On a summer day in August 1967, my family spent a couple of days sightseeing in Salzburg. There were three little girls: Heather Mary (the sensible one), Jennifer (the naughty one with ginger hair and freckles), and Jillian (the baby of the family). We had a great time riding the stone unicorns at the steps of the Mirabell Gardens.

We were on one of our camping holidays, having spent most of the time in Istria, Croatia, near Rovinj, which was then part of Yugoslavia. On our way back, we drove through Austria and camped near Salzburg for a couple of nights. We explored the Hohensalzburg Fortress and the Mirabell Gardens. My dad often joked that with three little girls, our trip was all about ice creams and finding toilets, and it’s surprising we managed to see much at all.

Fast forward 40 years, and here I am again, this time with my husband and one of my three children, riding the same unicorn. The scene hasn’t changed much, has it?

There’s also that famous postcard view of the gardens through the wrought iron gates, with the unicorns just inside on either side, looking across the formal gardens towards the Hohensalzburg Fortress on the hill in the background. I wonder if the gardens were designed to frame that view. That’s me playing with my sister on the steps in the foreground.

If you’re a fan of “The Sound of Music,” you’ll remember Julie Andrews and the Von Trapp children running and dancing through the avenue of clipped trees straight ahead, where there are now plenty of benches to sit in the shade.

Do you have any photos of your younger self that you managed to recreate on a later visit?