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-   -   An Old Travelogue - Austria 2006 (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/88503-old-travelogue-austria-2006-a.html)

With a sweeping aerial view, the film opens with a left-to-right camera pan through the clouds and across rocky, snow-covered mountains. The camera dips into a green, wooded valley with steep cliffs that descend into a snow-fed lake. Reflections of the hills are viewed in the mirror-like images on the water's surface. As the camera moves over the European landscape and village, it discovers an open, green area nestled between the peaks. It moves closer and zooms into the green field, where it suddenly finds a happy and joyous Maria (Julie Andrews), a novice Salzburg Austrian nun, walking across the wide expanse of land. With open-armed appreciation of the beauty of the surrounding majestic peaks and vistas of the Austrian Alps, she twirls and sings the title song. For her: "The Hills Are Alive With The Sound of Music."

This is the opening sequence of "The Sound of Music",(SOM) a much-heralded, breath-taking piece of film-making. And it was shot here in Salzburg, Austria. Now it would be unfair to say that the film was shot in Salzburg coz the locations are spread far n wide. So to check out the places where this historic musical was shot I took the SOM Tour by Panorama Tours on the first day. The tour which lasts for about 4 hours, costs €30 and if u have an interest in movies then it is a must for u. There are some other tours as well like the Bavarian Alps, Salt Mines and the Ice Caves (this is conducted only in winters) which may be of interest to you. The places that we visited during the tour were:-
Leopoldskron Castle(pic above) - this was used as the Trapp family home.


Hellbrunn Castle
St Gilgen and Lake Wolfgang - adjoining village of Salzkammergut is the birthplace of Mozart's mother


The Stiftskirche, Mondsee Cathedral - The wedding scene was filmed here. Maria led by Liesl, walked down the aisle to meet the Baron in front of the stairs of the main altar


The SOM tour ended at the Mirabell Castle & Gardens. The Mirabell castle was built by Prince-Archibishop, Wolf Dietrich, in 1606. Today the Palace accommodates the office of Salzburg's Bürgermeister (Mayor) and the municipal administration. Just besides the castle is the Mirabellgarten (Mirabell Gardens). In SOM, Maria and the children were seen dancing around the statue of Pegasus, the winged horse, and throughout the gardens singing "Do-Re-Mi".


YouTube - The Sound Of Music - Doe a Deer W/ Lyrics

Doe, a deer, a female deer,
Ray, a drop of golden sun
Me, a name I call myself,
Far, a long, long way to run
Sew, a needle pulling thread,
La, a note to follow So
Tea, a drink with jam and bread,
that will bring us back to Do

Doesnt that remind you of your rhyme-singing primary school days?

Austria reminds me only of one thing - Arnold Schwarznegger. What else is interesting in Austria - I don't know? I hope I can learn something from your write-ups. Is there an identity for Austria to distinguish from the rest of the EU? Have you been able to see the borders? Keep them coming.

@Aargee: Austria is 'Sound of Music', Austria is Mozart (Mozart was born in Salzburg), Austria is Alps (much less hyped than neighbouring switzerland and hence more serene, without the cacophony of the tourists). Some of the places not to miss Salzburg, Innsbruk, Bregenz and the capital city of Vienna.

lsp the pics are very nice. Whats the equipment you used for these? I hope that you cover other areas as well other this 4 hour tour.

Man oh man. That's my dream place. Been so close yet so far. Couldn't make it to Austria. I've reserved 10 days of my life for Austria and Rome. Austria is truely the idyllic place with Salzburg in my radar for long time now.
More photos please. I'm getting goose bumps reading this logue!

@Taureanbull. Welcome back. Was aghast when I saw that you were banned temporarily. Now we can see more action from Egypt as well.

@Argee
As Arindam mentioned, Austria is a lot more than just Arnold. In fact I am not sure if I should be associating the Austrian Oak with Austria anymore. I will try to cover some of the things which I experienced in Austria but they are far too less than what this beautiful country has to offer.

@TaureanBull
Thanks. I use a point & shoot Canon S1IS camera (3.1MPx, 10X zoom). I will cover other areas as well.

@MX6
I hope those 10 days happen sooner than later. :)


============================

My Austria journey was in continuation of the German journey about which I wrote earlier. I visited Germany and Austria along with a friend D in the Easter of 2006. Facts/Names/Places/Information/Prices are true as per 2006, so may not hold true now.

From Munich we took a train to Salzburg which is one of the main cities of Austria. We stayed at the Yoho International Youth Hostel which was a quaint little place bursting with American backpackers. The hostel was nice and clean with open kitchen, cheap bar and common toilets.


The Austrian leg began with the Sound of Music tour which is described in the previous post. The bus picked us up from the hostel and we went on a 4 hour spree visiting a lot of places associated with the movie.

The glass gazebo used for the "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" and "Something Good" scenes in Sound of Music, located in the Hellbrunn Palace Gardens


Village of Salzkammergut - Birthplace of Mozart's mother


Mozart's mother


Road opposite Stiftskirche (Mondsee Cathedral)




Inside Mondsee Cathedral




i for Tourist Info - one finds these Info centers at most places in Europe


On the way back


Moi@Lake Wolfgang

The tour ended at the Mirabel castle & garden where we spent the rest of the afternoon having snacks and lazying around in the gardens. From the Garden one can see the Hohensalzburg castle which I visited the next day.



In 1606 Archbishop Wolf Dietrich built for his mistress Salome Alt the castle ‘Altenau’ at the gates of the city. His reign came to an unfortunate end, however, and he ended up as a prisoner in Hohensalzburg. His successors enlarged it and made it the summer residence of the archbishops and called it Mirabell.



This is a nice place to take a break and if you like photography, you'll find many good spots. The garden enchants visitors with it's statues, fountains and elaboratly decorated flowerbeds.



(WTH is this guy in the statue trying to do???)


(Seriously... whats with all the statue guys!!)












There's the Hohensalzburg castle on top of the hill in the background.




Some church on the way back to the hostel!! Mode of travel - walking, coz that's the best way to explore a place.


Next post: Hostel Stay - Ups & Downs!!

Beautiful pics Lalit; I've an S5IS, but, never knew S1IS could do so well. Pics looks really great. Regarding the statues, my guess is that, those had some meaning during the times when they were being constructed. May be even portrayed some people's life. Didn't it have a small write-up on the podium?

I guess MX should be able to provide a better reason.

The next day was reserved for exploring the old town of Salzburg (Alstadt), so we got ourselves this Salzburg Pass for €20. The pass allows travel on public transport and includes admission into many of the city's tourist attractions and usually comes out to be a good deal. The two day pass costs €27, so in case ur stay is gonna be longer you could exercise this option. The day began at the Cathedral Salzburg. Its been consecrated, destroyed and rebuilt 3 times and the dates are commemorated at the gates (see pic above). The three main bronze doors represent Faith, Hope and Charity.



Under its roof is the most important musical instrument and one of Salzburg's treasures, the 4000-pipe organ where Mozart played his court-commissioned masses, psalms, litanies, chorals and sonatas. The four statues in front of the cathedral are St. Rupert, St. Paul, St. Peter and St. Virgil



Outside, there is a statue of the Virgin Mary in the middle of the square. If you go out in front of the statue and walk toward it, it appears as if the angels on the facade of the cathedral, fly down & set the crown they are holding, on her head. Solid funda ...Haina??





The octagonal dome that rises 71 meter high with its copper silhouette is recognisable from everywhere in the old city and the surrounding hills and mountains. Pics below are of the dome from inside.







Ok now something odd. Look at the below pic closely and in the middle u will see two alphabets. This is the Christian Anarchy Symbol, Alpha & Omega, meaning the first and last which in turn is to represent God and/or Jesus. (Refer to the book of Revelations 1:8, 21:6, & 22:13. Rev. 1:8 says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.").

Christian Anarchism (also known as Christian libertarianism) is the belief that the only source of authority to which Christians are ultimately answerable is God, embodied in the teachings of Jesus. Christian anarchists feel that government and established churches do not, and should not, have power over them.



I've never ever seen anything like this in any other church and I have no idea what it was doing here. Actually I realised this only when I had come back and was editing the pics. If some one can explain to me whether they generally have such symbols in church. It was too obvious for a trained eye to have missed it, so I rule out all symbolism in this episode.

It's 2.22 in the morning but I just seem to be on a roll finding one excellent thread after another. Amazing place and the photos are too good certainly worth much much more than the hours of lost sleep. 5* nothing less. Will comeback to look at the snaps again at leisure this weekend.

Amazing read, started in Austria, moved to Germany, onwards to Italy and then a flyby over the Alps. So where are you taking us next Lalit?

Viva Mozart!!! Next we went to Mozart's House of birth n stay. Two diff buildings not very far apart. The pic above is of the house where he was born. Not much inside the house to see. The other place, where he stayed, provides much more info about his work n life. Visited it later during the day. And since this happens to be the 250 anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birth therefore its kinda special this year with everything from chocolates to spirits, key chains, shot glasses embalmed with Mozart. Everyone conveniently forgets the fact that Mozart though born here, was virtually kicked out of the city and hence took refuge in Vienna.

Most of Salzburg's sites can easily be accessed on foot and the Altstadt is mostly pedestrianized. Some random statue enroute to our next destination.





Next up the Castle Hohensalzburg, which stands on a steep hill, Monchsberg. It was built in 1,077 by Archbishop Leonhard von Keutschach. This medieval castle is one of the very few castles in Europe that were never conquered by foreign military force. To reach the castle u can either walk or take the funicular. You can see the funicular on the right in the above pic.

The city's fortress, the Festung Hohensalzburg, was built in 1077 and expanded over the next few centuries. The city won its independence from Bavaria in the 14th century. It is the largest fully intact fortress in central Europe & reportedly has never been seized (overheard a guide telling his group).



The city is split by the River Salzach, with the Aldstadt (Old Town) located on the left bank (from where the above pic has been clicked) and the main station on the right bank.



The view of the city from the top is absolutely gorgeous. There are a few restaurants at the top. So enjoy some pizza along with Weißbier (Weissbier) but be prepared to wait a litle longer here because the service is anything but quick. The view from these open air restaurants is also quiet breath-taking. The valley below is actually quite picturesque.

@Mods: If needed, please change Weißbier to 'fermented wheat drink'





Now if you look at the mountain in the pic below, then the Austian alps are to the left of it and on its right is German/Bavarian Alps. The mountain is half-Austrian-half-German.



At the foot of the hill are lotsa open shops selling souvenirs. I would recommend anyone to shop here as it is comparitively cheaper than the souvenir shops in the castle or near other famous places. A bell (like the one Shahrukh had in DDLJ, albeit much smaller) which I bought for €15 at one of the shops earlier was on sale for €9.

Also at the square is a huge chessboard, so I decided to sit there for a while n enjoy the game. Now about the game which i saw... It staretd off beautifully with the Ruy Lopez opening which incidently is my fav. Later White went in for the Flohr-Zaitsev Variation which you would agree can force Black to choose a different defence. So the black guy shifed from Arkhangelsk Defence. Now, I would have choosen the Closed Defence but that guy went for Delayed Exchange Variation Deferred, hence the black knight and bishop were not on their best squares.

OK, that was some really authentic sounding (100%) crap. Except Ruy Lopez I dont know anything in the paragraph. White won eventually (Guy in blue jacket) and we moved on to explore more of the city.



One thing which we missed out was the boat ride in the Salzach river, which is a part of the Salzburg Pass. Since it wasnt officially summer the last boat left about 5 pm and we missed it. Strolled in the old town for some more time just exploring the streets, not visiting any place in particular, not in a hurry to reach a destination or landmark. Just letting the ambience of this old town seep into me and etch itself in memories for later times.

S1 is my first & only camera. Though it's very dated, am very happy with it. I've tried till S3. What's the MPx & zoom for S5.

Don't quite rem if there was something inscribed there.
Hmmmm, let's summon MX6 to decipher the meaning. Once he does that, I will summon him to TaureanBull's thread about Khajuraho lol:
Thank you Khoj sir for your kind words!!
Dunno for sure. Maybe I will start 'an old travelogue' on Paris.
@Mods: Seems something is wrong with attaching pics. Had to construct the post 5-6 timess.:Frustrati Every time I did a few previews before submitting the post, the attachments would vanish & only the tag would remain. Like one sees in some of the posts where pics dont get attached.

Yes even S5IS is outdated now!!! Its 8MP & 12X optical. More info here - Canon PowerShot S5 IS: Digital Photography Review

Just to show a sample of S5IS, I'm posting a sample pic that I took Thursday night on my visit to Tirupathi without using a tripod.

Pls feel free to report the post & get it deleted if inappropriate. It was just an inspiration from TaureanBull's Egypt's night scene that provoked me to take this one :D & yes, its an over exposure.

8MP & 12X sounds too good to me!! clap:

No problem with the pic. Please feel free to post more if u want.
I love the rich feel my S1 brings to pictures in manual mode. The colors are beautiful. But you need a very steady hand (since I dont have a tripod).