Salzburg...the hills are alive with the sound of music

After a breakfast of fresh Austrian yogurt (joghurt, in German), fruit, local alpine organic eggs, an array of meats and cheeses, peppers and tomatoes, muesli (a yummy mixture of grains/seeds/nuts and oats), juice and coffee, everyone loaded the bus for a day in Salzburg.

We toured the palace gardens, and walked through the graveyard where the scene near the end of the Sound of Music was filmed...and saw the actual convent on top of the hill where Maria Von Trapp lived as a young nun-in-training. Because Salzburg is the city of music and Mozart's childhood home where he wrote his first concertos at the age of 5-7, much is Mozart/music -themed. The city is very much the way it was 500 years ago.... With little shops inhabiting the the same spaces in stone buildings as the medieval shops of yesteryear: complete with little intricate iron signs hanging above each door announcing what you will find inside : bakery, cobbler, woodworkings, clocks, etc. You halfway expect to see customers inside dressed in Shakespearean garb or a knight in shining armor trot by on his horse outside.

Many of our crew tried specialty Austrian pastries, pretzels and schnitzel...most toured Mozart's house and saw his first piano and musical score written in his own 6-year old hand....and everyone shopped for trinkets and souvenirs in the stores that lined the cobblestone streets. Musicians played on the sidewalks, local artists in the square painted water colors of local sites, and horse drawn carriages loped by. Salzburg is truly a picture postcard city.

A pose with Ceaser, our Tanzsommer finale choreographer At out hotel before we left

SALZBURG!

After an amazing day in Salzburg, we were honored by a special reception for us at a restaurant back in St Johann where local children performed traditional Tirolian/Austrian dances for us. See us posed with them below.

After an evening ballet class with Thom, we all went to bed at a reasonable hour....tomorrow is FREE day here in St Johann! Many have signed up to hang glide off the side of the Alps, most are going to zip line across the lake, and all of us are going to ride the luge down the of the mountain!!! FUN....should be some good pictures on tomorrow's blog:)