SALZBURG

We did it, we made it! The Mahler Youth orchestra performed with Jean Yves Thibaudet, Frrech pianist who plays also on the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack..

THIS is how I imagined Salzburg, and really was not disappointed. Should I have been more dressed? Of course. But who really cares about all of that in the Mozarthaus during the end of the Salzburg Festival !

These pictures were not clear but I was soon enthralled with Jean Yves, as he and the Youth orchestra performed the Ravel G Major piano Concerto.

Apparently, although a sick prodigy Mozart happened to be the ah... not most fortunate looking man that all of the portraits portray him to be. This is the approximate size of what Mozart was back in the 18th century: about less than 5 feet!!

In 1993, the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation in Wiesbaden undertook a research project that compared all of the authentic portraits done of him- put them together- to reconstruct what his face must have looked like between the lot of them. THIS is what they found:

 River time.

Love this place...

 Statue of Mozart, of course!

View from the bottom of the Salzburg Fortress:

 View from the side:

 Eine Kliene Nachtmusik?

Concert hall where chamber music concerts were are I believe still ARE held!

SO old...

Dressing chambers of the King:

AND Mom would be in the Sound of Music puppet room in the bottom of the fortress

(I am not going to lie, this place scared me JUST a little)

View of the fortress at night:

Another night of the Salzburg Festival, Grigory Sokolov

This was the first and the LAST time I would ever attend a European concert and not be "dressed". There were 80 year old women who (may or may not have had one too many plastic surgeries...) who looked better than I did. At least, fashion wise! This is the hall mezzanine outside of the concert hall. 

Yes, in this picture I too feel like one of the Von Trapp children in her "curtain clothes" prancing around Salzburg. I have never seen so many gowns and tuxes that were not intended for a gala. They were al to listen to this fabulous music every night and drink and party until late. Truly amazing :)

Here lies the tunnel which leads to the famous golden brass elevator leading up to the Eagle's Next, a gift given to Hitler by the country as he was sure to bring down the world. It is a symbol of the "Summit of Power" and was meant to impress and dazzle people. Gag me.

However, it is one of the few undamaged monuments from the Hitler era.

The elevator in which Hitler ride up to the Eagle's nest. It is quite large but he would only allow himself to ride with (I think I am right on this) 6 people at a time. He was, among his many fabulous issues, claustrophobic, an alcoholic, insomniac, paranoid, etc. But this elevator could hold at least 20.

 Yes, its real! Bavarian Alps from the Eagle's Next

 Yes, this is a real picture that I saw with my own eyes and took... probably the top 2 favorite parts of this trip.

 The only history we really got from the structure itself, there was no guided tour really because this place was used only a total of about 10 times by Hitler.

 My partner in crime :)

 My eagle's perch...

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 Mirabell Gardens next to Mirabel Palace- now home to the Mozart Conservatory 

 Mirabell Gardens- the place where "Sound of Music" filmed the children and Maria running through Austria singing, "Do Re Mi"

 Salzburg:

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Mozart's Birthplace

"Sound of Music" Tour:

This would be the lake where the children fell out of the canoes in front of the Von Trapp "home" in the movie which is actually filmed in three different locations around Salzburg...

But, it is beautiful and romantic is it not?

"I am sixteen going on seventeen...."

"I have confidence....!"

(also one of the filming sites for the Von Trapp "home"

The church where the Baron Von Trapp and Maria were married:

The road trip ended here with the car- this is the morning after pic, me obviously with a wet head.. I was just so sad to take this car back. But three words for you guys:

"WE DID IT!"