Kingdoms Press Gazette Autumn 2001 Second Edition Welcome to the Kingdoms Press Gazette. Your first source for all information pertaining to 'The 10th Kingdom.'

On Sunday morning, I went to Burg Hohenwerfen. To get there, I again had to hike up a steep hill (this was only 15 minutes as opposed to the longer climb to the top of the falls). Entrance to the main area of the fortress is through two gates: the First Gate and Portcullis, past the Gatekeeper's house and through the Second Gate. Once through the Second Gate, I found myself on an open grassy area, known as the Linden Meadow. I again had a strong feeling of déjà vu.

Linden Meadow, Burg Hohenwerfen

It was here that we saw Wolf and Virginia arguing over who would wear the Magic Shoes and go inside the prison. In the movie, there were several headstones, stocks and some rocks strewn around. In real life the area was uncluttered and open, although the stairs they walked up were there.

The fortress was built around the 11th Century to protect the road to Salzburg. History indicates it was only conquered once, during a Civil War in 1525. The fortress has looked like it does now since 1570. It had various owners in the latter half of the 19th and the early part of the 20th century. After WW II it was turned over to the Salzburg Province and opened as a tourist attraction in 1987. Today, it is the home of the Salzburg Falconry Center and they offer Falconry demonstrations in the Linden Meadow. The day I was there the staff also offered demonstrations of medieval fighting techniques. They did it first in slow motion ("langsam," German for slowly) then at "normal speed" -- all in fun.

It's interesting to note that The 10th Kingdom was not the first time this fortress was used as a film location. It was prominently featured in the 1969 movie Where Eagles Dare. In the mid 70's it was the Prince's Castle in The Slipper and the Rose, a musical version of the Cinderella story. It's also interesting to note that while the fortress overlooks a river (the Salzach), the wall doesn't actually extend down to the river. In fact, what we saw in The 10th Kingdom was not a river at all, but a lake, which was actually about 40 miles away. Also, there are no prison cells such as the one Wolf was in. There was only one cell, and the only way a prisoner got in was to be dropped in from above.

Sunday afternoon I visited the Salzburg Salt Mines, located in Bad Dürrnberg. The small town is about 11 miles south of Salzburg, up the mountain from the town of Hallein. There is no connection between the salt mines and the film, other than the fact that the salt mines have two wooden slides similar to what Tony and Virginia used to get down to the Ninth Kingdom. I did have one 10K moment though, during the course of the tour. While we were waiting to go down the second slide, someone commented that this one was longer than the first one we slid down. A young American man made a joking comment that this second slide had a "loop de loop" on it (it didn't thankfully!). It was a strange feeling to slide down those things. It wasn't like the slides I played on as a kid. It's very fast, and the darkness of the mines made it all rather spooky.

On Monday, I drove to Hallstatt, located in the Lake District of the region. Hallstatt is about an hour's drive from Salzburg, along a winding two-lane road that eventually brought me to the Hallstattersee -- "see" (pronounced "zeh") is German for lake. Hallstatt is a charming village located at the southern end of the lake. It's literally built into the side of the mountain, with only one street through the town center. There is also a Salt Mine here, located above the town and reachable via a funicular. Starting from the town center, I walked to the southern part of town. At the end of the road I found a large grassy area right on the lakeside, with playground equipment at one end. It was here where they filmed the river scenes outside the prison. According to the British version of "The Making of The 10th Kingdom," a fake wall was built to make it appear as thought it was the prison wall -- this was where Wolf, Tony, Virginia and the dog came out of the tunnel. The view of the mountains around the lake from that point must be lovely on a clear day, but unfortunately it was very hazy the day I was there. There is also a nice view of the town from there.

Hallstatt

From Hallstatt, I drove to Mondsee, another town in the Lake District. It was in the Mondsee church where the wedding scene from The Sound of Music was filmed. After lunch at a quaint little outdoor cafe near the church, I drove to Obendorf to visit the commemorative chapel built to honor the composers of Silent Night -- the carol was written in this charming little town. Then it was back to Salzburg. I returned to Zagreb on Wednesday.

I didn't make it to "Dragon Mountain" this trip. The Tauern Kraftwerke, which is a hydroelectric plant, was not far from the road I took to the Falls from Salzburg. Although I stopped in Kaprun, the town nearest the Kraftwerke, on my way back from the Falls, everything was already closed. So I decided to leave that for my next visit to the region, which hopefully will be in September.

It was a most enjoyable weekend. I love visiting Austria, and Salzburg is one of my favorite places. It was very interesting and fun to explore these parts of the "Fourth Kingdom." If it hadn't been for The 10th Kingdom, I might never have known these places existed.