The
time I laughed the most during a movie?
Thursday, September 15th, 2011, 8:00pm. The movie itself? Sound
of Music. It seems silly for that
movie to be a knee-slapper, but hey, when you’re in a roomful of Salzburg-bound
buddies, the overall mood is anything but dim.
A gift
from the beloved Easter Bunny years ago, the Sound of Music VHS at my house has been
greatly cherished. So, to have the
fountains, statues, gardens, and more from the movie sitting before my very eyes
was stupendous! On Saturday we went on a
tour through the quaint city, seeing many of these landmarks along with fun
little shops and gorgeous churches.
During
free time, I journeyed with my friends to a hilltop abbey where scenes from Sound of Music were filmed. However, we didn’t appreciate the abbey
simply for its fame. We also were able
to enjoy a spectacular view along with the beautiful voices of nuns singing in
the choir loft of the chapel. Leaving
was an adventure in itself; I walked through a doorway expecting the abbey gift
shop only to find myself in a cute little cloistered nun’s kitchen. “Nein, nein!” she said with a smile as she
affectionately shooed five ignorant Americans out her door.
In the
evening some of us attended a concert in a building at “Mirabell Gardens” (think
“Do Re Mi”!) where a group of musicians played masterpieces composed by none
other than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a Salzburg native. Music-lovers of many backgrounds attended; we
sat next to a lovely lady from Russia.
The diversity of the people there helped me to see music as an entire
language of its own—I might not understand the words of the German sitting in
front of me and vice versa, but we both can, without any difficulty, comprehend
the extraordinary harmonies singing from a talented Austrian man’s
violin.
Sunday
morning found me posing next to the Sound
of Music gazebo and eating a rose-flavored dessert (petal and all!) at an
old café. After leaving Salzburg, the
buses hauled us all to a pretty little town called “Mondsee”. There, I was fortunate enough to attend Mass
at the Basilica in which the Sound of
Music wedding took place, swim in the lake where some breath-taking scenery
was shot, and pick “souvenir” grass to stash in my backpack for my silly friends
back home. (Love you guys!)
Overall the weekend was a hit.
So much so, that on our way to visit some castles in Germany next
weekend, my friends and I are actually going to stop in Salzburg again! (We hope to see a miraculous statue of the
infant Jesus, and attend a “Mozart Mass”.)
But I shouldn’t get ahead of myself… before that, it’s Poland or
bust!
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