The Hills are Alive...

This last week, the kids had spring break and Brad had some time off for Easter, so we packed up the car for a road trip to Salzburg, Austria.  I have always loved The Sound of Music, so it has been a dream of mine to visit Salzburg ever since I first saw Julie Andrews prancing around the city singing "Do-Re-Mi."  I've heard that Robert Wise, the director of The Sound of Music, felt that the city of Salzburg should be like another character in the movie.  Now that I've seen Salzburg in person, I can see why Robert Wise felt that way - Salzburg is just bursting with personality and charm.  During the 4 days we were there, it became a running joke to say, out nowhere, "You know, I think these hills are alive."  But honestly, the place really did feel alive.  Maybe it was because every time we turned a corner, the soundtrack to Sound of Music would come to mind, or maybe it was just that everything was so breath-takingly beautiful, I felt like the city was speaking to me.  Whatever the reason, I just felt giddy as we explored Salzburg and the surrounding countryside.

The Salzach River runs right down the middle of Salzburg.  The "Old Town" is on the side below the Hohensalzburg Fortress, which you can see at the top of the picture overlooking the whole city.

These buildings are on the other side of the river.  Our hotel was behind that church on the left, so we were within walking distance of just about everything.

The "Old Town" is just on the other side of all those buildings stuck together.  It is so cool to walk through a small archway and leave all the cars and busy roads behind.  "Old Town" is pretty commercial now, with lots of modern shops, but there is still a lot of the old charm. 

We couldn't come to Salzburg without doing something Mozart-related - this is his city, afterall - so we visited the Mozart Museum in the house where he was born.

Exploring "Old Town" Salzburg.  Some of these buildings and courtyards may look familiar from The Sound of Music.

Walking through Salzburg, Pepper was most excited to see this Astin Martin parked on the street.  I guess everyone gets excited about their own things...

Near the entrance to the Fortress, there was this little narrow street.  How cute is that!

It was the perfect time of year to visit Salzburg - all the spring flowers were in bloom and the weather was delightful (most of the time, but we didn't mind a little rain).

In the market, we passed a booth selling these ginormous pretzels, and of course we all had to have one.  Jess and I have sugary, puffy ones and the boys all wanted to try the chocolate-covered pretzels.  Yes, they were every bit as delicious as they look, and no, we were not able to finish them.

After a day of sight-seeing, the boys wanted to spend some quality time skipping rocks in the Salzach River.

I think the "picture-esque-ness" of the setting was lost on them, but it wasn't lost on me.

We brought along our little DVD-player and The Sound of Music DVD so we could watch the movie many times.  Here we all are crammed around the tiny 6-inch screen so we can watch it after a day of exploring beautiful Salzburg.