April 23rd; Driving from Budapest, Hungary, to Salzburg, Austria.

Today was the day of the Big Drive from Budapest back through Hungary and Austria to Salzburg. Our tour group had rotated seats on the bus each day, and now it was our turn to ride in front right behind our driver Donato. Some folks had told us that it was a scary place to sit as Donato wove the bus through the dense inner city traffic of various metropolises. Since the drive was almost entirely over interstate highways, however, we didn't get to see Donato work his magic except when he worked the bus out of Budapest during the morning rush hour, and that really was just exciting rather than scary. Besides, being able to look through the huge front window above Donato's head allowed us to get a glimpse of some more old churches, palaces, and so forth as we drove out of town.

Since we could also see pretty well on both sides, once we were on the interstate we had an almost panoramic view of the countryside flowing past us. That was the next best thing I have found to the view one gets while driving a motorcycle, which is saying a lot. During the day the countryside shifted from the level fields and pastures of Hungary to the more rolling and intensively farmed areas of Austria.

When we reached Vienna we drove through it and then around the northern outskirts to get to the famous Romantische Strasse (Romantic Road) along the Donau (Danube) River. The reputation for beautiful scenery in this case was justified and reminded us of the scenery along the upper Rhein (Rhine) River. We drove for an hour or so right alongside the river and we had great views of the river, the hills on the other side, and the charming little villages scatted every few kilometers along the way. We saw a couple of small cruise ships on the river and several fully loaded barges chugging their way upstream or down, a pretty sight.

I was very interested to see that the bicycle path along the riverbank on our side of the river was a nicely paved path usually separate from the street and having gentle ascents and descents. Since it was Sunday, a lot of Austrians were out riding their bicycles or walking on the path, almost like the Washington and Old Dominion bicycle trail on a Sunday back home in Virginia. A big plus for folks intending to ride that bicycle trail for any distance, which might include us, is that there are frequent cafes or Imbisses and small towns with hotels along the way, so eating and finding a place to sleep each night should not be too difficult.

We diverged from the Romantische Strasse toward the town of Melk to have lunch at a large, old monastery. The monastery was beautifully kept with a central fountain, gardens, and even a vineyard to make wine! We settled for having lunch al fresco at the monastery's restaurant, and much to my relief we were served by a young woman in traditional dress rather than a monk in his habit with a cowl over his head, as that would have been just a bit too much atmosphere for me. As it was, the lunch was really very good but all too soon it was time to re-board the bus for the last leg of our journey to Salzburg.

As we approached Salzburg the hills started to become ever steeper and shift into being real mountains. We wound our way around a couple of natural lakes and finally pulled up for the night at a pension right at the foot of the Alps about 8 kilometers south of Salzburg. Upon arrival, Toni saw that the set of flags outside our pension included an Australian flag but no New Zealand flag. He immediately set out to remedy that international inequity by furling the Australian flag until he could find a New Zealand one to put beside it. Of course, to furl the flag he had to lean way out over the balcony railing, with the result that our hostess thought he was falling over and came tearing out onto the balcony to try to avoid an accident. We all thought it was hilarious although I'm not sure she did.

Our room had a balcony looking straight out onto the mountains and the snow capped peaks made for a spectacular view. I was very intrigued to see up to six hang gliders at a time hovering over a peak just across the road from our pension. One pilot broke off his hovering to come gliding down a half mile or so from our vantage point where he apparently disassembled the machine and drove home. The hang gliders at the top of the peak were soaring around just like birds in the updrafts coming up the mountain slopes, and truly I itched to get into one of the contraptions and join them. However, common sense would dictate that learning to control a new type of flying machine over extremely mountainous terrain is very unwise (i.e. stupid), and common sense finally prevailed. We settled for a short walkabout instead.

Dinner was included with our stay that evening, and we made full use of it by chatting with Neville, Lyn, John and Heather until the sun finally set and the mountains turned dark. The dinner was quite good and Toni made a very gracious "thank you" speech for our driver and tour guide. Rather unexpectedly, at the end of the speech Toni, his wife and daughter performed a traditional Maori song. It was enchanting to watch and listen to a living piece of Maori culture, and right there I decided that should I live so long I will get to New Zealand and explore not only the fantastic landscapes but also the Maori and English cultures and how they interact on that island nation.

After all that we settled down to eating dinner. Since we were from the U.S., John and Heather were from Canada, and Neville and Lyn from Australia, we had a spirited discussion of different political and economic systems as well as the mundane issues of family life in three different cultures. Each of us had traveled a bit, and those experiences likewise provided fodder for serious discussion but also humorous anecdotes. Trust me on this; it really helps to have a good sense of humor to travel because sometimes things are just going to get out of control and become difficult, bizarre, aggravating or maybe even all three at once, and you might as well laugh about it. But finally our proprietor was clearing off the tables and closing the restaurant for the night, so we all trundled off to bed.