Salzburg, Munich, and onward

 The trip from Hall to Salzburg, Austria is an easy drive.  In fact, along the way, we stopped in the village Reit Im Winkl and revisited the guesthouse where Dawn's father was stationed for several months after the end of World War II.  At that time, the village posting was sort of an R&R for her father after enduring all that he had since D-Day.  Her father had crossed Utah Beach on D-Day and stayed with the Allied advance across Europe until Germany surrendered.  Once back in the States, he did not talk about his war experiences for the next forty years.  While we were stationed in Europe, he came to visit and retrace his path across France, Belgium, and Germany.  Dawn and our son, Colin, accompanied him for part of that journey.  Now Dawn was visiting again, with a first time visit for me.   Reit Im Winkl is still a mountain village but with growth occurring.

Salzburg as viewed from our accommodation in Bergheim.

Our Gasthof overlooking Salzburg.  As you can see, it is located in a rural pastoral location with walking trails nearby.

Salzburg was our goal.  It is still advertised as the site of the "Sound of Music" movie location and, we discovered, attracts legions of tourists.  We came for the setting and architecture, but found mainly crowds of tourists when we ventured into the city.  Our accommodation was excellent in the suburb of Bergheim, farmlands surrounding a repurposed monastery overlooking the city of Salzburg.  Instead of wading through city crowds, we elected to take a 'Sound of Music' hike to the mountain meadow where Julie Andrews sang her famous lyrics.  It was actually a decent hike, starting in a village, then upward through the forest, and finally opening up to the actual meadow with an ingenious monument through which you can view the movie characters in place against the mountain backdrop.  There is an adjacent farm, and I would guess that Julie & company drove to the location using their driveway rather than the hike we took.

What an idyllic background for the Sound of Music!  Note the castle.

Note the same castle in the background.

Now note the same castle in the background with the film characters superimposed, painted onto a clear glass pane.

From Salzburg, it was back to Munich for two nights to turn in our rented car (a new KIA), visit central Munich, and prepare for our next flight.  Munich was beginning their Octoberfest celebration and, again, it was a city besieged by hordes of tourists. We took the train into town and back (standing room only) to Hallbergmoos, again appreciating our quiet village.

I have other photos of Munich, but they all look about the same with a multitude of tourists.