Figure 1.-- Here we are on one of our Alpine picnics. Left to right: David, me, Robin, my Mom, and Rink. Dad assured us this was where the introduction to the "Sound of Music" was shot. Click on the image for a full panorama.

Where we lived in Italy near Venice was close to two countries, Yugoslavia and Austria. Of course during the Cold war we could not travel to Yugoslavia. We could, however, travel to Austria. It is a beautiful Alpine country and we all enjoyed our trips there. We did a lot of camping in the Alps, but we did not always camp. I still get nostalgic when ever I see a movie like the "Sound of Music" with Alpine scenes. I was always amazed at the places where dad could take that car. We spent a lot of time negotiating mountain trails, especially in the Alps. There is a picture of us at the end of a 10 Km Alpine track that was literally a goat path a points. My dad swears that he took us for a picnic where the introduction to the "Sound of Music" was shot. I'm not so sure, but we did have a family picnic there. Once in a while we stayed in guest houses which was a bit of a treat after several days of camping.

Alpine Trails

I was always amazed at the places where dad could take that car. We spent a lot of time negotiating mountain trails, especially in the Alps. There is a picture of us at the end of a 10 Km Alpine track that was literally a goat path a points. I still remember my mother trembling "Oh, Ed" at my dad when the drop cliffs were many 100s of meters high. We drew the line at taking the VW microbus where there weren't even any goat paths. In Austria in the late 1950s, that meant loading the car on a railway train and going via the tunnels. The photograph on the previous page shows us at a railroad station after loading the VW on a train. Since Austria is a rather wet climate, the water poured from the roof of the tunnel. The cars had to be protected by canvas tarps spread over the framework seen attached to the railway cars in this picture. I seem to remember that this was the point where most of our American clothing had worn out or gotten too small, so this is an international clothing shot. I'm in my German shirt, Austrian jacket, Canadian shorts, and American Keds sneakers.
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The Alps

My dad swears that he took us for a picnic where the introduction to the "Sound of Music" was shot. I'm not so sure, but we did have one of our family picnics there. The photograph here shows one of our typical family picnics. I was 8 years old at the time. I'm wearing the very British brown shirt and jumper that my dad picked up at a British PX somewhere in his travels. It's not really visible in this photo, but we boys are wearing brand new hiking boots. We also bought the alpine hats you see us wearing in other photos on this trip. Left to right: David, me, Robin, my Mom, and Rink.

Guest House

Occassionally we also got to stay in a gaust haus (forgive my German spelling) rather than setting up our tents. This was a real treat! We enjoyed camping, but it was a special treat to have a roof over our heads, hot water, and restaurant served meals. We did not speak German so there was some surprises when the food arrived at the table. The only down side to this trip was when the ham that I thought I was eating in the restaurant turned out to be cow's tongue. That was better, however, than the leiber noodle (liver noodles) that my little brother, Dave, ordered. A least you could drink real milk as the Austrians had pasteurization which the Italians did not.

Created: 3:11 AM 2/12/2006
Last updated: 3:11 AM 2/12/2006