Going to Salzburg, Austria for a Sound of Music tour and holiday was not really my idea of fun. My girlfriend Nicola had booked flights and hotel and had been obsessing about it for days so I had little choice but to comply. She was a real devotee and had watched the film countless times and could almost repeat the entire script verbatim. The flights were only £1.99 plus tax so I couldn’t complain too much and anyhow, Salzburg was a pretty town in its own right with enough culture and history to satisfy most people. The hometown of Mozart was indeed a lovely place and extremely relaxed with no hardcore, hard sell tourism. Backed by mountains and lakes the scenery was stunning although cloudy on our visit. We spent the first full day exploring the cobbled streets and alleyways, a museum or too and ate some fantastic local snacks. The next day was to be the Julie Andrews experience. We were met outside our hotel by an extremely jovial and camp English guide who was to show us the sights made famous in the film. The coach was almost full to brimming of eager Americans, Japanese and Italians who seemed to know every last detail of the Von Trapp story and way too serious for my liking. I was alone in my indifference for this tour but would suffer in silence for the sake of domestic harmony. We visited Mirabell Gardens and Lake Wolfgang and the infectious enthusiasm of all seemed to eventually rub off on me and I admittedly had a great time. At every opportunity on the road between stops the whole bus would sing along to the soundtrack as one with renditions of Do Re Mi and Edelweiss. While not quite an obsessive fan of the film, I do see it in a slightly different light now having visited all those scenes and dare I say it, I even went out and spent my hard earned cash on the DVD.