Salzburg – The Sound of Music Tour

June 8th, 2010

Yesterday, I took the train from Munich to Salzburg yesterday afternoon. I cannot get over how easy it is to get around. The trains run hourly from Munich to Salzburg and I was enjoying the ride so much that I lost track of time and was in Salzburg in no time.

After arriving in Salzburg, I headed out for a walk and after giving up on trying to figure out where I was on the map, I saw an old looking building and headed there. On the way I ran into a few goodies and as I looked around, I realized that I was standing on one location where the Sound of Music had been filmed. No wonder why they used this location. It is incredibly beautiful.

The tour started out a little rocky, the first bus was loaded and when the pulled the second bus around there were just a dozen or so people left. I thought we were lucky, not a full bus and then the tourist from hell emerged – she cut in line all the way from the back pulling her daughter and husband behind. “I have a question to ask, I get motion sickness, I have to sit in front!” That is a question? Yes there is one in every crowd, the tourist who thinks they are entitled to be put in front of everyone else. As the morning progressed, I began to realize that the fruit never falls far from the tree and the daughter had the same pose and started to sing “I am 15 going on 16” at every stop – clearly reliving a moment from a high school play.

This morning I headed out for the Sound of Music Tour. It was fun and it was hokey. Mind you, I am not a serious Sound of Music Fan. I love movies – I love movie music and this is a case of cinematic achievement and and who doesn’t know the songs? I was asked on the tour bus if I was “word perfect” – I immediately wondered how WordPerfect had to do with this and then was told – it means “knows every word to every song”.

As the tour progressed, we were filled in our and behind the scenes information. As we drove from one location to the next, songs were played and people sang along.

I think one of my favorite stories was that the girl who played the youngest daughter Gretl was given a lot of hot chocolate and cake to keep her happy during the filming. She gained so much weight, Christopher Plumber didn’t want to carry her up the mountain in the last scene. A double was used. The picture of the Pegasys was used in the Do Re Mi sequence and the street with trees is where the kids are climbing trees while dressed with clothes made of curtains.

So here are the pictures starting with the Do Re Mi Sequence which was filmed in several places including Mirabell Gardens. Watch it on Youtube and then look at the pictures below. I remember hearing that it took seeks weeks to film that one song and when I watched it again, I realized just how many shots and locations were used.

The “I have Confidence” includes a fountain where Maria splashes some water, she comes through an archway and in the background is a horse bath.

The front and the back of the house were actually two different houses – Schloss Frohnburg, below along the wall that Julie Andrews sang “I have Confidence” and the second picture is the house (Schloss Leopoldskron) where the children all fall in the river and where the children sing a song to Max and the Baroness. All indoor scenes were shot in Century-Fox studios in Los Angeles.

The gazebo used for the “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” and “Something Good” was moved from the original locations due to the number of visitors. The public had to be excluded from the interior because of the number of film fans (older than 16) were injuring themselves while trying to dance along the seats. The gazebo in Austria was only used for exterior shots. Internal shots were done at the 20th Century Fox studios in Los Angeles.