Up early and waiting outside for our tour to start, the fog is as thick as pea soup and its freezing cold but I have high hopes the fog will clear (kidding myself). The driver finally turned up 20 minutes late to take us to the bus terminal where the tour leaves from. The company seems to be a bit disorganised with putting us on the wrong transport to start with and then finally getting us on the correct bus. Luckily the tour guide was awesome and made up for the little hiccups. We started the tour by heading to the house where the front yard scenes (lake shots and gazebo where leisel sang going on 17) were filmed, unfortunately the fog was still so thick we couldn't see across the lake to the house but surprisingly I wasn't disappointed as it was nice just to be there :). We then headed to the second house they used in filming which was the facade they used but again couldn't see it due to the fog. Luckily the 3rd destination was better, we went and saw where Maria danced down the lane way singing "I have confidence" and also got to see the Gazebo where the "going on 17" was sung as they removed the gazebo from the home as it was attracting too many tourists to the private home. There were lovely Christmas markets being set up in this area also but they wouldn't open for another couple of days. It was then onto the mountain and lake area where the opening scenes were filmed and oh my what a beautiful spot. I can understand why they chose the spot, such untamed beauty. It was then onto the church where Maria and the captain were married, such a pretty church on the inside and out. We got to spend an hour here so we did a quick spot of souvenir shopping and had a bite to eat, had our first apple strudel with vanilla sauce (custard) omg it was heaven in a bowl. That was the end of the tour and it was now back to town whilst watching a short DVD on the making of sound of music. It was a fun tour with sound of music songs sung along the way and a few unknown facts learnt.

Sound of music facts:

The captains first wife died in 1924 of scarlett fever and he married Maria in 1926, there was no girlfriend in between his wife and Maria.

The captain was 25 years older than Maria, Maria was only 20 when they married and his 2 oldest children were older than Maria when she came to work for the family, she was more a teacher than a governess.

The oldest child was a son not a daughter.

Their names were all different and the youngest child was Maria. They changed that name so there wasn't 2 Maria's in the film.

Maria and the captain had 3 children together and the 3rd was born in the USA giving them the ability to stay in the USA once their visitors visas had expired.

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After the tour we walked across the road to the palace gardens where the scenes for doe, ray, mi were filmed. Had a few photos taken around the gardens and then made our way towards the old city to have a look around. Such a pretty sight seeing all the Christmas decorations and festivities. There was a skating rink right in the centre of the old town, though it was ice they were skating on just some sort of tile. The fog was still pretty thick so we decided to leave visiting the castle up on the hill til tomoro to see if the fog lifts a little. Back to the hotel after a big day.