Austria and Sound of Music Tour

Still playing catch up!  When Luke was just two weeks old, we took advantage of Leevi still being off from work and headed down to Austria for the weekend.  We actually stayed the night in Garmisch, Germany near the Edelweiss Military Resort that we've been to in the past (Leevi found a cute bed and breakfast that allowed dogs) and it broke up our driving (almost 4 hrs to Garmisch and then 2 hrs down to Austria and then back the following day).  I was a little worried how the kids would do on the 4 hr Sound of Music bus tour (they had seen the movie for the first time a few months ago), but we were on and off the bus just often enough for them to stretch their legs.  And I was also impressed with how much I was able to pay attention to the tour guide!  I never knew that the Sound of Music was based on a real family.  The 1st vonTrapp wife died after giving birth to the last child.  The head nun at the Abbey felt bad for the Captain and would send a new nun every six months who wasn't quite sure she wanted to be a nun to be their nanny...until Maria came along!  The real vonTrapp family moved to America after they fled Austria and toured the North-East performing concerts!  They sold their mansion and donated the money to the Abbey.  Maria was 25 yrs younger than the Captain and he died shortly after the war ended (she died 40 yrs later).  They had 3 more children together and 4 of the 10 are still alive today.  The actor who played Captain vonTrapp couldn't sing, so he had a "voice over" for all of his singing parts and the directors wanted Audrey Hepburn for Maria but she turned the part down because she couldn't sing either.

At the beginning of our bus tour through Salzburg



The Fortress in Salzburg and our bus

The vonTrap house that was used in the movie (Leopold's Crown Palace)...this was also the lake that the children fell overboard in when their father came home. 

The other movie set house (Frohnburg Palace)....this part is seen when Maria first comes to work for them and these are the trees that the father saw his children climbing in

The gazebo used to film the songs "Something Good" and "16 going on 17"...Lisel broke her ankle filming this scene jumping from bench to bench in the rain.  They used to allow visitors to go inside the gazebo until a NINETY year old women tried to recreate the scene and fell off the bench and broke her hip!!!!!!! 

Gardens at the Hellbrunn Palace

The scenery was GORGEOUS!!! 

We had an hour break for lunch to wander around Mondesee where the church was used for the wedding

The church they were married in for the movie (In real-life they were married at Maria's Abbey

Mirabell Gardens...where Maria and the children sang "Do-Re-Mi"

Our hotel and the Alps!

The girls kept themselves busy in the hotel...I was surprised at the amount of junk that they crammed into their backpacks!  And the bottom two pics are from the Edelweiss military resort where we went for dinner one of the nights. 

Packed in the minivan for our First Family of Five (plus doggie) road trip!   

And lastly, a video snippet of what Leevi and I had to endure during the car ride!  :)  Hailey has in her earbuds with her iPod and Kai is just making up her own song!  Leevi and I were the ones saying, "Are we there yet?!?!"  :)