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Southern Hungary – mid-January 2004

Posted on January 20, 2004 ·

So, after more than a month at the Station in Hungary’s capital, we finally mustered up the courage to leave. We were torn between wanting to leave and wanting to stay. We were sad to leave everyone – Eszter, Peter, Andi, Jay, Jeff, Mark, and the others – sad to leave new friends behind. […]

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Budapest, Going Out, December 2003 – January 2004

Posted on January 1, 2004 ·

Budapest, Going Out, December 2003 – January 2004 It has been said that Budapest is an enchanting town. We couldn’t have agreed more. Sometimes called “the Paris of the East,” Budapest is composed of two opposing but complementary parts. On the hillsides of Buda are the magnificent castle, the fairy-like Fisherman’s Bastion, the citadel, and […]

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Budapest, Introduction, December 2003 – January 2004

Posted on December 1, 2003 ·

Budapest, Introduction, December 2003 – January 2004 After leaving the town of Visegrad, we biked the last 45 km. (27 mi.) to Budapest, following the second half of the Danube Bend through the Borzsony and Pilis mountain ranges and through the Serbian town of Szentendre. It was dark by the time we got to Budapest, […]

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Northwest Hungary – 1st week December 2003

Posted on December 1, 2003 ·

We crossed a bridge over the Danube into Hungary and noticed once again that the lines heading west were much longer than the ones heading east. A difference that we noticed immediately was that there were trees in Hungary. Alongisde the road and in the communities and towns. It made it easier for us to […]

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Southwest Slovakia – first week December 2003

Posted on December 1, 2003 ·

We had been waiting several days in Bratislava in order to find out if I could receive a French passport at the local French Consulate (now that I had French citizenship). We received our answer on Tuesday afternoon, saying that I had to go back to Paris if I wanted to get one. They used […]

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Vienna – Bratislava – 3rd week November 2003

Posted on November 21, 2003 ·

I was very happy to leave Vienna. We stayed for too long. Granted, we didn’t have much choice, as we needed time to rest Stephane’s knee (he had tendonitis), but it was frustrating becuase there were so many museums and palaces and exhibitions to see, so many concerts to hear, and so many restaurants to […]

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Vienna – mid-November

Posted on November 15, 2003 ·

We arrived in Vienna on Saturday afternoon early, and our first task was to find a place to sleep for the night. A task which proved almst Herculean. We had planned on staying in the campground outside the city for the duration of our stay here, but because of Stephane’s knee injury, we decided that […]

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Bratislava – end of November 2003

Posted on November 7, 2003 ·

We crossed our first border patrol at the Slovakian border. I wasn’t sure what to expect – whether we’d have to open our bags or not. But it was easy. There were long liens of cars, but being the only cyclists, we bypassed these lines and all they did was look at our passports, stamp […]

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The Lovely Wachau – 1st week of November 2003

Posted on November 1, 2003 ·

After leaving Mauthausen, we followed the Danube for a couple of days, and the scenery changed drastically from one day to another. The second day was prettier. We were glad to be there during the Fall, when there were less tourists, because the rainbow of colors in the trees kept us company on what would […]

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Linz and beyond – 4th week of October 2003

Posted on October 31, 2003 ·

We slept along the Danube on Sunday night, a beautiful mountainous stretch that glittered with the reds, oranges, and purples of Fall. The river was very green. Wasn’t it Strauss that immortalized the Danube in his waltz “The Blue Danube”? Blue? I don’t know what he was thinking. The path along the river was remarkably […]