But this Christmas, instead of re-watching it, I’ll be reliving my visit with two willing girlfriends to the beautiful Austrian city of Salzburg, where the film was shot.
1 The bike tour
We met Fraülein Maria’s Bicycle Tours outside the Mirabell Palace gardens. Over the course of the morning, we visited Maria’s “I Have Confidence” fountain, her abbey, the “Do-Re-Mi” steps, the “I am Sixteen” gazebo and the two parts that make up the von Trapp house – the front and the back. Our bikes had flip folders with stills from the movie featuring what we were looking at in real life, and our guide put a speaker in my pal Miranda’s basket, which blared out the soundtrack as we pedalled around the city. This is the absolute pinnacle of Sound of Music fandom.
This is the front of the Captain’s house, and the lake where Maria and the children fall in the drink.
2 The coach tour
After a quick lunch, we climbed aboard our Panorama Tours coach. We got closer to some locations on the bikes, and we revisited the house and the gazebo, but after that, we headed to Mondsee in the Lake District to see the church where Maria married Captain von Trapp. Our guide was an absolute fount of knowledge and the gorgeous scenery on the way was worth the doubling up. Particularly special was the interview with the real Maria that’s played on the way back to town. Bring a hanky (or a piece of curtain).
“I have confidence in sunshine …” Warning: Maria’s fountain may cause you to burst into song.
3 The dinner and show
You don’t come to Salzburg and not go the whole Sound of Music hog, so we signed up for the schnitzel dinner and the music show that’s an extra with the coach tour. It gets so-so reviews and it wasn’t the best strudel I tasted, but then I tasted a lot of strudel. And I thought it was worth it for the Sound of Salzburg performance, featuring students of the local opera school singing songs from the movie and other Austrian ditties. My pal Tessa was even dragged on stage for a traditional dance lesson, which, it’s fair to say, she rocked.
Here I am in my fetching dirndl in a shop that sells Christmas decorations all year round.
4 The dirndl
Speaking of traditional, somewhere on the Panorama website, I read that hardcore fans could hire dirndls for their Sound of Music adventure. These are the traditional dresses still worn on special occasions in Austria and as I had travelled from New Zealand to follow in Maria’s footsteps, that counted as special. Miranda, Tessa and I proudly wore our dirndls through the streets of Salzburg, stopping only to be complimented on our finery. When I FaceTimed the Ginger from Mozartplatz to show him how pretty we all looked, he was mortified. But on cue, an Irish tourist interrupted me and I was able to get her, a perfect stranger, to back me up on the appropriateness and overall effect. Take that, Ginger!
5 The high point
Some people might think I’m loony for going to a whole country just because I love The Sound of Music, but I have to say, Austria was one of the most beautiful travel surprises I’ve ever had. Salzburg is a perfect city with an old town nestled beneath a hilltop fort and mountains literally around the corner. As I cycled through green pastures on the way to the von Trapp house, with “My Favourite Things” blaring out from Miranda’s basket, I burst into tears of happiness. Why not follow every rainbow until you find your dream, eh?
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