June 16, 2023 - Austria
Saltzburg and The Sound of Music Tour

It goes without saying that the first thing we wanted to do in Saltzburg was the "Sound of Music" bus tour!  It's required.

The Sound of Music is one of the most commercially successful films of all time.  Adjusted for inflation, the film earned about $2.366 billion at 2014 prices—placing it among the top ten highest-grossing films of all time.
   

Getting ready to board the tour bus!

The Sound of Music is a 1965 American musical drama film.  The film is an adaptation of the 1959 stage musical, composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Lindsay and Crouse. Based on the 1949 memoir The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp, the film is set in Salzburg, Austria and is a fictional retelling of her experiences as governess to seven children, her eventual marriage with their father Captain Georg Von Trapp, and their escape during the Anschluss in 1938.

Filming took place from March to September 1964 in Los Angeles and Salzburg. The Sound of Music was released on March 2, 1965, in the United States.  Although initial critical response to the film was mixed, it was a major commercial success, becoming the number one box office film after four weeks, and the highest-grossing film of 1965. By November 1966, The Sound of Music had become the highest-grossing film of all-time—surpassing Gone with the Wind—and held that distinction for five years.

The Sound of Music received five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director [Robert Wise].  [In those days a great movie loved by the public received an Oscar; these days, the Oscar is a joke; the movies that win no one has ever heard of, or will ever see, or will ever be shown on TV.  Their primary virtue is that they are politically correct].  Julie Andrews was nominated for Best Actress but did not win.  Someone named Julie Christie won for some movie named Darling.

In 1998, the American Film Institute (AFI) listed The Sound of Music as the fifty-fifth greatest American film of all time, and the fourth-greatest film musical.  [55?  SOM should be in the top ten.  I looked at the movies listed ahead of it.  Many I question.  Lawrence of Arabia?  Chinatown?  Bonnie and Clyde?  Apocalypse Now?  Taxi Driver?  Yes, I've seen them all.]

In 1966, American Express created the first Sound of Music guided tour in Salzburg.  Our tour guide said the formal tours were started by taxi drivers tired of driving people who wanted to see the Sound of Music stuff.  Since 1972, Panorama Tours has been the leading Sound of Music bus tour company in the city, taking approximately 50,000 tourists a year to various film locations in Salzburg and the surrounding region. By 2007, The Sound of Music was drawing 300,000 visitors a year to Salzburg
   
Our tour guide was an expert on all things The Sound of Music.  He could sing a fair "Do-Re-Mi" as well.
   
The famous gazebo used in filming The Sound of Music where Liesl von Trapp sang "Sixteen Going on Seventeen".  The gazebo scenes for "Something Good" and "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" were filmed on a larger reconstructed set at Fox studios, while some shots of the original gazebo were filmed on the grounds at Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg.
   
GGG
   
The row of trees used in the scene where all the Von Trapp children were hanging in the trees.
   

The front and back façades of the von Trapp villa were filmed here at this privately-owned house called Frohnburg Palace.

The lakeside terrace and gardens was a set constructed on a property adjacent to Schloss Leopoldskron called Bertelsmann.  The interior was a constructed set at Fox Studios.
   
A clearer look of Frohnburg Palace.
   
Our first good look at Fortress Hohensalzburg which dominates the Saltzburg skyline.
   
And this is the palace they used to film all scenes involving the back of the house --Schloss Leopoldskron -- where scenes representing the lakefront terrace and gardens of the von Trapp villa were filmed.  The palace's interior was not used.
 
In 2014, the palace and the neighboring Meierhof building were opened as a privately owned hotel:  Hotel Schloss Leopoldskron.
 
Also, only shots showing the lake were filmed at Bertelsmann, using a replica of Leopoldskron's terrace and "horse-gates" that lead to the lake. Shots of the building itself were filmed at Schloss Frohnburg
   
Lake Leopoldskroner Weiher
   
Lake and Palace.
   
 
   
 
   
Our tour guide giving us the SOM gouge.
   
Pretty Lake Leopoldskroner Weiher.
   
Now heading through Saltzburg town.  You can just make out the funicular at far left; the cogwheel train that goes up to the fortress.
   
A better look at the fortress and funicular.
   
We drove to some scenic lakes east of Saltzburg.
   
Classic Austria.
   
 
   
Driving past Red Bull corporate headquarters near the little town of Fuschl, east of Saltzburg.
   
Our tour guide singing "Do-Re-Mi"!
   
We stopped at this scenic overlook
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
Mondsee Abbey where the wedding scene was filmed.
   
Also known as Basilika St. Michael.
   
 
   
 
   
TAbbey's big organ at the rear.
   
The touristy town of Mondsee.  We stopped and had an ice cream cone.
   
Lake Mondsee.
   
 
   
Across the lake is the Schafberg.  You can take Austria's steepest cog railway up to the top.  It has been running from St. Wolfgang up the Schafberg since 1893.
   
Bright green meadow.
   
Looking out over Lake Mondsee.
   
   
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