A few reasons why I chose to spend Christmas in Austria: (1) I fell in love with the song ‘Vienna’ by Linda Eder many years ago and I have always imagined walking the streets there, (2) every time I watch or hear a song from the Sound of Music, I am dying to visit Salzburg, and (3) Christmas in Austria sounded magical! Austria did not disappointment!! Vienna and Salzburg were all that imagined and I absolutely LOVED my time in this beautiful country.

So, here are a ‘few of my favorite things’ about my trip….

1. The food. Oh the food. Wiener schnitzel, apple strudel, kaiserschmarm, bratwurst, huge soft bread pretzels, and pastries were some of the delicious foods I immensely enjoyed . Not having enough time to try all the foods I wanted, might be the only regret of my trip. My life changed for the better when I ate a donut with Nutella in it! I was in Nutella heaven!!

Traditional breakfast.

Examples of the many pastries tempting me at every Christmas market. If I only had enough room to eat them all!!

2. The Architecture. Vienna is a gorgeous city. I felt every building was beautiful and built with so much detail. It was almost easy to take the beauty for granted as it was always staring me in the face!!

The Belvedere. I had a partial view of the museum and grounds from my hotel room!

Hofburg Palace.

Hofburg Palace.

Front viewof the Schonbrunn Palace.

Back view of the Schonbrunn Palace.


St. Stephen’s Cathedral.

3. The Christmas markets. The markets were exactly what I thought they would be. Full of things to beautiful things to buy and delicious food to eat!!

4. The Christmas lights. I wish I could have truly captured the magic of all the Christmas lights. It seemed each block had a different type of light display. I never tired of looking at them.

5. Salzburg and the Sound of Music tour. Salzburg is an enchanting city and all my Sound of Music dreams came true during the tour.

This was my first view of the Alps when leaving the train station. I was SO excited to see the Alps, that I did not notice a curb ending. I fell off the curb, spraining my ankle. Sure I was in pain, but I kept walking…nothing was going to stop me from getting on the Sound of Music tour!! I came home with a very swollen ankle, but it did not ruin my trip!!

Leopoldskron Palace. There were two houses used in the filming of the movie. This is the Palace used in the boat scene and captain’s back yard and garden.

View of the Alps as seen from the backyard of the captain’s house.

View of the second home used for the captain’s house. This is the front of the house seen in the movie when the family is trying to escape in the night. Picture is taken from a bus, thus the quality is not great.

’16 going on 17’…original Gazebo rebuilt.

In the upper part of the picture (again taken from the bus) is the Nonnberg Abbey. This is where the ‘real Maria’ was a novice and got married to Baron von Trapp. You might see a triangle shape over a door on the Abbey, this is where the children knocked to visit Maria in the movie.

This picture is in the Salzburg Lake District. This view is the beginning credits of the movie.

Chapel in Mondee, where Maria and the captain got married in the movie.

Mirabell Gardens, ‘Do-Re-Mi’ was filmed here.

Mozart Bridge, ‘Do-Re-Me’ reprise was filmed here.