Atop Fräulein Maria's mountain

Today is my best friend Walter Foery's birthday. Walter, whom I've known since the 1960s, is one of my favorite traveling companions. That's him on the left and me on the right in 2002 at the top of Fräulein Maria's mountain, the Schafberg, near St. Wolfgang, Austria. If you've ever seen "The Sound of Music," you'll remember when Fräulein Maria and the von Trapp children rode a cog railway train to the top of a mountain, where she taught them how to sing. I'm not certain where the scenes at the top of the mountain were shot, but I do know that the cog railway train they rode is the one that starts in St. Wolfgang and goes to the top of the Schafberg. We rode the train on a fine summer's day and spent an hour or so taking pictures of the mountains and grabbing a bite to eat at a mountaintop restaurant. Walter took this picture on the terrace using his camera's self-timer.

St. Wolfgang is one of the most beautiful areas I've ever visited, one I'd like to return to someday. And if I ever do, I hope Walter is available to accompany me.