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“PLEASE, Mum. No more twirling,” says my daughter.
But too late. The ghost of Maria Von Trapp has taken control of my limbs and I’m pirouetting across cobblestone streets singing, “High on a hill stood a lonely goatherd . . . ”
Salzburg’s historic city skyline[/caption]
The Von Trapps’ lakeside home Schloss Leopoldskron[/caption]
We’re in Salzburg, Austria home of the world’s most famous singing nun.
Along with raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, the kitsch musical movie with nuns and Nazis is one of my favourite things.
Celebrating 60 years this year, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Sound of Music is an all-time classic.
It was the soundtrack of my childhood, and my children’s, so I’ve brought along my 19-year-old, Lola.
I wanted to bring her when she was 16 going on 17 but she refused.
The movie is based on the true story of Maria Kutschera, a novice nun who was sent to be a governess to a naval captain’s seven children after his wife died.
It is set in 1930s Salzburg, with its snow-dusted mountains, custard-hued palaces and fairytale churches, and the city seems to have changed very little, in appearance at least.
Panorama Tours have been running the original Sound of Music tour of Salzburg for decades.
A small group of die-hard Sound Of Music fans pile into the minivan of our lovely, dirndl-dressed Aussie guide Kylie.
She takes us to some of movie’s locations, from the Von Trapps’ lakeside home Schloss Leopoldskron, and the gazebo where Liesl and Rolf sing Sixteen Going On Seventeen, to the Mirabell Gardens where Maria and the children Do-Re-Mi’d around the Pegasus Fountain.
We then leave the city to tour the region’s lakes area and the pretty town of St. Gilgen — where the grassy banks of Wolfgangsee are where the children learned to sing.
Lola allows me a small twirl here in homage.
As we climb back into the minivan, Kylie whacks up the stereo and we Do-Re-Mi our way through the mountains to Mondsee and the Basilika St.
Michael, the beautiful church where Maria and Captain Von Trapp tie the knot.
The four-hour tour ends back in Salzburg, where I get to sing “So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye” to Kylie and the group.
Even if you’re not a Sound Of Music fan, Salzburg is a treat.
Mozart’s violin
Altstadt, the old town, is a Unesco World Heritage Site with baroque architecture, austere fortresses and the green, zinc-topped spires and domes of endless Catholic churches.
We’re staying in Hotel Stein, a boutique hotel on the banks of the Salzach River with views of the Hohensalzburg Fortress, the darkly Gothic castle that overlooks the city.
It is just moments from the old town’s chocolate, jewellery and lederhosen shops and we stop by one of the many cosy coffee houses for strudel and melange — an Austrian cappuccino.
Long before Fraulein Maria ever arrived with her guitar, Salzburg was home to one of history’s greatest composers, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
His place of birth, in 1756 on Getreidegasse in Altstadt has been preserved as a museum.
Julie Andrews in the iconic film The Sound of Music[/caption]
You can see his prized collection of instruments, including his childhood violin and fortepiano.
Of course, we can’t visit Austria and not sample another of my favourite things — wiener schnitzel.
Zwettler’s Wirtshaus is a cosy establishment which has been sating Salzburgers’ schnitzel cravings since 1863.
Wolfing down a giant schnitzel and a Salzburger Nockerl — a sweet cloud-like dessert found only in Salzburg — Lola grins and says: “At least this might stop you twirling!”
GO: SALZBURG
GETTING THERE: EasyJet fly to Salzburg from London Gatwick from £23.99 each way.
See easyjet.com.
STAYING THERE: Hotel Stein has double rooms from £124 (€147) room only.
See hotelstein.at.
OUT & ABOUT: Panorama’s Original Sound of Music tours cost from £51 (€60).
For details, see panoramatours.com.
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