Sometime in December 2009, I was woken up at 1 o'clock in the morning with the news that we would be staying at the real The Sound of Music family home on our trip to Salzburg. That was the best news I've heard at that time in the morning. I have watched the film a few times and I absolutely loved it. In fact, we were watching it again last night that's why I was reminded of our wonderful trip and thought I'd share my experience with you.
The Villa Trapp is not the house that is featured in the movie, so don't expect anything too fancy like the lake terrace or the beautiful stairs. The real house is actually located in a quiet town of Aigen, few minutes away from Salzburg Old Town. Because we were coming from Munich, we took the train to get to the villa. The train station is actually the same train station that the Von Trapp family used to escape from the Nazis. It is just about 5 minute walk to the villa. Then we took a 10 minute bus ride to the centre. The villa is overlooking snow-capped mountains and forests, which was awesome!
This is the family's main living room downstairs. The villa was generally quiet when we were there. I felt like we were the only guests at that time. Probably because it was winter. This is the only area in the house where you can get a free wi-fi. I think it was around 9pm when we decided to hang out in the living room and boy, wasn't it creepy? The silence was eerie and the lights in the hallway turned off automatically. I'm actually glad that we didn't hear any "scary" stories (like boots trotting and everything else) until the day after, otherwise I wouldn't have even dared going back to the hotel late at night. The current owner told me that the house needed to be exorcized three times to make sure that all the evil spirits were completely gone. This is for the main reason that one of the rooms was used by Heinrich Himmler as his conference room. The room was then converted into a chapel.
The rooms were named after each member of the Von Trapp family. We were given the Rosemarie room which was good enough for two people. Rosemarie was the eldest daughter of the Baron and Maria. The pictures of the Von Trapp family, especially the children were everywhere which is good because it gave me the "authentic" feel of the house.
In the lounge area we found this picture of Maria - the third child of the baron and his first wife. According to the host, when the Von Trapp family left Salzburg, it was Maria who closed the door of the house. And exactly 70 years later (in 2008), Maria formally opened the door to the public. She was apparently flown from America on a private jet owned by Redbull company, hence this photo. =)
Meet Marianne and Christopher, the current owners of the Villa Trapp. Although we didn't see them on the day that we arrived (we were met by the cleaner), they made up for it the following day. The couple prepared our breakfast (of sausages, bread, ham, cheese, juice and fruits) and spent a few minutes chatting with us at the breakfast table- in the same breakfast room where the Von Trapp family had theirs. They were very accommodating. If you happen to stay at the Villa Trapp, ask Christopher to take you around to learn more about the Von Trapps. It's free.
We only paid about 80 pounds for a night stay which included a full breakfast. I wish we could have stayed there longer but I will definitely go back, this time it has to be in the summer.
Villa Trapp
34 Traunstrasse 5026 Aigen
www.villa-trapp.cc
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Salzburg has since become one of my favourite cities (so far), and here are some of the places that we visited:
Salzburg Old Town - where I finally learned how to read the map - up side down!
The Golden Ball in Kapitelplatz
(The white castle on top is the Festung Hohensalzburg or Fortress - a must see)
The Dom
Dinner was at the oldest restaurant in Central Europe. Their veal Offal in Vetliner and the Pork roast with bacon sauerkkraut and bread dumpling were super delicious!
Stiftskeller St. Peter
St. Peter-Bezirk 1/4
Salzburg, 5 5020 Austria
Since 803
St. Peter's cemetery and monastery and the Catacombs
And then there's always the fashion-fashion shot!
Inner Jacket - Primark, Cream Jacket- Topshop, Jeans- True Religion, Boots- Kenneth Cole, Bag- Burberry
So whether or not you're a fan of the Sound of Music, it's worth staying at the Villa Trapp.
tintin x
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