First stop on the Vienna itinerary: the Spanish Riding School! Joe was such a good sport. He spent two and a half hours watching the Lipizzaners ride around in circles (something that could get pretty boring, even for an experienced rider) and then another hour on a tour. The Winter Riding School is a beautiful hall with two levels where spectators can peer over into the ring. Every morning, the public is allowed to watch “Morning Exercise”, 30-min training shifts of five horses each. There are over 70 Lipizzaner stallions at the Riding School, and another 100 or so at various training barns and facilities. Once a stallion becomes part of the school, he can never be sold. They take care of each stallion through retirement, which may last until the ripe old age of 40 (super old for a horse)!

Each horse also has their own rider, they never trade around. It takes more than a decade to become a “Rider” at the Riding School. Apprentices start with 1+ years riding exclusively on the lunge line (and doing all the chores); then they begin riding stallions that are already well trained, so that the horse can teach the rider…always under supervision, of course. After about three years the rider is given one stallion to work with, but the pair is still not allowed to perform. Another two years later, once the rider has proven that he can successfully train a stallion, he is given a few more stallions, still under supervision. Finally, if he is lucky, after another three to five years, he might become an Oberbereiter, or Senior Trainer. The attrition rate during the apprentice ship is huge.  Apparently, riders who already think they are pretty experienced don’t appreciate mucking stalls and not being allowed off a lunge line for several years. I can understand that.

Each stallion has two saddles and two bridles (one for training and one for performances). That is a lot of leather to clean! I don’t mind mucking crap…but cleaning tack is the worst! I probably won’t make it one week at the Spanishe Hofreitschule!

We spent a day at Schloss Schönbrunn, the summer residence of the Habsburgs, touring 40 of the 1441 rooms! Rain prevented us from really exploring all of the gardens and fountains, but it was still a pretty amazing place.

True confession coming up: I really enjoyed visiting the Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery). Creepy? Maybe…but not nearly as creepy as some of the graves we saw. Stuff right out of the movies! The Zentralfriedhof is one of Europe’s largest cemeteries and is in fact bigger than Vienna’s downtown. It also contains more graves (2.5+ million) than the actual population of Vienna. There is a huge church in the cemetery, as well as a shuttle bus to get visitors where they need to go.

Dr. Karl Leuger Gedächtniskirche

Most people go there to see the headstones of the big name composers: Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Strauss. Not Mozart though. He has a monument in the Zentralfriedhof, but not a grave. He was actually buried in an unmarked mass grave, of which the exact location is unknown, in a different cemetery.

Here is what also happens at Zentralfriedhof when your husband has over 3,000 “favorite songs” on iTunes: you end up visiting the grave of another famed Austrian musician: Falco.

It’s like he was looking right at us.

You know what happens after you spend some quality time with Falco in his place of peace? Your husband’s “absolute most favorite 3000 songs” list increases by three and now you have to listen to Falco sing in English…and German. I love you Joe…you and your thousands of songs!

Alright. Now that we’ve seen every side of Vienna…it’s time to hit the road again!

Some kids grew up watching Goonies. I sang along with Mary Poppins. Some kids grew up watching Back to the Future. I danced around to the Sound of Music.

Clearly, I was meant to be the world’s next Julie Andrews. Obviously, my vocal cords had a different plan.

We spent our day in Salzburg popping in on the filming locations from the Sound of Music…when in Salzburg, right?!  I hope your 1960’s musical’s knowledge is up-to-speed!

Actually, our intention was to visit Salzburg’s medieval fortress, Festung Hohensalzburg, but this is as close as we got…

Unfortunately, we were traveling with our four-legged friend, who was apparently too dirty to be allowed in. I mean, come on, who wouldn’t want this dirt-ridden splendor in their 900 year old landmark?

She was actually 1000x more disgusting than this picture captures.

So, we moved on to better things…re-enacting movie scenes!

Here is the horse pond, which Maria passes on her way to the Von Trapp home.

St. Peter’s Cemetery is where the Von Trapps flee from the Nazis in the film. Here Liv and I are fleeing from the other dogs in the cemetery. For those of you that know Liv, avoiding other dogs is a really important part of our adventures. And yes, there was more than 1 dog in the cemetery.

Nonnberg Abbey is the oldest female convent north of the Alps. The real “Maria” Kutschera actually attended this nunnery. In the movie, the nuns sing “Maria” here, the children ask about Maria at the gate, and the family car is parked here before they flee at the end of the movie.

Residenzplatz is where Maria stops on her way to the Von Trapp residence, whilst singing “I have Confidence”.

Unfortunately, all the fountains in Salzburg are covered during the winter, so this is all we could see of the famous horse, between the slats.

The steps of The Palace of Mirabell, where Maria and the children run up the steps singing “Do-Re-Mi”!

The best Do-Re-Mi I could muster.

Finally, the Frohnburg Castle. This familiar lane is where the Von Trapps live, and Maria arrives singing “I Have Confidence.”

Yes, the Sound of Music is an iconic musical that has captured the hearts of many, throughout numerous decades. However, it is also a small window into a time of war. The real Georg von Trapp was, indeed, in opposition to the Nazi regime, actually declining an invitation to sing at a concert for Adolf Hitler and refusing to renew his recall into the Navy. However, the Von Trapps never actually fled from the Nazis into Switzerland, but in reality immigrated to the United States. The tale of this family is not typical, as Georg had the wealth, connections, and Italian passports to relocate his 10 (not 7!) children across the Atlantic and escape the miseries of WWII.

In October of 1938, the family left Europe for Pennsylvania and eventually made permanent residence in Vermont. They held music camps every summer near their lodge in Vermont and continued to tour as “The Trapp Family Singers”. Ironically, not a single song from the musical score was actually sung by the family. The “Trapp Family Austrian Relief Inc.” was established by Georg and Maria and after every concert, donations of food, money, clothing, and household goods were collected to be sent back to Austrians living in distress in post-war Germany.

Surprisingly, the Sound of Music was not a hit in its home town of Salzburg. Those who knew the town well, realized that “Hollywood” had used creative editing and then-state-of-the-art technical effects to blend different locations and create a Salzburg that didn’t truly exist.

American audiences didn’t mind though, and the musical opened to huge success across the country. Ultimately spurred from a time that changed the world, the Sound of Music continues to captivate audiences across the globe.