The Low-Life and His Lofty Digs

Recently (okay, on and off for months in between others reads), I have been reading a book about a woman who struggles with how little or how much she wants or needs to be a part of her Jewish heritage.  On and off through the book, which is based a lot on the experiences of her mother-in-law, Miriam, there are flashbacks to her family's experience in Poland during World War II.  The horrific descriptions of what happened as Hitler and his people tried to eradicate the Jews has reminded me how much I really dislike (okay, despise) Hitler---really don't even like thinking about the guy.

Well, go back 37 years when we were newlyweds, and DJ, who was a fairly recently returned missionary from Germany, would talk to me for hours about his mission and Germany.  It was then that he told me about Hitler's Tea House, as he called it.  He told me that he really wanted to go back some day and go up to the top.  Well, when we knew we would be so close, Salzburg is just a few miles away over the Austrian/German border, a visit to HTH or Eagle's Nest, as it is more commonly called, became a possible item on the travel schedule.  When we finished TSOM tour with most of the afternoon to spare, and a bus that left for Berchtesgaden across the street from where our tour ended, we went for it.  We took one bus ride to Berchtesgaden, another to a midway point up the mountain (Nazi Documentation Center), and then a third bus up to the elevator shaft.  That's right, you go straight up the mountain in an elevator which opens into a foyer in Hitler's Eagle's Nest.  But, first you have to go through a cave-like corridor to get to the elevator. 

Hitler loved this part of Bavaria/Austria.  He had spent some time here in an alpine hotel finishing up his memoir and Nazi primer, Mein Kampf.  Some people call Obersalzburg the "cradle of the Third Reich because he claimed that it was here that he had his inspiration.  In the 1930's when Hitler was the German Fuhrer, he chose this place for his mountain retreat.  In the area of the Documentation Center, he designed a compound of  80 buildings which were part of "an incredibly engineered underground town with meeting rooms, offices, archives for the governments, and lavish living quarters for Hitler---all connected by four miles of tunnels cut by slave labor through solid rock."  It was here that a lot of major decisions leading up to World War II were formulated.  Because we had to meet three different bus schedules, we didn't get to tour the exhibit at the Documentation Center before it closed.  There's not a lot of original artifacts left because the allies went in and destroyed the place not wanting "a magnet for future neo-Nazi pilgrims."

I have to tell you, I had the heeby jeebies just walking in a place where I knew Hitler had walked so many years ago---through the dimly lit tunnel into the polished brass elevator (it's the original), I knew he had been there.  The retreat at the top of the mountain was given to Hitler on his 50th anniversary in 1939.  Even though a fortune was spent to construct this sturdy stone chalet, Hitler was only able to make14 official visits. It doesn't look like much in this picture, but the inside has gorgeous wood paneled walls and ceilings, a marble fireplace in his dining room, etc.  It is solidly built, and I can't imagine the work involved just to get the building supplies up there!  Most of the space is now taken up by a restaurant, and we couldn't see anywhere that we were allowed to go on our own. 



This doesn't look like much, but the building itself is well-done and has beautiful features on the inside.  The outside view is hampered by the ever present souvenir stand on the right and some construction equipment wrapped in plastic to be protected from the rain.  The terrace is part of the restaurant.  They were closing up while we were there.


I was all for getting out of the place onto the mountain peak which offered spectacular views----when you could see.  That's right, the Morgans (and the A-team) were in a place where we needed to see, so, of course, the clouds were moving in like a freight train.  With 360 degrees of nature's beauty surrounding us (clouds or not---they're a beautiful part of nature, too), there was a lot to take in.  As we climbed to the summit, another 100 yards up and beyond the building, all sorts of God's handiwork opened up to us.  Here's a sample of what we got to see (a lot of these shots are from Sarah and Iz---did I tell you I love their new camera with it's multiple lenses,a great wide-angle, and its zoom features:



Someone was excited that he made it to the top!



Someone didn't care where she went!!

Of course, I had to snap a few shots of some wildflowers:

And I risk my life for this one...  Okay, not really, but I was climbing out on some rocks kind of near the edge of the mountain because I thought I had found Edelweiss!  Just that morning, our TSOM tour guide talked about the song and the flower.  Did you know that the song is NOT a cherished Austrian folk song, but just a creation of Rodgers and Hammerstein (actually the last work they created together before Hammerstein died).  The flower itself is the unoffical flower of Switzerland!  Lovestruck young men would brave the rocky crags of the the "High Alpine" of Europe to obtain these blooms for their beloved.  Because so many of them fell to their deaths or were taken by exposure to the harsh and sudden changes in the weather, people recognized a successful suitor as one who was brave, strong, and serious about his intentions! 

Well, after comparing my flower to these pictures, I'm not so sure what I found was Edelweiss after all!

We got down off the summit just in time.  It had turned colder (did you notice Katelyn's sweats up under her skirt?), and then it started to rain.  It let up while we we waiting for the first bus and on our way down to the Documentation Center.  When we got to Berchtesgaden, I snapped a few pictures while we waited for our last bus:

What a fun day so far, and we weren't done yet!  We still had 3-4 hours of daylight, so....more pictures of Salzburg, next post.



Singing in Salzburg

Thursday, June 2, was mostly a travel day.  We didn't need to rush that morning so we didn't. 

 


 

  We spent a pretty good chunk of time in the car to go from Schwangau to Salzburg in Austria (nothing's a straight shot because there's a lot of mountains to deal with).  So... Katelyn found her own means of entertainment:

And, then....we got to Salzburg. 

We really intended to see more of Salzburg on Thursday after we arrived, BUT...you guessed it, we didn't have thorough instructions on exactly how to get to our hotel.  Well, after trying to figure it out for, ummmm, way too long, we called the hotel.  You have to understand that English is usually a second language for these employees and that all the street addresses you get are in German so even after talking to her, we were still struggling.  Right when we thought we had figured out, they closed the major bridge, that we needed to take, for a parade!  So....armed with a city map, Iz came up with some way to get from point A to point B, but we were sure going in circles for awhile.  We saw way too much of some of the same places, sometimes going one direction, some time another.  Oh, and then you have to understand that there are one-way streets all over the place and streets just for pedestrians, and....

At this point, I was not singing anything.  I was still trying to get over the sinus crud, and I was tired, and I was really tired of driving around Salzburg and getting nowhere.  It wouldn't have been so bad, but we were in the more modern part of town so I wasn't even seeing all the cool old stuff.  I was not even so sure I wanted to stay.  I didn't even like Salzburg.  By the time, we got to our hotel, we all just wanted to veg awhile.  We ate in the hotel restaurant (luckily they let us eat in the bar/breakfast area because the actual restaurant was totally booked).  Europeans go out to eat for the ENTIRE night.  It's not like, get in, get out.  Restaurant owners don't plan on filling the same table more than once like they do in the states.  I was so grateful to the hotel clerk for letting us eat in the other room so we didn't have to go somewhere else.  Anyway, we enjoyed our dinner and got to bed at a decent time because we had reservations early the next morning for TSOM Tour.  Translated---The Sound of Music Tour!

Some of you may be thinking, LAME....  But it was one of the funnest things we have done in Europe.  For one thing, we didn't have to drive, fight the traffic, maneuver narrow streets and winding mountain roads, nor find parking spots!  For another, we had to walk some,

but then we got to sit in these nice comfy seats and be totally entertained by one awesome tour guide, OR listen to Sound of Music songs, OR watch clips from a video celebrating the 40th anniversary of the movie while we traveled to the next sight.

I have to admit, I love, love, love The Sound of Music.  I first saw it in the mid-sixties when my aunt who did not have children of her own, knew it was premiering in Salt Lake City, and bought us tickets.  A trip to see Aunt Jane and Uncle Allen was always fun, no matter what, but we were totally excited about this.  Our family used to sing together, nothing like the Von Trapps, but we loved  to harmonize, and we sang at quite a few places in little old Vernal, Utah.  To see a family do what was portrayed in the movie was nothing short of amazing.  And the music....I loved the music then, enjoyed it with my own children, and adore it now.  Our book of the music is so tattered, you can tell it was a fav at our house.  For TSOM purists, the tour could be a little disappointing as you learn, for example, that the house we saw in the movie really didn't exist as we saw it.  The movie was shot at two different houses and, of course, on a set in Hollywood.  But, nonetheless, we got to see so many places where the movie was filmed.  It was delightful.

First stop:

Leopold's Crown Palace was built in 1736 for a Prince-Archbishop and was later owned by the King of Bavaria and finally purchased in 1918 by Max Reinhardt, co-founder of the Salzburg Festivals.  I'm kind of guessing that this is possibly the "Uncle Max" in the movie--but it's a guess.  Anyway, this palace was used "as the inspiration for the terrace scenes at the rear of the Captain's villa" overlooking this small lake where Maria has the kids out in the boat, and they see their father who has just returned with the Baroness from Vienna.  They get so excited to see him, they tip the boat over, remember?  The Venetian Room in the palace was also the inspiration for the beautiful ballroom scene (actually done at a studio in a built set), as the ballroom at this palace was too small.  The palace is now private property.

Despite all the beauty here, Katelyn was more interested in these:

And this:

Next stop:

"The glass gazebo, or summer house, is where Rolf and Liesl sang 'Sixteen Going on Seventeen', and Maria and the Captain sang 'Something Good'.  The gazebo was constructed in Salzburg near the edge of the lake in the gardens of Schloss Leopoldskron (the palace above) for use in the film.  It was left-on-site after the film was completed  Later, it was moved to its present location on the grounds of Hellbrunn Palace." (quoted from our official The Sound of Music tour guide)  Our guide told us that the owners of Schloss Leopoldskron were happy to have the gazebo until they were over run by zealous TSOM fans.  So...the gazebo was moved.  He also said that the gazebo used to be open until an older lady fell and was injured trying to jump from bench to bench!  (I so wanted to do that).  It is now kept locked up tight as a drum.  However, he added that the inside shots of the gazebo were done on a Hollywood set because in order to get the cameras, lights, and people in the gazebo and get the sequences, they needed more room.  They built a larger model, but only half of it, so the cameras, etc. could be used.  So the "purist" in me was devastated that the gazebo was really not on the Von Trapp property, and that the Captain and Maria didn't visit there and confess their love for one another; but it was still fun to see the gazebo as built for the movie for the "outside" shots!



Hellbrunn Palace - the gazebo is located behind the wall on the left and back away from the palace even more (the grounds and gardens around here were amazingly huge).



On the way to the next stop:

The tour guide pointed in the general direction of the Frohnburg Palace (the summer residence of the Prince-Archbishop) and told us how we could walk there later.  Sorry, no pictures.  This palace was used in the film as the von Trapp residence.  They used the front of the building as the terrace of the von Trapp villa overlooking the lake in the film.  They used the back of the building as the front of the von Trapp residence when Maria stepped off the bus in the Hellbrunner Allee (the tree-lined road) and finished singing "I Have Confidence" as she "skipped her way through the gates and across the courtyard and up to the door to ring the bell.  The actual von Trapp villa was not used for the film." (another quote from our TSOM tour guidebook)



This row of trees is looking at the outside of Hellbruner Allee.



Third stop:

We then took a beautiful drive into what they call the Lake District.  This is where they filmed Maria (Julie Andrews ) in those opening scenes singing, "The hills are alive...."  Again, for you purists, it was a little disappointing to find out how far away these hills were from the Abbey.  It's not like Maria could really hear those bells ringing and just run down the hill into the city.  But, nonetheless, gorgeous country (even from the bus window).



They even stopped the bus for a photo shoot.



Fourth Stop:  The REAL reason they took us up through the Lake District wasn't so much to show us where they filmed the opening scenes of the movie from helicopters because "it would be impossible to find them all again and visit them first hand"; the REAL reason was to take us to the village of Mondsee (Moon Lake) to see this:

This is the chuch in Mondsee that was used for the von Trapp wedding in the movie.  In real life Maria and the Captain were wed in Nonnberg Abbey where Maria was a novice.  The abbey church was not big enough so this church was chosen.  Mondsee is a half hour drive east of Salzburg.

Here's a few more details:

Back outside:

We had an hour in Mondsee to see the church, shop, and grab a bite for lunch.  Then we were on our way back to Salzburg where the tour ended.  Along the way many other sites were discussed, and we saw some of them later on our own (I will share as I blog).  We watched and listened to more songs and movie clips.  I couldn't resist singing along in DJ's ear with Julie:

"Perhaps I had a wicked childhood. 

Perhaps I had a miserable youth (I really didn't). 

But somewhere in my wicked, miserable past,

There must have been a moment of truth.  

For here you are, standing (sitting) there loving me,

Whether or not you should. 

So somewhere in my youth or childhood,

I must have done something good." 

It was a very tender moment for both of us (don't worry, everybody else on the bus was singing and talking; and you couldn't hear anything but the soundtrack).  I feel so lucky to share my life with DJ.  To share this experience in Europe has been such a blessing in so many ways (not that it hasn't been hard, too), but I'll be forever grateful for this time we've had here.  Sucking in the beauty of Austria with such awesome music with the man whom I love.....all of a sudden, I loved Salzburg!!!