When the Cheshire emerges...

A year ago today I was in Salzburg, Austria, taking part in the day's official The Sound of Music tour.

I LOVE The Sound of Music. It's my all-time favourite film. I grew up on it as a kid thanks to my grandmother, who to me somewhat resembled Julie Andrews with her short blonde hair. I don't know how many times I've watched it; I just about wrecked the videotape I'd carefully put together. Cutting out the ads was an acquired skill.

The idea to visit Salzburg and see the locations of the film came to me pretty early as I tried to figure out what to do on my first solo adventure. I wanted to visit for that reason alone.



When I got there after an overnight stay at Concrete Floor, Stansted Airport, London (my first, and so far only, airport bumming experience), the mountains greeted me with their stunning beauty.

I let myself wander up to the fortress that overlooks the old town on the first of my two days there, taking in the amazing view on a sunny springtime day and also briefly entering what I'm pretty sure was Maria's nunnery.



Day two was the big one, and I was accompanied by my lovely roommate Polina through the outer rims of Salzburg and Mondsee. I saw the young lovers' gazebo, the back of the von Trapp mansion (the front was a different property entirely), and even went out to the town of Mondsee to go inside the church where they marry!

We had great strudel, met an Aussie brother-sister duo who thought our host Peter was just as hilarious and informative as we did (he was uh-mazing; perfectly camp and probably the world's most enthusiastic host), and we got our 'hills are alive...' moment. A huge tick off my life's bucket list.

Mozart's violin, age 8

The church in Mondsee where Maria and the captain marry

Polina later made a short video with a super-awesome beginning of me re-enacting their traipsing through the vine tunnel in Do Re Mi. But I'm struggling to find it again.
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Continuing onto Germany the next day, I was to have one of the most satisfying meals I've ever had in my life for dinner in Munich after taking half an hour to find the beerhall that was further down the road than I'd anticipated. A Braumeisterpfanne (brewmaster's special): slice of roasted pork saddle, maulstache (sort of like ravioli), a grilled meatball and a pretzen dumpling, all in a creamy mushroom sauce. My thanks to the two locals who helped me decide.





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*I have two photos entered in the current Qatar Reflections competition. Please show your support for me by voting for either photo! Short backstory and links here.