Day 7: Budapest

This city of 2 million is every bit as grand as I have heard people claim. Despite having been destroyed over and over by invading armies--most recently nearly 80% destroyed in World War II--there are still astounding examples of architecture reflecting Baroque, Romantic, Goth, Turkish and other influences. It was a "day of rest" as we chose to use the "hop on, hop off" bus service to see the city rather than trying to navigate by bicycle. It was a gray, cool day--a relief from the heat and humidity of yesterday--but only occasional sprinkles, so we were lucky as we rode on the open topped double-decker buses off and on all day.
Our ship is actually docked right across from the Parliament building, so this is what we see looking out our cabin window... daytime and night time views.

Our first stop was St. Stephen's Basilica. Here are some shots from the outside and the inside.

This is the Jewish synagogue--the 2nd largest in the world (New York City is larger)--and behind it is the "Garden of the Just" and a Holocaust memorial.

There are some amazingly ornate bridges. This is the Freedom Bridge,

and this is the Bridge of Chains.
We went to this enormous market with all kinds of food stuffs and bought some of the world famous paprika. There is a shot of the outside with elaborate tiled roof and then some pictures of peppers, etc. from inside.

I am only half-way through our day in Budapest, but there is really too much to put in one post, so I am going to get this up because my internet connections have been squirrelly the last couple of days.

Day 6 of Trip/ Day 2 of Biking

I am a day late with this post but I was so beat last night that, by the time I got all the pictures loaded and edited, I could not come back up to the lounge to post. We had a long hot ride yesterday of about 30 miles. This picture was taken as we were approaching some locks--we go through 11 of them and drop about 200 m on our way down river.

Our trip was not along the Danube but through the countryside, We did however cross a couple of substantial bridges, the first being over the March River.

Our first stop was Schloss Hof, the palace of Prince Eugene, who was a defender of the Austro-Hungarian empire during the reign of Maria Theresa. The palace grounds are quite extensive and the rooms are decorated in Baroque style.

I particularly liked this chart they had on the wall describing the types of wigs.

Mostly we rode through farm land and a few little towns. Stephanie and Hal were continually out front on their electric bikes while some of us (me and Anne mostly) were huffing and puffing up the hills.

We crossed the Austrian - Slovakian border a couple of times--here is the 2nd bridge we crossed, this time across the Danube into Slovakia from Austria,

then met our ship in Bratislava. We had time for a much needed shower and then joined a bus and walking tour of the old city section of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Here is a picture of Eva, our tour guide in front of Michael's Gate, the only remaining gate from the Medieval fortifications.

Here is the tour bus that brought us up the hill to Bratislava Palace as well as some shots of the palace.

This is a picture of the Novy Most bridge across the Danube connecting the old city and the newer sections. Hard to tell but what you see in the background are hundreds of cement boxes built during the communist era where younger and less well off populations now live. After yesterday in Slovakia and today in Budapest (I am writing this on Wednesday night), I think the communists should go down in history for the absolutely ugliest architecture ever unimagined. The bridge is a marvel of engineering with the entire span supported by the two columns visible--nothing in the river. There is a restaurant on top called the UFO!
Lots of great architecture like the opera house

and I love odd details like this sign with a golden dragon

the brass crown in the street that marked the route of the coronation processions

and this famous piece of sculpture on the sidewalk called "Man at Work"

there was also a street musician playing a harp...

Of course lots to say about history but it's all getting a bit blurry. Suffice to say that greed and monetary gain were the drivers for the split of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in the 90's, but at this point--so our guide believes--they are content with the arrangement.

Day 5: First Day Biking the Danube

Our trip was 29 miles (41.5 km) from Engelhartszell to Aschach. Here are the bicycles (most of them) lined up and waiting to go. That is our boat, the My Story behind.

We have been joined by Roberta's friends Stephanie and Andy so our group is now 7 in number. From L to R here are Andy, Stephanie, Tim, Roberta, Anne, Paula and Hal.

Hal and Stephanie both got electric bikes, which Hal says is the best thing since sliced bread. The lower row of windows on the boat is where our cabin is located.

We got an early start and the river was still very misty.

We rode 100 yards and to take the first of two ferries to cross the river. They had schnapps on offer for the 5 minute ride, but none of us were quite up for it at 8:45 in the morning.

This is shot looking back across the river at the village where we were docked for the night.

We stopped for a cool drink before taking the next ferry--note the hammer and piece of sheet metal hanging from the sign which allows you to "call" the ferry.

The Danube takes a big 360 degree loop and this is where the My Story passed us on it's way down river to meet us in Aschach....you can see our boat in the distance rounding the bend.

I also included this picture of a huge barge going the other direction; it's hard to tell, but the barge is the entire width of the picture.

We stopped to eat lunch facing the Schloss Neuhaus on the mountain top across the river.

They let us grab stuff from the breakfast buffet--which is abundant--and they will wrap it up for us to take as lunch. No one is going to starve this week certainly. We had to return to the boat by 2:30 to give the crew time to reload 126 bicycles before we depart at 3:30. Tomorrow's trip is 43 km.

Day 4: Salzburg to Passau

We made a leisurely exit from Salzburg this morning and headed up the road to Passau. Here are a couple of amusing pictures, courtesy of Roberta: the first is me trying to hold all the luggage in the van so they can close the tailgate without everything falling out; the 2nd is of Anne and I trying to rummage around and find something while Hal is laughing at Robbie taking the picture of our butts.

Along the route to Passau, Roberta once again spied water and led us to a lovely little lake called Attersee.

Lots of swans, a kayaker, pretty houses, and a hidden little sailboat moorage were treats along the walk around a tiny portion of the lake.

Apparently this was a common summertime painting spot for Gustav Klimt. Anne and Roberta agreed to pose in these period costumes along the path.

We made it Passau early in the afternoon, and with lots of effort on Tim and Roberta's part, finally located the moored river boat we were to make home for the coming week. We drove around a while longer until we found parking, had lunch, and then came back to unload our luggage at the boat.  Roberta and Tim had to return the wonder van to the car rental place and catch a taxi to the boat while we got checked in and unpacked. At long last, we all five convened on the upper deck to stretch out and have some liquid refreshment.

Here is a picture of a significantly more luxurious river boat taken from the deck of our boat.

We got an hour long information talk and discussion of tomorrow's bike route, and then went into dinner. The boat is over 100 m long and 11 m wide. There are 120+ people riding bikes tomorrow and all the bikes have to be unloaded by hand, so the crew has been busy tonight putting them all ashore for our morning riding departure. We have a 29 mile ride tomorrow!