Off to Austria tomorrow....yippee!
 

We've been planning for months...I managed to pack a carryon at 23 pounds and get all the liquids in a baggie. Since we change planes in Dusseldorf, I'll be happier having the carryon. I've come a long way since the first time I went to Europe with a huge 50+ pound bag, lol! Thanks to all of you mostly for all the train and ticket info. It was invaluable! I look forward to posting a fabulous trip report from the beautiful Salzkammergut!

Gute Reise!

Happy travels, can't wait to read the report.

Bon Voyage Linda!! I love Austria too. :-)

Have a great trip LLindaC. I love Austria and can't wait until next fall when we return. I am sure you will have a fabulous time. Congratulations on packing so well.

Just the thought of Austria has me singing The Sound of Music! I love the beginning with Maria high in the mountains, twirling around, singing, "The hills are alive." Yup, that's me! ((8)) ((8))

I look forward to your report, and pictures!!

Have a great trip, and safe journeys!

Wishing you comfortable and on time flights and a beautiful time in Austria LLindaC!

hey kopp.....we bought the anniversary edition of Sound of Music with all the extras....location stuff, stories, etc and watched it twice while packing, LOLOL!

When I hear the Sound of Music, I get homesick for the US. Don't know many Europeans who can identify with this movie and soundtrack. I bought the video in the states so my Swiss kids could learn about it.

P.S. Gute Reise! Check the weather forecast before you go. We've been having warm temperatures with thunderstorms.

Have a great time, and remember to post a report on your return. We just booked a condo outside of Salzburg for next summer and I'm just starting to research where to go and what to see.

Hi again Linda,

Well, I can see you're a Sound of Music fan, too! ((8))

When we visited Austria a number of years ago, we had a car and tooled around on our own. We went to most all the SOM sites without the use of a guide. But if you need a guide, they're all over the place.

One thing I'll never forget: In the movie, when they're drinking lemonade on the terrace and the kids come paddling by on the canoes -- well, you can find that house and the (very small) lake. Of course, movie editing made it seem much bigger and with Alps in the background.

But the interesting thing is that when you walk around to the front of this particular house, you'll find it's not the front of the house from the movie.

They were, in fact, shots of two different houses.

Just a bit of trivia.

Also, when you find the church where the couple was married, you'll start humming that wedding tune. Look up at the altar and imagine how it was...ahhhhh, so beautiful!

Then there's the abbey, the gate where the kids were locked out, the gardens of Do-Re-Mi, and oh so much more.

Of course, the rest of Austria and Salzburg is wonderful. I guess I'm just a SOM kind of gal.

Auf weidersehen!

Count me in as a SOM fan. :-)

I took one of the tours and we learned there were 3 filming locations for the house. As kopp already pointed out, the front of the house is one house and the back of the house by the lake is a different house. But the inside of the house is a set in California!! This really burst my bubble, I thought it was all filmed in the same house and we would get to see it. :-((

But that's OK, it was such a fun day to see these sights from such a classic movie. :-)

One more bit of trivia--they had only planned to spend 6 weeks filming in Salzburg, but it rained so much they had to stay in Salzburg for 3 months!! By that time they were so over budget, there was talk of scrapping this movie. What a sad loss that would have been. Also, Christopher Plummer took voice lessons so he could do his own singing, but in the end they decided to dub his voice. He was mad and wanted to quit the movie, but thankfully he didn't.

Have a great trip! :-)

Can't wait to hear abt your trip. We have planned a trip to Austria too in July.
- T

Have a great trip LLindaC.
We have only 98 more days to go.