This is something that we did in Salzburg, Austria:
I can't think of when we've ever done something like this. We're not really organized tour kind of people, but we had a limited amount of time to be in the city and we knew this tour would be a good way to see a lot of things in a short time. Plus, we knew the kids would love it. Because, The Sound of Music.
Yes, this tour was based around the history of the movie (and peripherally, the history of the real story of) The Sound of Music. The bus drove us around Salzburg and took us to the locations where the movie was filmed. In the meantime, on the bus, a chipper British man explained some of the background story behind the movie and interesting trivia about it.
After a while, we headed into the countryside to see some lakes and a few of the more far-flung movie locations, like the church where Maria got married (in the movie):
On the 40-minute drive back to Salzburg from Mondsee (where the church is), the bus driver put on the movie soundtrack and the guide invited us all to sing along. Considering that the only people on the huge tour bus were our family, another American (?) family, and a small group of Filipino tourists who, strangely, didn't seem to be all that familiar with the movie...well, the singing left a lot to be desired. Magdalena had the most gusto of anyone, which was cute.
We really liked the tour, and the girls really enjoyed it, and we got to see a lot of Salzburg and the surrounding areas. Win/win/win. BUT. At times, I got a little weirded out that we were participating in a kind of pilgrimage to sites for a movie that, while based on a true story, was itself a work of fiction.
BUT. Then I got to thinking how even if The Sound of Music is technically just a movie, it was also a huge part of my life growing up. There was very, very little that the guide had to say (as far as plots and locations and lines and song trivia) that I didn't already know from about the age of six. So in a way, I was seeing sites and places that were meaningful and historical, just in a more personal way rather than for humankind at large, like I'm used to. Once I accepted that, the tour became a lot less meta and a lot more fun.
When we planned to go to Salzburg, I thought I would go there and really FEEL the Mozart-ness of the place, soak it in on every street and be able to readily imagine the music culture that existed there 200+ years ago. Instead, I felt the city on two other levels: The Sound of Music, and (to a lesser extent) my brother Blair, who spent time there as a missionary in the 1990s. Part of me is sad about that, sad about the fact that the only time I got my Mozart on was during the taking of this picture, and it lasted about as long as it will take you to look at it.
That's it. That's the house where Mozart was born, and that's where my Mozart-Salzburg began and ended.
That's ok, though. Really. We had a great time in Salzburg and who am I to complain on which "level" we had a great time? Focusing on Mozart would have meant that we wouldn't have been able to borrow the DVD of The Sound of Music from our hotel to watch in our room and witness this moment of Magdalena exclaiming that our curtains were just like theirs, and recreating this scene of Maria imagining how well the fabric will work as children's clothes:
So at least there's that.
Yes, this tour was based around the history of the movie (and peripherally, the history of the real story of) The Sound of Music. The bus drove us around Salzburg and took us to the locations where the movie was filmed. In the meantime, on the bus, a chipper British man explained some of the background story behind the movie and interesting trivia about it.
After a while, we headed into the countryside to see some lakes and a few of the more far-flung movie locations, like the church where Maria got married (in the movie):
We really liked the tour, and the girls really enjoyed it, and we got to see a lot of Salzburg and the surrounding areas. Win/win/win. BUT. At times, I got a little weirded out that we were participating in a kind of pilgrimage to sites for a movie that, while based on a true story, was itself a work of fiction.
BUT. Then I got to thinking how even if The Sound of Music is technically just a movie, it was also a huge part of my life growing up. There was very, very little that the guide had to say (as far as plots and locations and lines and song trivia) that I didn't already know from about the age of six. So in a way, I was seeing sites and places that were meaningful and historical, just in a more personal way rather than for humankind at large, like I'm used to. Once I accepted that, the tour became a lot less meta and a lot more fun.
When we planned to go to Salzburg, I thought I would go there and really FEEL the Mozart-ness of the place, soak it in on every street and be able to readily imagine the music culture that existed there 200+ years ago. Instead, I felt the city on two other levels: The Sound of Music, and (to a lesser extent) my brother Blair, who spent time there as a missionary in the 1990s. Part of me is sad about that, sad about the fact that the only time I got my Mozart on was during the taking of this picture, and it lasted about as long as it will take you to look at it.
That's it. That's the house where Mozart was born, and that's where my Mozart-Salzburg began and ended.
That's ok, though. Really. We had a great time in Salzburg and who am I to complain on which "level" we had a great time? Focusing on Mozart would have meant that we wouldn't have been able to borrow the DVD of The Sound of Music from our hotel to watch in our room and witness this moment of Magdalena exclaiming that our curtains were just like theirs, and recreating this scene of Maria imagining how well the fabric will work as children's clothes:
So at least there's that.