Rodgers and Hammerstein theme park

Let's start at the very beginning. . .OK, there's going to be a lot of those kind of references. Get used to it. I was in Salzburg-40% of the tourists are there because of Mozart and the other 60% are there because of The Sound of Music. I'm sure some go there to ski but not in October. I arrived about mid-day and after having my first sort of nasty experience with the language barrier (a bus driver in a bad mood and probably tired of dealing with tourists), I made it to the hostel-a big one, too! They even sort of have their own tourist info office at the reception desk so I booked myself on the Sound of Music tour for that afternoon. For many years they have hosted a tour because all of Austria knows the story of the Trapp Family Singers except the Austrians know the real story. Until y2K, most Austrians had never seen the musical version of the famous family. They have two movies of their own that are much older, in black and white and neither has Julie Andrews or Christopher Plummer. The tour covers ground that is where the real family lived &/or did stuff and also some of the filming locations. A few of those locations coincide-The Abbey is the one that comes to mind. Like most Hollywood films, geography is altered in editing. The mountain where Maria twirls in the opening credits is about 10 miles from the Abbey. Quite a run to do from the time she hears the bells (which you can't actually hear from up there) until the nuns finish their latin hymn and she dashes into the courtyard!

Well, now that I''ve located this internet cafe I'll post again tomorrow to finish up Salzburg and start Vienna where I am right. I'm going to catch yet another tour. See ya!