Blundering In Besançon: Salzburg – That’s right

Like so many of you out there, I wa

s raised with at least a yearly dose of The Sound of Music (tSoM). I know all the songs by heart and love them. The kids also love the movie and the music. It is funny how some things are eternally popular – or maybe my kids are just strange. Do their peers also want to memorize Doe a deer? Wonder if my grandkids will know tSoM??

But, back to the point. Which of course is, where was Maria from? The real, honest-to-god VonTrapps (and Maria too) came from none other than the country we were visiting - Austria- and many parts of the movie were filmed in Salzburg! When I started researching Salzburg I was inundated with tSoM information and told that it would be simply everywhere in Salzburg. There are all day tours that take you to all the VonTrapp hot spots. In fact, I was looking forward to picking up a cheesy tSoM souvenir. When we got there, I saw absolutely nothing! Total bummer.

We still went to the Mirabelle Gardens first thing, where large parts of Doe a Deer were filmed. Again, there were no outward indications that this was the place. But the fountains and gardens seemed so familiar- it was as if I had been there before - and we took lots of photos. It wasn’t until I got back home and looked at the video that I realized it really was the right place! It actually gives me chills to watch this now and realize that I saw all this stuff. It makes me strangely happy to realize that, every year when my kids watch this show we can say. “Hey, remember when we went there?” Maybe they’ll even say that when they are old, to their grandkids. “My mom and dad took us there when we were little.” I think I am way too young to be so nostalgic, but in a way, this is what powers some of my desire to do all these great things. When we do so much together, we are building memories and, if I die tomorrow, they will know that I took every moment I had with them and lived it to the fullest. The castle, the gardens, the fountains, the gnomes…. saw them all. It reminds me, a bit, of how people come to Philadelphia just to run up the Art Museum stairs and pretend to be Rocky. Here in Besancon when I tell people I come from Philadelphia they tend to either reference Rocky or the more recent Tom Hanks film Philadelphia. I know lots of Philadelphians think that is totally lame – since there is so much more to Philly (and the art museum, especially) but I was never one of them. If this makes people want to go to Philly or even just remember Philadelphia in some way, shape or form – then that’s cool – and there is more they will discover just by being there. And what’s wrong with Rocky?

The entire garden was absolutely magnificent, of course. An amazing blend of formal garden design and bright flowers growing in many of the beds.

Of course, we couldn’t leave without playing in the park. We were excited to see great swings, which are in short supply in France. When I was a little girl, we had a backyard swing set. I used to go out there and swing and swing and swing all by myself, especially if I was feeling sad or lonely. Of course, I would sing as well and the song I always chose (and is still my ‘swing’ song to this day) was A Few of My Favorite Things. “When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I’m feeling sad…. I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don’t feel…. soooooooooooooo bad!” I don’t think the VonTrapps had a chance to play here, but at least we sung some of their tunes…