2013 has been quite the year for me since my assignment in germany i get to see all the neighboring countries so i decided to head to the country of fraulein maria swarovski beethoven and mozart i first took a halt in vienna to admire the city that attracted the greatest musicians of all time my first impression on vienna was that it looked sophisticated as it was full of opera houses music halls and cathedrals next we proceeded to visit the schoenbrunn palace it is called a visitors delight as it is one of the most important cultural monuments in austria and a unesco world cultural heritage site my guide told me that the water here directly comes from the mountains so it is safe to drink and even the toilet flush uses the same mountain water i noted down this piece of vital information as i got clear about a whole new level affluence to me it was like using evian or bisleri to flush toilets in san francisco or mumbai five hours away from vienna is the city of salzburg since i was in austria i thought it would be a shame if i missed this iconic destination i dont know about anyone else but for me this was like once in a lifetime kind of an opportunity i was going to see all the places where the movie sound of music was shot so i boarded a coach and was driven across the green austrian farmland onto dramatic topography of the rugged austrian alps on my way into salzburg i stopped at the quaint town of mondsee where the captain got married to maria in the movie i noticed a few sound of music tour buses parked and it made me wonder what a world phenomenon this movie still was people all around me were going absolutely crazy about this tour as we entered the city of salzburg my heart started beating faster it was on hills with tons of accompanying greenery the weather was pleasant windy cloudy and so romantic that it reminded me of my good old san francisco anyone can fall in love in such a setting salzburg is also the home of the master musician mozart and of course sound of music i have to admit that i have been imitating julie andrews since i was 6 so when i finally reached salzburg i decided to take the fraulein maria bicycle tour to see all the places where the movie was actually filmed our tour took us from the abbey to the mirabell gardens and leopoldskron palace and lake this palace is one of the jewels of salzburg many scenes of sound of music are shot on the back patio balcony and garden this baroque palace was constructed in 1731 by archbishop leopold count firmian and has had many different owners today the salzburg global seminar owns the building and one can even stay there overnight i felt at home in salzburg