The Victory Lap: The Hills Are Alive...with the sound of Melissa and Alysa singing songs they don't know

I know that you expect this whole blog to be about the Sound of Music and Mozart. Well, we did get our fill of the required tourist attractions, but I like to think that we had more fun than the average visitor. We sang "doh, a deer" and "I am sixteen going on seventeen" (and maybe some residual "Buda Buda Buda Buda rockin everywhere" from Budapest) like there was no tomorrow. When in Salzburg.

Salzburg is one of the cutest little towns we've seen, without a doubt. It dates back to the seventh century when it was a hub for Christianity, operating as an independent city-state with a prince-archbishop as its leader. With the popularity of Mozart and then the Sound of Music, the steady stream of visitors has kept its economy and charm alive. I was just excited to venture into the Alps and soak up the mountain/river/historic town that accompanies every classic Alpine village. Salzburg delivered on its picturesque qualities as well as its potential for some good Melissa-and-Alysa wandering.

Our first stop was at the Mirabell Palace, where Maria and the Von Trapp children sang and danced. We found the very same fountain and did our best to recreate the scene. We had to sing loudly, since there were only two of us and seven of them to imitate.

Essential Tourist Destination #2 was Mozart's residence and birthplace. We took the photo but skipped the tour, since I'm sure our music was as good as his.

We found a little marketplace that sold produce and baked goods (with free samples). We decided that the only thing worth purchasing was chocolate from a little candy shop, specializing in Mozart truffles. I'm not sure if the guy ever actually ate a Mozart truffle, but they were so good that I won't argue. It was chocolate coated pistachio, caramel and nougat. Yum yum.

Our buddy Rick Steves pointed us to a museum that showcased a panoramic painting of Salzburg, from a vantage point of way up in the mountains. This painting was a massive cylinder that visitors stepped inside. The detail was incredible and it was fun to see what Salzburg looked like in the 1800's. This museum also happened to include an exhibition on the Sound of Music. It turns out that the Von Trapps were real. Captain Von Trapp married his nanny, lost all of his money, and they spent the rest of their days touring the world with their family choir. Maria wrote an autobiography, and it was turned into books, Broadway shows, and movies in Germany and the US. Although it was semi-disappointing to find out that they didn't crawl over the Alps to escape and instead simply just took a train, the history of the family was cool to learn about. Not everything in the film was dramatized though - photos actually exist of the whole crew wearing their lederhosen and dirndeln holding hands and singing away on the mountaintops. Alysa and I needed no further encouragement.

Since there are 38 Catholic churches in the tiny town of Salzburg, as well as two Protestant and one synagogue, we bumped up our church visits to two. The first church housed a cemetery with some very old gravesites as well as some surprisingly new. In Austria, graves are rented and not purchased. If an ancestor doesn't make the required payment every ten years, your remains are "chucked" (thanks Rick).

Mozart was the organist for two years at the second church, the Salzburg Cathedral. His enormous organ was supplemented by four smaller ones that dot the perimeter of the cathedral dome. Apparently this church is capable of some rockin music because of this surround sound system.

The final major sight to see was the fortress and castle, overlooking the town below. The fortress has never really been used because Salzburg hasn't been involved in any wars (because their fortress is so scary, duh). We skipped the funicular this time and hoofed it all the way up, passing other tourists and silently chanting "USA! USA!" The view at the top was simply breathtaking. We caught it just as the sun was setting. My camera was set on Rapid Fire. We wandered through the castle grounds, finding old cannons and deserted alleyways, hunting for the best view. The photos describe it best, but they don't even come close to illustrating the view. Like my dad says, it was like being inside of a snowglobe, glitter and all.

We slowly picked our way down the mountain and found ourselves in yet another snow-covered plaza, holding a mug of glühwein, listening to a glockenspiel play its tune, and wondering how life could be any better.

Well, it did. We found a restaurant that served beer from the brewery down the street. It was clear from its taste that this beer had been brewed merely hours before we arrived. The food was good too - dumplings and pumpkin soup for me, wurst and sauerkraut for Alysa. We shuffled our way home, over the river and through the Salzburg woods, back to our hostel.

Here we come, Zurich!!