With me feeling better each day and our time in Salzburg running out, we decided to finally do our Sound of Music tour on Wednesday the 9th.  The group tours we looked into didn’t sound too appealing – not very flexible, and quite expensive.  So, we instead decided to book our own private tour with an excellent local guide, Klaus.  He was knowledgeable, spoke perfect English, and was FUNNY.  And not bad looking – in an Austrian kind of way.

Klaus took us first to Mirabel Gardens, sight of several SOM scenes, including the DO-RE-MI dance around the fountain, the tree canopy where the boots had their footrace, and the dwarf statue.

Our next sites were across the river in Old Town, so we walked across the Makartsteg, a pedestrian bridge across the Salzach River. Taking a cue from the Pont des Artes in Paris, thousands of lovers have attached locks to the railings of the Makartsteg, as permanent monuments to their enduring loves.  Yours truly had purchased a lock a few days earlier, so we stopped and had a little surprise ceremony on the Makartsteg.  LouAnn and I marked our lock, fastened it to the railing, and tossed the keys into the river.  The kids ensured it was FULLY documented.

From here, our excellent guide Klaus took us into Old Town proper, first by the Salzburger Festspielhaus, sight of the festival in SOM.  Unfortunately it was closed, no fault of Klaus’s, of course.  Then it was on to the cemetery at St. Peter’s where the Von Trapps hid from the Nazi’s, and St. Peter’s Church itself.  We loved strolling through Salzburg one last time, laughing and not minding the rain.

We hoofed our way back to the car (at this point, Mr. Back Surgery was ready to REST), extracted our car from the garage, and drove over to meet the rest of the gang for dinner at Zwettler’s in Old Town.  A perfect, cozy Austrian restaurant; a wonderful place for our last night, for tomorrow we would head back to Zurich to fly to Paris.  As we walked back to the cars late that night after dinner, the moon rose over the Fortress, harkening every Dracula and Frankenstein movie ever made!  A great day.

Mirabel Palace Gardens

Do-Re-Mi fountain!

Dwarf garden

RARE photo of Klaus, here talking with Jack.  (he didn’t like to have his picture taken)

Brilliant re-enactment of the Do-Re-Mi dance around the fountain!

SOM pose!

On the “love” bridge…

We let the kids decorate the back.  Two drew hearts, one drew vertebrae and discs…..

Getting ready to throw the keys in the river!

Ummmm…..Festspielhaus, perhaps?

This is a rare opportunity to see and hear Klaus in action.

Here you can hear the kids laughing at Klaus; I believe he had just relayed the sordid story of his recent, bitter breakup with Heidi, a fellow Salzburg tour guide.  (I love Ellis’s laugh in this one)

The cemetery at St. Peter’s church.

St Peter’s

Yes, that’s a giant pickle.  HUGGING the giant pickle.

Trying to be COOL posing with the giant pickle.

Trying to EAT the giant pickle.

On our way back to the car, late to meet the others for dinner.

Last dinner all together in Salzburg!