Oh, Sound of Music… Julie Andrews… Growing up, these were a few of my favorite things. :) (You see what I did there? hehe) I remember watching Sound of Music and Mary Poppins over and over and over again. My mom got me both of the movies on VHS (I hope you know what those are.) and I probably watched those two movies more than a thousand times. I actually learned a lot of English while watching them although they spoke in British accent. LOL I had no idea until Craig was planning this trip, but he told me that Sound of Music was filmed in Salzburg, Austria, and how he was planning on taking us there. WHAAAAAAAAAAT? THE Sound of Music, you say? I was beyond excited… I couldn’t believe that I would be in the same place where Julie Andrews sang with her gorgeous self and voice. She hands down has the most beautiful voice on earth. It’s just vocal perfection! Through another blog, Craig found out of a trail that leads to the hillside where Julie Andrews and the children of the Von Trapp family in the movie sang, “Do-Re -Mi”. We hiked up there and at the end of the hike found out that there was a road that led up there too. We could’ve totally driven up! Buaahhahahaaa! But, that’s ok… those are the adventures that make a journey even better! Guys, it was so surreal! First, the view was spectacular… They fenced off the area where they sat together and sang with the outfits that Julie Andrews made for the children with curtains in the movie. It was so neat! If you’ve never seen the movie and love classic musicals, please do yourself a favor and watch it!
The view is just incredible… don’t you agree? (On the right) Not sure if it was just a coincidence, but every elevator in Austria that we were in had mirrors in them…
Just look at this place! Salzburg, Austria…. you are stunning!
One of the many places that they filmed Sound of Music…
Another hike we took… it was freezing!
This is the spot where they sang, “Do-Re-Mi”! Craig let me be a model for a little bit. hehe :)
If you’ve seen the movie, here are some interesting facts about Sound of Music that I learned during the trip.
In the movie, Von Trapp was portrayed as a very strict and unaffectionate father who didn’t allow their kids to sing or do anything fun especially when it came to music. But in reality, that wasn’t the case at all. He was actually a very loving father who cared about his kids’ music education very much. In fact, Maria was the one that was strict.
Maria initially came to the Von Trapp household as a tutor, not a nanny, to teach one of his kids who was ill and could not attend school. The kids already knew music and could sing very well, but Maria taught them madrigals.
When they escaped at the end of the movie, they did not climb the Alps to Switzerland with suitcases. :) They rode a train to Italy!
Had to leave our mark on a bridge there. :) We want our kids to find it one day!
I thought our trip was ending in Salzburg, but Craig saved the best for our last day in Kaprun, Austria at a resort called Tauern Spa! He found out about this place thx to a friend who lives in Austria. I’ve never been to one like it ever, ever, EVER! Its purpose is to give their guests relaxation. In this place, you are not allowed to be stressed out in any fashion. How about that?! If you’re not in the mood to relax, you are not allowed in there. When we went in to check in, we quickly noticed that everyone was in their robes. After check in, that is what you have to wear when walking around going to different destinations around their resort. We only had a day and half there, so we enjoyed our amenities right away! So, keep in mind that the outdoor temps are freezing! But, they had a heated, outdoor infinity pool upstairs that was beyond wonderful. They even had quiet areas, so no children or any loud noise of any kind was allowed. And yes, this was Europe, so they had nude areas, but don’t worry, we did not go there. LOL! I was very relieved that the nude areas were sectioned off and wasn’t “public” everywhere. Whew!
One request I had on this trip was a couple’s massage. We’ve never done that before and I wanted to break that record! Well, this was more than just a massage… Craig had reservations for all sorts of things! It was two hours of pampering… Just look at the pics below! Loved it and I seriously want to go back! One thing funny that happened there was that we didn’t know how to use the shower, so we flooded the massage area, but they kept saying, “It’s ok, don’t worry.” We felt awful and embarrassed… I mean that’s what happens when showers get too fancy for country bumpkins like us. hehe
So… I don’t like saunas at all. I just can’t handle the heat, but I just tried a few because they had many various kinds. Outside of the saunas, they always had this container of ice for you to cool off with. It felt so good! If you know me, I love chewing on ice, so I wanted to eat some, but yeah… I resisted the temptation. hehe
So, at this place, they have a table reserved for you your entire stay there at their restaurant. No one can sit there! What’s funny though was that we didn’t know this until the end of our stay. LOL! We just thought that it was a coincidence that we sat at the same spot until the third time around, we figured it out. LOL! OMG… we laughed so hard. And by the way, I was so happy that they actually served vegetables here. Wow! And, I almost died when I saw the ONE broccoli that they served with my chicken dish. I almost died from laughing that is…
Just look at the view! It felt very ironic to be in our bathings suits while starring at snow…
During our stay at the resort, we found out about this crazy place below! It was just down the street from where we were staying, so although it wasn’t in our plan, we still went. I mean, why not, right? Craig and I plan trips always with some flexibility so that there’s room to be spontaneous. Well, it was just down the street, but when you go up and up and up to the highest point in Salzburg, it’s another world up there! Oh my gosh… We hit the top at 3029 meters! We had to take 5 sets of gondola lifts. It was crazy! What was crazier was that we weren’t prepared for it at all. Meaning, we weren’t dressed properly. I felt so dumb going up there with a pair of jeans and tennis shoes with my ankles showing. On the ads, they didn’t give much detail especially the part where it was going to be in the negative degrees and super windy. They just showed people looking comfortable and having a good time at the top… Everyone else we saw had proper ski suits on. But other than feeling a bit out of place, it was super FUN, adventurous and just CRAZY and honestly, scary. :) I’ve never in my life saw so much snow at one time. And, how do they run restaurants up there?! Wow! And, we even saw a ski school where little children were attending to learn how to ski. My mind was completely blown. I couldn’t believe that little kids were in these conditions without their parents just taking lessons like the way kids around us take soccer or whatnot. Wow… different breed of children, that’s for sure! Oh, and we did have a scary moment. After we ate, a special announcement came on saying that a storm was on the way and that we all need to evacuate. WHAT??!!! The last gondola was leaving and if we miss that, we could miss our flight which was the next early morning. Oh my gosh ya’ll… we squeezed in that gondola like sardines and hoped that it wouldn’t break. We obviously safely made it home… Hallelujah!
We had to rush back to Vienna to catch our flight very early the next morning. On our drive there, we had to get our last apple strudel which is at every gas station we stopped by. Strudels are from Austria which is another fact I learned! Their pastries are………. I can’t even put a word there. They’re literally indescribable. Even the ones from a gas station are so fresh! We stuffed ourselves with more signature Austrian dishes before we got on the plane. hehe
Apple strudel
Schnitzel, more strudel and our fav drink - sparkling water with TONS of lemon juice.
THIS…! OMG THIS! I can taste it now even as I’m writing… The best dessert I’ve ever had in my entire life! If you’re ever in Salzburg, this is one thing you must try… It’s called the Salzburg Soufflé, and it’s out of this world! Going to attempt to make it for the fam! Loved the dessert here because it’s not overly sweet. It’s JUST right!
I’m having my Austria withdrawals right now… Can’t wait for the day we can go back with our kids. We missed them so much, but having this alone time with just the two of us is good for us and the kids too. I loved all the memories that Craig and I got to make… memories that will last a life time. I love this man so much and he’s the only thing I need or want in my life! As many of you know, we’ve been working together since we’ve met. We met at our church where we both were working and then since our first child was born 10 years ago, we’ve been running our business together 24/7. One thing we have to be careful about in our marriage is reminding ourselves very often that proximity doesn’t mean relationship, meaning just because we are physically there together all the time doesn’t mean that we are connecting. When we work together, that’s just what it is… work. We can’t confuse those times as quality time for our marriage or for ourselves. We see that more and more and although we know, sometimes we are not aware and forget especially during peak wedding seasons. So, any time we get, we make intentional times for the two of us and with our kids. We put it on the calendar and block those times off for us and our family because if we don’t, it won’t happen. I heard the best message from our pastor today and he said that we can’t be driven by our passion… we must be driven by our priorities. Ah… that hit home for me. It was such a wonderful message to hear. Thank you, Josh! And, thank YOU to all of our readers. You guys are so encouraging and uplifting to us! Thank you for following our personal and business journey. What a privilege it is for us to have this blog where we can share some highlights of our lives with you all. If you’re contemplating on where to visit in Europe, we hope that you’ll consider Austria because for me, it was unforgettable. Cheers and see you on Instagram, Insta stories and Facebook!
With much love,
Craig + Unchong