We had the same tour guide today, Roman, and he was taking us for a drive along the Austrian countryside to see more Sound Of Music sights and also to the salt mine that Salzburg was named after.

The unique experiences started early when the guide showed us hands free driving in his Tesla. Pretty soon after we got pulled over by the cops for speeding.

Our first stop was the Basilika St. Michael in the picturesque lakeside town of Mondsee, which was the scene of the wedding in Sounds of Music. The church is quite gothic and even has skills and gives representing the crypt. These were covered over by flowers in the movie. Along the way the guide also highlighted where other scenes were shot, like the ones where the kids are riding their bikes or hanging off the trees.

The next stop was visiting the old Salt mines and it was quite an immersive experience. We went down into the mines on a train and then went further into the mountain by sliding down some long chutes. The mine has been in use for over a 1,000 years and they even found some Celtic remains which were incredibly well preserved in the salt. We learnt about the extraction of salt and how the process has changed and also why it was such a commodity that resulted in Salzburg being such a wealthy and critical city. The mine crossed into Germany and we crossed borders underground. Thomas was quite enamoured in the mines and even licked the walls to test it out.

We continued on our Sound of Music tour and visited the patio made famous in the song “16 going on 17”. We also visited an old stately house that was used for some of the outdoor shots and the lake where the Von Trapp kids fell off the boat.

In the afternoon we had booked a traditional Austrian (Viennese) cooking school to learn how to make traditional strudels and pretzels. The cooking school was built into the side of the mountain and  we shared the experience with a few other families.

Our final stop was a Mozart Dinner which was a 3 course meal interspersed with performance of Mozart’s symphonies. It was in a building that was over a 1,000 years old and housed the oldest continuously serving restaurant in the world. The performance was impressive to say the least and lasted almost 2 and a half hours. In the final act the performers called Thomas on stage and got him to dance with them – which he loved. We also got to have the “Original Salzburger Nockerl” which is a unique dessert for the area.