The Hills Were Alive

Mirabelle Garden in Salzburg where the children cavorted and sang in Sound of Music

On Thursday, 28 October, we docked in Passau, Germany, at the confluence of the Danube and the Inn Rivers.  We were booked on the all-day excursion to Salzburg, so we boarded the buses at 8:30 a.m. for the 2-hour drive.  It was another rainy morning, but cleared to partly cloudy by the time we reached the hills.  Salzburg is a beautiful little city nestled under a craggy bluff in the gently rolling hills made famous by The Sound of Music.  Aside from the fame gained from the movie, Salzburg is also noted as the birthplace of Mozart.  (He called it the "pisspot" of Europe after being banned from the city. Bad sport!)

Birthplace of Mozart

We were on our own for lunch, so we chose a nice, warm cafe and enjoyed the local beer and wiener schnitzel.  We then wandered around the streets of the old city until we were due back at the bus.  It's a really pleasant place to wander.  There are no cars in the old town and, unlike most of the places we had visited, the cobbled streets had for the most part been smoothed out.

Walking city tours are included in the cost of our Avalon trip, and there is always one group reserved for "gentle walkers."  Even then, we often have trouble catching up, especially with cobbles.  We knew this would be the case when we booked the trip, so it hasn't been a problem, but our guide in Salzburg was particularly thoughtful and nice.

On the way back, we stopped at a small resort town called Mondsee.  The church in that town was used as the site of the wedding between the Captain and Maria in Sound of Music. They were actually married in the chapel of the convent where Maria had lived before joining the von Trapp family as nanny, and that chapel was was off limits to the movie camera crew.  They chose a beautiful alternative!
Our guide played us a recording of the original von Trapp family singers...beautiful, classically trained voices!

Mondsee church and interior

We rejoined the ship at Linz and got a short driving tour of that city when we returned.  I really liked it, although the guide said it is not as popular for tourists as some of the other Danube towns.

The evening finished with a talent show by the crew.  I got to dance YMCA with our "Young Man" steward.  It was a fun evening for crew and passengers both, and we went to bed tired but happy.