Same Same....but Different

Matthias' birthday in Budapest

Hello again from Hungary. We're on our "Same Same, but Different tour" as this marked our third time together in Budapest, where we celebrated Matthias' birthday. Actually, we stayed in a campsite outside of the city and took the train in (easier than riding with all of our stuff in the heat.) We had a great time walking around the city and visiting Matthias' favorite spot....the Central Market. Budapest is really a great city. We plan on visiting again some spring or fall (when it's not so hot.) Just before the big day, we got a short respite from the hot weather, but it's back again. It makes the riding really tough - hard to enjoy what would normally be idyllic riding through small Hungarian towns when I'm sweating to death, but easy to enjoy the campsites with swimming pools, or those close enough to the Donau for a swim.


Matthias at the Central Market

Like I said, the riding in Hungary hasn't been so great because of the weather, but they have made improvements to the bike paths since we were last here four years ago. And one thing that didn't change is the campsite on the Donau (Duna here in Hungary) where we stayed on our way to (and from) Budapest. The best part is a snack bar where you can drink a beer and watch the ferry cross the river. Beautiful.


View from the snack bar in Domos

So now we're on our way back to Austria where we want to spend more time in the wine district (Wachau) there. Then we're thinking of taking a train up into the Alps and riding back down to Bavaria. Ouch...did I mention the mosquitos? Just got bit - like I have every night. It's a big problem this year - lots of water in spring and hot temps now. Lovely.


Enjoying one of the evening thunderstorms that cool things down for a bit.

Too Damn Hot

Hello from Hungary. I just looked back at my journal and counted 10 days of uncommon heat here in Europe. Yes, hot and humid...just like New York...so not so fun for camping. But anyway, it still gets cool at night....but now around midnight! Today (17 July) is supposed to be the last day of the heatwave. I can't believe I'm looking forward to rain!

So, since the last time I wrote, we rode through Austria and Slovakia. We had done the route before, but liked it so much that we wanted to do it again. And it didn't disappoint us. Our favorite campsite in Passau, Germany is still great (though a bit more expensive, but with upgraded bathrooms) and the ride from Passau to Feldkirchen in Austria was just as spectacular as we remembered. But this time we knew what Jause (pronounced: Yowsah) was, so we stopped at all the "Jause Stations" for delicious Austrian snacks and apple wine spritzers. Then we kind of rushed through Austria so we could make it to Budapest for Matthias' birthday, which we have pretty much done. We're about 60 km from Budapest, and 30 Km from the campsite where we're going to stay (instead of riding into Budapest) so unless there's some kind of hailstorm tomorrow (which I wouldn't rule out at this point) we're going to make it. After a few days of touring Budapest, we're going to head back along the Donau toward Germany (more slowly this time) and try another bike route...we're thinking of catching a train from Linz to Innsbruck (Austria) and riding along the Inn river back into Bavaria. We'll see...

Deggendorf an der Donau

We received some sad news while we were on the road - one of our favorite people in the world - cousin Harry - passed away after a fierce battle with cancer. It's one of the times that it's hard to be away from friends and family, but we're lucky to have so many wonderful memories of Harry (and Charlene), especially when they came to see us last year in Germany. Harry will be terribly missed, but I'm going to do my best to make him proud. As a Spanish teacher, of course Harry was so good with languages. I'm going to do my damndest to become fluent in something other than English. As a matter of fact, Matthias and I are only speaking German to each other. Not that it gives me much practice, as he doesn't speak all that much anyway...

So, we are now in Deggendorf on the Donau (Danube, for those not paying attention.) We've ridden a total of about 1,400 km so far. We've had great luck with weather and our equipment seems to be holding up pretty well. We've met some other cyclists (three from Canada!) and enjoyed comparing stories. We're about 100 km from the Austrian border, but the World cup is screwing up our plans. It's so fun to watch the German team play here - every game is like the superbowl, and there are huge celebrations after each win. We did make it to Regensburg for the last match and had a blast. So, we're going to stay in Passau (near the Austrian border) an extra day to watch Germany play Spain. We've been planning to ride along the Donau to Budapest, where we want to celebrate Matthias' birthday. But if Germany wins, we might have to change our plans and hang around in Bavaria for a few more days. We'll see.

There is a link to photos on the left hand side of the page.

Off (and back on) the beaten path (Dillingen, Germany)

So....off the beaten path (without a prescribed bike path) in France was do-able, but not easy. Actually, it was kind of fun to find our way from town to town on the backroads, but it was HILLY! Eventually, though, after a night in a small-town campsite, we found our way to the Marne Canal and Saverne - a beautiful city in Alsace. We arrived in time to catch part of the USA/Algeria World cup match (actually, I thought the French would be showing the England match instead, but I forgot how many Algerians live in France!) We went back into town later to watch the German national team beat Ghana.

The way to Strasbourg from Saverne was easy (and even a little boring) along the Marne canal. It was actually more difficult to find the campsite in Strasbourg than it was to get there, but with all that accomplished, we hunkered down for two nights and got ready to explore the city the next day. We rode our bikes downtown, stopping first at the site of the European parliament, only to find out that they have no services for visitors. Oh well - we parked our bikes and walke around the old town centre and got something to eat (in an actual restaurant!) We atetypical Alsacian food, which turned out to be just like German food. But the city was lovely. I'll post pictures as soon as I get a good internet connection (which I haven't has since Strasbourg.)

Leaving Strasbourg, we rode back into Germany to Offenburg, where we got a train to Donaueschingen - over the hills of the Black Forest to the source of the Donau (or Danube) river. The next day, we started off on the Donau radweg (Danube bike path) with a short ride to Tuttlingen, where we stopped to watch and celebrate Germany's win over England - and luckily for us, there was a town festival going on at the same time (not that they needed another reason to celebrate.) The next day's ride through the Donau valley was hilly, but absolutely gorgeous. We've had really good weather for the last two weeks, except for one day of rain, but it's getting pretty hot here (no, not like at home...it actually still gets COLD in the evening, and as long as you stay in the shade, it's quite nice.) And they say it's just going to keep getting hotter until next weekend. Our aim is to get to Regensburg on Saturday (03 July) to watch the next big World Cup match (Germany v. Argentina). And my next big aim is to find a campsite with wifi - which we haven't has since France. Hopefully then I'll be able to post this along with some pictures.