Salzburg, in pictures

This is the kind of view we had as we drove from Innsbruck to Salzburg. I adore Austria.



The building on the left with the red roof is the abbey where Maria was preparing to become a nun before Captain von Trapp waltzed into her life and changed all that.



This is Barbara (or Brunhilda, as Jimmy called her), our tour guide for Salzburg. She was such a marvelous cliché of the stern Germanic woman. I just loved her, even though she terrified me. She is much like Martha Stewart in that way.



The French Garden at Schloss ("Palace") Mirabell. Mirabell was the scene for the filming of much of the Do-Re-Mi song in The Sound of Music and thus was a highly coveted spot on our agenda.



These are the famous steps that Maria and the children climb/hop up at the end of the song. We were giddy with delight to see them. Frankly, the Salzburgers weren't impressed, and I thought the less of them for it.



Melis had her iPod going to get the full experience.



This is the bower where the children frolic during the song, so of course Melis frolicked.

And then came the re-enactment...



We marched across the edge of the horse fountain...



...hopped down, with "do re mi" in our heads all the while...



...and marched up to the steps in true von Trapp fashion. All that was missing were the dresses made of drapes.



And then we hopped back and forth on the steps like Freidrich and Kurt, imagining our governess climbing octave after octave with that final note. Dorky fabulous.

That look on Jimmy's face is called "my nieces are idiots."



This is the oldest restaurant in Europe. It was established in 803. What I'm saying is Charlemagne probably ate here, and now you can, too. I love Europe.



Me and Kris on a bridge over the Salt River. Kris was giving shooting instructions to Linda and my mom. "Make sure both of our faces are either in shadow or out of shadow." She's terribly clever with the photography.



Party bike! Remember when you could ride these through Times Square? That used to be so much fun. We should have ridden it. I'd have loved to see Barbara on it.



Lederhosen abounds! There was a huge festival going on in Salzburg while we were there. We were given strict instructions not to confuse or compare it with Oktoberfest. The locals would not have taken kindly to that.



The gentlemen spent the afternoon sampling Salzburg’s finest brews…



…while the ladies went shopping and stopped at this lovely little café for refreshment. It was so European.



And this I just had to include. I hated the travel-sized toothpaste I brought, so I stopped at the front desk and asked for a replacement. This is the Lilliputian tube they gave me, placed next to my mom’s travel toothpaste for scale. Yes, that tube on top is travel-sized, not full size.



Here it is next to my Burt’s. It was like dollhouse toothpaste. I don’t know if it would have made it back to my molars.


Up next: Our excursion to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest. A snowball fight may or may not have broken out on der Fuhrer’s balcony, and I like to think he wouldn’t have approved.