Our transportation from Mondsee to Salzburg wasn't quite as joyous as the alternative transportation in the "Do Re Mi" clip from "The Sound of Music" above, but it was certainly pleasant.
Ama's modern air-conditioned bus was comfortable, and our guide provided interesting commentary.
Even though she had actually been born in South America and moved to Austria after studying abroad in Europe, our guide said she liked to wear dirndls too.
In every Austrian city or village we visited, we saw traditional Austrian clothing that filled apparently prosperous stores dedicated to that style.
Modern fashion not unlike in America was nonetheless how most people we encountered were dressed for casual street wear, so you won't need a new --- make that old --- wardrobe to fit in.
By the way, I should mention that my leather lederhosen that I bought at Huntington Beach's Old World Village for Oktoberfest in 1986 are much shorter than what is now fashionable, much in the way basketball uniform shorts have gotten considerably longer over the last thirty years.
Ladies wear has undoubtedly been updated too, but I dare say the dirndl I bought for our oldest daughter Gina when she was 6 years old would still work for our granddaughter Emma as a festive outfit, although it is long gone now.
After dinner on this same day following our extended excursion to Mondsee and Salzburg, AmaWaterways brought aboard a troop of singers wearing traditional Austrian clothing to perform all the hits from "The Sound of Music" beautifully.
As we walked through lovely palace gardens, our guide pointed to different locations used in that iconic American movie starring English singer/actress Julie Andrews.
Austrians, however, take far greater musical pride in their greatest composer and wunderkind, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who is celebrated far and wide, but no place more so than his native Salzburg.
Our guide shared stories about Mozart as we drove and also when we walked past the mustard yellow "Hagenauer House" where he was born as well as the less picturesque pink "Dance Master's House" where Mozart's family lived for eight years after his burgeoning international fame required larger space for entertaining guests.
In Vienna, Prague and other cities throughout Central Europe, Mozart is also venerated, and throughout our vacation guides frequently pointed out houses where Mozart performed as a boy or wrote a symphony in three days when he arrived without his sheet music.
Street vendors and pamphlets promote organ concerts, string quartets and full orchestral performances in the same wayCozumel promotes snorkel trips.
We decided to wait for Vienna, where we knew AmaWaterways offers an optional, much-vaunted excursion to hear a chamber orchestra perform in a palace.
For a fascinating glimpse into the life of Mozart, I highly recommend the movie "Amadeus" starring the young Iron Man himself, Robert Downey, Jr.
As we drove and continuing once in Salzburg, our guide also told us about the history of Salzburg, which has been a city in Austria much less time than it was part of Bavaria or essentially an independent city-state.
Like many cities, the site was first home of Celts who gave way to Romans.
In the eighth century, barges transported the essential commodity salt along the Salzach River.
The Salzach River cuts through Salzburg, providing an opportunity to collect tolls, as was a custom of the time throughout Europe and could help fund a community, and of course a castle to protect the prosperity. Thus, Salzburg got its name, which translates as "Salt Castle."
I'm guessing McDonald's wasn't in the same location 1200 years ago, but as for other businesses, there's a wrought iron sign to identify the home of the Big Mac.
We did have lunch, but not at McDonald's.
Then again, we also didn't go to a beautiful, ancient restaurant recommended by our guide which would have cost considerably more.
We sat at a sidewalk cafe outside the building once owned by Mozart's widow and her second husband, but we didn't get served quickly, so instead we strolled around to find another place.
I saw a sandwich sign for Leberkäse, something I've seen my friend Norbert, who was raised in nearby Germany, order at Alpine Village in Torrance.
It turns out to be very much like a thick slice of bologna, served on a kaiser roll. At only about 2 Euro, it was a tasty and filling lunch.
Even chocolate cake in Europe isn't as sweet as what our American taste buds raised on Twinkies and Baby Ruths have become accustomed, but it was good.
We didn't go up to the castle in the funicular, instead opting to just roam around the village below.
An ancient graveyard turned out to be one of the most beautiful areas.
After a full day in which we had toured Mondsee as well as Salzburg, we still weren't done.
The long drive back to the Danube was again scenic and relaxing, at least until we hit the rush hour traffic of Linz in our tour bus, which our masterful driver negotiated flawlessly without any help from us.
Our guide asked if anyone was interested in touring Linz, and a few of us said we would, so she said we would consolidate with others from alternative tour buses.
This was quite a treat, because we thought we had sacrificed seeing Linz, theoretically only offered as a morning tour, in order to take our full day tour, but that will need a post of its own.
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