All in the name of research

While planning our upcoming German vacation with the assistance of Rick Steves (natch), I learned of a possible tour in Salzburg, Austria. The tour takes you to the nearby mountains and shows you some of the Austrian countryside. There was only one problem--the tour was named and themed after a particularly famous movie that was set in Salzburg. Yes, I'm talking about The Sound of Music.

I had never seen the movie and had avoided it during its annual television airing, but I was ready to bite the bullet and commit to a three-hour movie for the sake of research. Rick recommended the tour even if you weren't a fan of the movie, but I didn't know if I could handle three hours of a "Doe, a Deer" sing-along if I couldn't stand the flick. It didn't occur to me that B and I would have different opinions of the movie.

But that's how it turned out. We decided to watch the movie over 2 nights, and after the first half, I realized that SOM was a movie that I could get down with. Unfortunately, B thought differently and was lacking enthusiasm for finishing the movie.

His complaints were valid. Very little plot development occurred during the first hour and a half, the behavior of the characters was unrealistic, and he didn't see anyone in the movie that he could relate to. I'm ok with unrealistic plots and characters, as long as guns and cigarettes aren't involved, and I liked the characters, even the freakishly orderly children.

I promised that the second half of the movie would feature more plot, history, and realistic behavior (the last bit didn't seem likely, but watching movies alone isn't as much fun) and was able to convince B to stay the course, and we finished the movie the next evening.

I loved the movie. B tolerated it, at best, but he agreed to take the tour in Salzburg anyway, even though he might be forced into singing "Sixteen, Going on Seventeen" on a rolling tour bus.

And so here it is, our itinerary.

Day 1: Fly to Munch.
Day 2: Land in Munich early in the morning. We'll have all day to sightsee, assuming jet lag doesn't get the best of us.
Day 3: Travel to Salzburg. Tour the sites, and visit the Christmas market.
Day 4: Take the Sound of Music tour and return to Munich.
Day 5: Take a day trip to Neuschwanstein.
Day 6: Take a day trip to Nurnberg, home of the largest Christmas market in Germany.
Day 7: Fly home.