I’m from Canada, as you know, so for me The Sound of Music is a classic. Everyone has seen it, it even plays on TV every year around Christmas time. So it was quite a shock to arrive in Austria and learn that no one, NO ONE, has seen it. The Academy Award winner for Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Original Soundtrack means nothing in Austria, in spite of being entirely about Austria. So when my friend came to visit me from Canada, we decided our Austrian friend group needed some education on their own culture. We set up a The Sound of Music movie night, which was successful other than the moment of outrage during the song “My Favourite Things” when Fräulien Maria lists Schnitzel with Noodles as one of her favourite things (because a true Austrian would NEVER eat Schitzel with Noodles, and the fact that this movie, claiming to be about Austria, would dare to say such a thing was disgraceful).

Saint Peter’s Cemetery

Mirabell Gardens

Staying true to the theme of The Sound of Music, we also took a trip to Salzburg along with my partner and his brother. We created our own little movie scene tour including the Mirabell Palace and Gardens where we entertained some of the other tourists with our own reenactment of the scene “Do Re Mi”. Sadly, we were not able to frolic on the set of “The Hills are Alive” because it was filmed in Germany. Sorry Austria. But we were still able to do a short trip to Germany…underground. Due to history, border changes and all the jazz, part of the Hallein Salt Mine tour crosses over the German border!

Hedge Tunnel – Mirabell Gardens

Autumn in the Mirabell Gardens

If you’re heading to Salzburg and want to do your own The Sound of Music tour, check out this guide! We used this to decide the locations we wanted to see. Enjoy!

https://www.bigboytravel.com/europe/austria/salzburg/soundofmusicfilmlocations/