Vienna and Beyond

Now where was I? Ah yes, Friday evening! Fun, Fun.

Romeo met me at the train with his bike, and we went over to one of the rental bike kiosks that are scattered all over the city. You stick your debit card in, you rent a bike, you return it at any of the other rental locations, you pay a small fee. I wish we had this in Chicago.

We rode around the Mariahilferstrasse a bit so I could get my bearings, and went out for dinner at Nice Rice, a vegetarian restaurant with outdoor seating. I got a dish of spicy lentils with 'soya fleisch' and paired it with a Grüner Veltiner. As we called the waitress over to get the bill, the cell phones started ringing. Friends of ours I hadn't seen yet were hanging out at pub around the corner, so of course we met up with them.

Unfortunately, there are no pictures of this evening. We ordered some drinks, sat around on some really posh couches and after catching up, we had the conversation I was fearing: 'Who do you think is going to win? Obama? Clinton? Oh, and What the HELL are you people doing to Iraq?' It is amazing how quickly I forget how to speak German when topics that annoy me come up.

It was an early night for Romeo and me, because we had to get up early the next day and drive to Budapest. The ride home was fantastic- I love biking in the city. The bike paths are really well marked (and full of pedestrians to ring your bell at) We zoomed past the downtown area with all the lights and sounds and smells.

Then it was early to bed and up at 7 on Saturday. We were on the M1 before 8 and had a very pleasant drive. It is interesting to see what has become of the boarder that once created 10-mile traffic jams in the days of Communism. The customs booth is still there, but it is full of ads for oil companies and places to exchange money. Just across the boarder you buy your toll sticker for the Hungarian highway system, change money if you like, and zoom. You are on your way through flat, green, amazingly unpopulated Budapest. Suddenly, all of the signs and advertising on the highway are in Hungarian, including the warning signs. I mean, what is the non-Hungarian speaker supposed to do when confronted with an urgent-looking computerised message over the highway that says:

!!!!!RTZU sdflib gsdlkflökölkgh JJL*ÄÖÄLÖÖÖ!!!!!!!!!!!

As far as I know, it was just telling us rather emphatically to have a good day, because we saw no cause for alarm.

We got to the city, car parked and all by 11 and started our long trek through both sides of the city. Parking is FREE on Saturdays, and that is awesome. Because the rest of Budapest? Definately not free. In fact, it was about 3x more expensive than I thought it would be. The wine I was asked to bring back from Hungary was never purchased. It cost $60.

It was a day of food and lots of delicious coffee. We ate lots of spicy eggplant spread on crispy bread, a few strudels (apple, cherry, and cheese)and had dinner at one of the few and hard to find non-touristy Hungarian restaurants. If we had wanted Wienerwald (schnitzel place) or Burger King, it would have been less of an adventure. All kinds of American and Austrian chain restaurants all over the city have taken over. We went into the cathedral, window shopped all around Vaci street in Pest, and then crossed the bridge into Buda to look at the palace and churches there. We didn't go into any of the museums because it was so beautiful outside. I took many pictures of Parliament and the bridges over the Danube. No discription of the city would do it justice without the pictures.

Exhausted and thirsty, we filled our water bottles at a fountain, and left Budapest at 8 and were home, in bed, by midnight. Well, I guess I would be remiss if I didn't add here that we stopped at a gas station on the way home and bought a couple of half-liter cans of Gösser beer to drink before bedtime. I mean, you've got to have something to drink while you hash over the day's events.