved it too. In fact, we had a hard time explaining to Austin that he couldn’t keep doing it. We got back in the van and drove through the Salzkammergut Lake District where we got to do a little shopping. We also got to tour the Mondee Church, the grand wedding church from the movie. By now, our tour was just about over except for the drive back into Salzburg. Everyone enjoyed singing the music from the movie all the way back to Salzburg. It was after 1:00 before we arrived back to our apartment. We were expecting Lisa, Chance, Cole, Anne-Marie, Emma and Kaja to have arrived from Germany by this time, but they were not in Salzburg yet. Austin was not happy that his cousins were not there. We went to eat lunch while waiting on them and they finally arrived a little after we finished up lunch. All of us (4 adults and 6 children) walked to Mirabell Gardens. The Gardens includes the pegasus statue and the stairs which were the sites of the famous “Do, Re, Mi” song. In the movie, the children danced around the statue before lining up on the stairs. After walking around a little while, all 6 children managed to spot the playground close by. We had a little difficulty trying to figure out how to get to it, but when we did, we had to go down some stairs and through a tunnel. This playground had the tallest chute slide we’ve ever seen. Abby immediately wanted to slide down it. She came flying out of the slide. In fact, every time she did it someone had to catch her at the bottom. Mike went down once with Austin and Lisa went down with Chance. We all got a kick out of them. By this time though, the kids were getting hungry so we left the park looking for a place to eat. We settled on an outdoor seating in Alter Market. It worked out well because they had fast service and the kids could play in the plaza. After dinner, we all got ice cream per Chance’s request and headed back to the apartment. We were all able to get the kids to bed pretty early and the adults enjoyed sitting out on the terrace.

June 11th—Unfortunately, we were awoken early this morning (6:30 am)by Lisa. She had been sick all night long and needed us to help her with the boys. We've come to the conclusion that she has a “bug” and are just hoping that no one else gets it from her. After a slow start to the morning, Lisa, Anne-Marie and I went shopping at the Christmas in Salzburg and Easter in Salzburg stores. Mike offered to stay behind and watch 5 kids (we brought Cole with us). Mike was a brave man to watch that many kids at once! We made a quick dash through both stores looking at all the ornaments they had to offer. We made our purchases and headed back to the apartment to relieve Mike. All kids had done great and were highly entertained by each other. We all gathered up and headed downstairs to eat lunch. Mike and I had a taste of what it would be like to have 4 kids. Lisa stayed back at the apartment to rest so we took Chance and Cole with us. Luckily, all 6 children were very well behaved and the lunch was a success. After lunch, our visitors decided it was time for them to pack up and head back to Stuttgart, Germany. It was a lot of fun to see them and we look forward to seeing them again soon. After saying our goodbyes, we went back to the apartment to take naps so that we wouldn’t be tired for our fun evening. We left the apartment about 6:30 to head for Sternbrau Inn where the Sounds of Salzburg show is performed. We found a garden that had a playground so we stopped there first. Mike and Austin went to get McDonald’s for the kids to enjoy while playing. It was then time to go to the show. The show started at 8:30 and was a fun mix of music from “Sound of Music”, Mozart and yodeling. During the yodeling song, Austin was invited up on stage to dance. It was so cute watching him. The audience got a kick out of him too. Abby was too shy to participate, but still enjoyed the show. We arrived back at the apartment a little after 10:00 and all (even with naps) fell fast asleep.