Part Two: Chapter III, Getting Settled Summary and Analysis

A blue bus arrives at the hotel to take the Trapps on their tour. Their first concert is in Easton, Pennsylvania. About to go on stage, the family is terrified. Will they fail or succeed? Maria describes the applause is "thinnish", and goes into a narrative covering different varieties of applause and its effects on a performer. Maria concedes that in retrospect, their first program was too long and serious.

Soon the concerts become routine and what they fear are the obligatory receptions after concerts. They greet and shake hands with hundreds of strangers. These affairs so tedious, that Georg decides to ascribe a number to each handshake, counting aloud in Austrian, "376, 377, 378 . . ." Ladies are charmed, believing he is complimenting them in his native language. Maria has a few incidents with nuns...