Pages

Subscribe: Subscribe to me on YouTube

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Big Sis in a Small World
The Sound of Music Tour

The hills are alive...


... with the sound of tourists.

Yes, after peppering Salzburg with photos, I embarked the next morning on The Sound of Music tour. Now, after some research (and guidance from a friend who has done the tour twice) I decided to go with 'Panorama Tours'. I called to book my place and headed down there early the next morn. Unfortunately, I didn't allow for the Salzburg rush hour, so arrived at exactly 9:30am for the 9:30 tour. With relief, I saw a Sound of Music bus, rushed onto it, paid someone some money and sat down... before realising I was on the wrong tour.

It was still a Sound of Music tour, but it wasn't the premium tour I had been looking forward to (which I saw across the road as it departed). But it was five Euros cheaper, the coach was only about one third full and it was mostly Americans, so I made the most of it and made some new friends.

Our first stop was the Gazebo...


... which was sixteen, going on seventeen minutes into the tour.

Everyone sat around and sang some of the songs, and I had my photo taken. We then returned to the coach and proceeded to have several stops, including Schloss Leopoldskron, where they filmed the scenes by the lake...


We had a very rambling going-off-track tour guide who made fun of The Sound of Music, and we were vaguely encouraged to sing along to the music as it was played over the loud speaker. Unfortunately, with only fifteen of us on the coach, the atmosphere wasn't quite what I'd seen on the promo video (of the premium tour I wasn't on), so everyone just sat there quietly, looking subdued. Quite disappointing really. But we did have a detour to the Red Bull Headquarters...


I don't remember seeing that in the film.

Anyway, I got to escape for an hour at one of our stops, and having returned to our coach park on time, and resisted the temptation to sneak onto the premium coach parked next to ours, we returned to where we started - the Mirabell Gardens - where much of Doe a Deer was filmed...

D'oh!
We were also told that 'The Hills Are Alive' was sung at a place near Bergestaden, which gave me great excitement. Coincidentally, this was the next stop on my road trip, so without any further ado (or doe), I headed off to my mountain resort to sing.

0 comments: