Mai thoughts on life

I hopped on a train to Salzburg with no real plans what to do once I get there. I booked my accommodation on my way there without even checking the reviews and it turned out great.

The view from a rainy window at the Hohensalzburg Fortress and Salzach river was enough to make my trip worth it. It rained all the time and that made my experience even better. I love rain so much that I actually collect umbrellas. I have one from every place I visited and I keep getting new ones. So rain in ‘the salty city’ was just another opportunity to show off my beautiful umbrellas and of course to buy another one. I bought a nice red one with black musical notes on it.

I learned that Salzburg is the home of Red Bull and the most famous Christmas song – the Silent Night, Holy Night. I visited Mozart’s house, took a boat ride down the river to see the city from a different perspective and ate my weight in Salzburger Nockerl and Mozartkugel.

The best part of my trip was visiting the filming locations of one of my favourite movies, the famous ‘The sound of music’ musical. Walking through the Mirabell Gardens I could hear Maria and the children singing the Do Re Mi song. I pictured little Gretl in my mind and I started moving with the rhythm in my head. I could care less about what people were thinking. I even started to spin my umbrella imagining free-spirited and enthusiastic Maria there with me.

I had a lot of fun dancing through the Mirabell Gardens, but me being hopelessly romantic, wanted to find the gazebo where the Captain von Trapp kissed Maria for the first time. So I did. It’s now placed in Hellbrunn and although I couldn’t get in, I enjoyed every second of looking at it. I went through the whole scene in my head while stuffing my mouth with Mozartkugel and thinking how I will never find love like that.

Freedom, liberation, nonconformism all came to von Trapp family after Maria showed them what life really is about. She opened Captain’s heart to love and joy. She brought music to his life. And everything is more beautiful with music.

Since the movie is based on a true story I kept wondering – Is there a Maria for every Georg von Trapp in this world? Or do some people live their whole lives without knowing the sound of music?