Years ago, our family had the privilege of having Rosemarie von Trapp in our home. Her family’s story inspired the famous move, “The Sound of Music.” Rosemarie told us of her conversation to Christ, and she also told us how her famous mother, Maria von Trapp, came to Christ. As Rosemarie explained it, the reason the von Trapps fled Austria was to get away from Hitler’s twisted cross (the swastika) so they could follow the true cross of Jesus Christ. Sitting at the piano (with our daughter Victoria at the keys), she sang “Edelweiss,” then led us as we sang the same tune, using the words, “Praise the Lord.”
The von Trapps lived in Salzburg, and that’s the setting for the movie. The famous city of Mozart and the home town of Joseph Mohr (“Silent Night”), was also home to Captain von Trapp and his large family.
If you go to Salzburg, you can take a “Sound of Music” tour. We intended to, but didn’t. We got so caught up in locating the sites and scenes for ourselves that we saw more than we would have seen on a tour. The picture above is of a large and beautiful hotel on a lake just outside Salzburg — Schloss Leopoldskron. In the movie, this was the von Trapp home and some of the scenes were shot on the terrace between the hotel and the lake. Here are some more pics.
- You have to hike up about 300 steps to get to the Convent.
The concert hall where the Salzburg festival was held, which provided the scheme for the von Trapps to escape (in the movie). 
It’s an indoor auditorium, but the front is cut into the cliff and was originally an arena for horse shows. 
