More from Salzburg

The Sound of Music tour lasted about 4 hours. A good bit of it was riding on bus through the Austrian countryside, the guide talked a bit about what's what and the Sound of Music soundtrack was playing in the background where appropriate. I imagine at the height of the summer tourist season, it's quite the sing-a-long. Our group, only about 10 or so, were more subdued, though during the Do-Re-Mi song you could here a few voices added to the soundtrack. A gal from Australia told me that every night the guest house she was staying at plays the S.O.M. DVD at 8 PM. I wonder if it's a Salzburg requirement that all boarding places do that because oddly enough, so does the hostel I was staying at! There was quite the crowd. You could tell those who had done the tour already. Lots of pointing when scenes at bus stop locations came up.

The next day, I toured the fortress in the heart of the old part of the city. The Abbey is just below the fortress but the only way to get in to the Abbey is to take the vows so I passed on that one. I did stop by Mozart's birthplace. Stopped by, didn't go in. I did go in to the Mirabel gardens. Lots of the Do-Re-Mi scenes were filmed there.

From Salzburg, a few hour train ride brought me to Vienna. Everywhere here it's known as Wien. I wanted to attend a Mozart live music performance here in one of the great performance halls but they were all sold out &/or out of my price range. At least that's what I thought. I went to the box office and then the tourist info offices to get tickets and the only ones they offered me for sale were the ones beyond my budget. I at least wanted to see inside the one of the performance places so earlier today I took the guided tour of the Vienna State Opera House. Part of the building is original, c 1860, and part is rebuilt from WWII. Still quite impressive though the old part is more lavish in the decoration. At the end of the tour the guide told us how to get tickets for as low as 3 Euros! I am bummed. I'm leaving today before any performances but I'd paid for a standing place. Really, woulda! Well, the trip's not over. I'm going to be in the north of Italy later. Maybe I can get over here again.

In the meantime, a mention of other Vienna stuff. The Spanish Riding School (aka The Royal Lippanzers) is located here. I was able to see a morning training session and in little while, I'm going for th grand tour of the school.

Ever hear of a movie called 'The Third Man'. Filmed here. I saw the film. Plays here regularly at a little theater not to far from the hostel. As the Vienna International Film Festival is going on right now there's a bit more buzz about that movie than normal so I might take one of the tours related to that as well.

Two quick notes: The bathroom (WC) in the Subway Mall at the Opera House plays opera music and most of the other public toilets have black lights in the stalls. I can only speak for the women's side of things but there ya go! At least, there I went.