Ok, with the show well and truly over, and with time to kill in transit lounges- here are our reflections……

Would we do it again?: absolutely!
Would we do it again together?: hmmmm…let us think…yes definitely.
What (if anything) would we do differently?:
– no more than 4 days riding without a day offf (this seems to be the tiredness/grumpy threshold) – of course I never get grumpy…

– bring less stuff – yes, despite our lean hand luggage we still didn’t wear everything!

-learn key phrases in each language but also learn the possible responses- not much point in asking where the bike mechanic is if you can’t understand the answer!

– have more flexible accomodation – giving the option to stay longer in special spots.

– take waterproof stuff to wear over your waterproof stuff

What have we learned?

– we are more resilient than we thought
– we both kind of like rain and mud – weird I know!
– human nature is a wonderful thing – there are heaps of random souls just out there waiting to help you.
– take a BIG supply of clip-on Koalas to bestow on such souls.

Hopped up early (or early for us these days), skipped our hotel breakfast and jumped on the train baguette in hand, to avoid crowds and queues for Monet’s Garden. Worked a treat. Arrived in Vernon round 9.30 and after a short bus ride were in Giverney by 10 – negotiated the queue at the ticket office within about 15 minutes and we were in!

Found myself humming “It’s a small world” after sitting next to a woman on the train who lives in Momt Albert North (less than 500 metres from our house).

The gardens were beautiful – we were so glad that we viewed his paintings before going – it was like seeing them come to life….

The little village of Giverney was also beautiful in its own right..

Just had our last Parisian dinner in a local restaurant – now the task of packing – groan….

Foiled by a train strike we exchanged our rail passes for Giverney for tickets on to or tomorrow’s train and hit the tourist sites of Paris. First a long walk down the Champs Élysées including lunch – hard to believe but We didn’t buy a single thing!

We then went to the Arc de Triumph – went to the top – but were part timers and got the lift instead of the stairs. The weather smiled on us today so the views were fab.

Then walked across the river and went up the Eiffel Tower – could see for miles. Climbed down the stairs (again took the lift up) – you don’t realise how high you are until you climb down – over 700 stairs!

Tomorrow we are aiming for an early start to miss the queues at Monets garden – I am not the most patient tourist – and hopefully get back in time for a night trip down the river – cant believe our last day has arrived.

Nine hours on our feet today!

A bit of a wet day today so we opted for indoor activities. Started off with the amazing Musee d’Orsay…queued for about an hour among a sea of umbrellas. Spent several hours here – including lunch at a table right in front of the iconic clock….

From there we walked across the river and all around the Louvre building- we didn’t queue up here as we spent most of a day here last time – instead made our way through the Tuileries Garden and on to L’Orangarie to see Momet’s lilies. We were lucky to go in just an hour before closing, meaning that crowds had thinned. Loitered in the main rooms until closing and managed to get time in there on our own – couldn’t take our eyes off them – sadly no photos allowed. If the weather is kind we are hoping to go to Giverney tomorrow to view their inspiration.

Headed back via the metro in peak hour – felt like overheated tinned sardines by the time we reached our stop – but an incredibly efficient (and dry) way to get across town.

Had dinner in a local restaurant both facing out wards watching everyone scurry home in the rain – just as well we don’t live here – I don’t think we’d ever go home – we’d just sit in cafes every night, sip wine and watch the world go by!

Yesterday was a day spent mostly in transit from Budapest to Paris. After some last minute re-jigging of the suitcases we farewelled Budapest – feeling a bit sad that the end of our holiday is creeping (galloping?) up on us.

Soon found that our budget airline Easyjet is actually Not-so-Easyjet when travelling with sporting equipment. Despite having purchased extra luggage space the notion of a bike in suitcases (that came to a total weight of 59kg) set them scratching their heads. First response was “you will have to get each case down to 22 kg”. Hmmmmm – which part of bike can we leave behind? After some tricky negotiations we discovered that money in fact does solve everything – a further 60 Euro payment (meaning we had now paid more to fly the bike than us) and we were on our way.

It felt lovely to come back into Paris and see the familiar streets/sights – we are staying in the same hotel as last time – Elysa Luxembourg in the Latin Quarter – a tiny little hotel with a steep spiral staircase. We are on the third floor so will get lots of exercise over the next few days. Needless to say we have left our bike cases in their luggage cupboard downstairs.

Arriving quite late we managed to catch up with Jim (cousin) and Janet for late night coffee – who leave Paris in the morning – gotta love a city where you can go out for coffee at 11 pm!

Spent our last day in Budapest schlepping around and enjoying the sunshine that has finally emerged.

Started off with a trip to the post office – armed with bags of our cycling clothes (feels like parting with old friends) and maps/guide books- about 5 kilos in total to offload. Post office was packed and each of the 6 queues had different signs (in Hungarian only). David and I hedged or bets and lined up in different queues that seemed to have people holding letters – I got to the counter first and the lady just held up her hand and kept saying “no English here” – I tried my best pathetic look hoping someone in the queue would speak English & help us out – to no avail. So we scurried back to the hotel bags in hand. Hotel managed to find us a box and string (yes string) to pack our things and have guaranteed to send it for us – we handed it over looking like a macramé creation wondering if we will ever see it again.

Taking advantage of the sunshine, our first stop was Momento Park – an outdoor museum on the outskirts of Budapest where they have re-homed all the communist monuments of what they now call the ‘Triple Terror’ – Stalin, Lennin & Mao. Man these dictators like BIG sculptures!

From there we visited Market Hall – very touristy – not dissimilar to the Vic Market- but housed in a fabulous old building that is worth the visit.


Finished up the day with one last Hungarian feast in an outdoor restaurant on the fabulous Vaci utca. Heading to Paris tomorrow for the last leg of our journey.

Total number of handbag purchases: 3 ( David just can’t help himself) but a variety of sizes so I figured I will be able to carry them home inside each other like a set of Babushka dolls.

Decided to start the day with packing up the bike today so it isn’t hanging over our heads. Had it cleaned in the hotel car wash (need to get all traces of dirt off to get it through Aussie customs). Managed record time for disassembly/packing – just under 2 hours.

Spent most of the day on the beautiful Margaret island a small, 2.5 km long, island in the middle of the Danube. Originally it was the religious centre of Budapest (in medieval times) Bit is now a huge park. No vehicles are allowed on the island so we hired a different type of tandem to get around – and this one had built in rain shelter.

Got back to the city round 6, just in time for an evening cruise up the river

Walked back through the stylish shopping/eatery strip Vaci utca -at which point I needed to accessorise as per above. Budapest buzzes at night – lots of street cafes and people out and about.
We have mastered the underground here – although the proud statement that the Budapest sports the second oldest underground in Europe (built in the 1800s) doesn’t appeal to my chlostrophobic sensitivities – hopefully they have renovated since then!
Back into our hotel just after 10 and fell in to bed- what party animals we are.

Started off slowly this morning – treated our weary bodies to a lie in, stretched our creaking legs and set off to explore. Budapest is quite spread out, so we opted for the hop on hop off bus again as a way of getting round some of the sights and working out what we want to explore in greater depth. The weather was smiling on us, so we rode on the open roof top – right up among the ornate facades. The aarchitecture is spectacular and utterly unspoilt.

We disembarked first in the Buda Castle District – where we saw the archeological dig of the original Buda castle – expected to see archeologists with trowels and brushes gently sweeping dirt away – in reality they were using cranes!

Saw the beautiful Matyas Church from the outside only as a pesky Hungarian bride & groom were using it today.

Also watched the changing of the guards at the palace…try as I might I couldn’t get this guy to crack a smile.

Our absolute favourite of this area was the Fishermen’s Bastion. Relatively new (built in 1904) it is an ornate terrace with turrets and arches revealing incredible views of the Danube.

David couldn’t resist this snack (aka heart attack on a stick) which came with a guarantee of being ‘Authentic Hungarian Cuisine’ – we later read a warning about high rates of food poisoning from such vendors…. So far so good!

No shortage of spectacular vies in this city..

Finished the day up in a bar set under a circus big top in the middle of the park, with a Hungarian band playing 1960s rock and roll with a bit of country and western on the side – with everyone in the pub/tent (ages ranging 30 to 80)dancing. Never heard Elvis with a Hungarian accent before – absolutely priceless. They certainly know how to party here!

Total distance cycled (Salzburg to Budapest): 644km
Total hours in the saddle:64
Distance cycled today: 67km
Hours in the saddle today: a massive 11 hours 20 minutes!

Set off from Visegrad bright and early to catch the 9 am ferry across to the north bank – arrived at the ferry station 15 minutes early just in time to watch it depart 16 minutes early! So had to wait the hour for the next ferry.

Once we finally got over the river we travelled through what was probably the most beautiful part of the river so far.

At about the halfway point (Vac) we caught our second ferry for the day – great opportunity to catch up with all those riders that we have been travelling in parallel with along the way & exchange stories (albeit with limited English).

Had a lovely lunch of Pizza Hungarian style sitting in the sun – had just removed our wet weather gear then – whammo – thunder, lightening and hail (just like a Melbourne spring day really).

As we drew closer to Budapest we were much more on main roads – rode in mostly on paths along motorways. Paths were poorly marked and there was a lot of guess work, so we were really relieved once we got close to the city and could use the river as a guide again. None the less – as has been the trend…the last 10 k took longer than the 50 before it. Our new mantra is “If you get there in the end then you were never lost”

Couldn’t contain our excitement when we saw this…

So here we are – utterly exhausted (its amazing how your body gives up the minute you stop) with very mixed feelings – sad that its over but elated that we made it.

Have booked the old girl in for an extreme makeover in the morning – the hotel has a car wash – before we pack her up for one last time. Looking forward to a few days on our feet instead of our bottoms exploring Budapest – will try and keep up the blogging momentum.

Distance travelled (bike & boat): 85km
Distance cycled: 55km
Weather: extremely windy (gale force) with light rain towards late afternoon.

Today was a combination of riding and a ferry trip. The forecast was for gale force winds and it didn’t disappoint. We put on our stylish wet weather gear which proved to be fabulously wind proof also. The first half of our trip was along the top of the dyke – a gravel track but thankfully much dryer than the muddy paths from yesterday. With the wind coming from the side, it was the one time we were grateful to have heavy panniers & lots of weight on the bike. Made for slow progress though.

The remainder was on country roads, and again through small villages.

We had a deadline today – a ferry to catch from Esztergom (the oldest city n iHungary) to Visegrad at 4.30 pm, and 50km to ride before then. We made it with an hour to spare – a little wind blown and quite chilly – so we were very happy to spend 90 minutes or so cruising down the river. There were bikes everywhere at the docks – turns out there was a cycling cruise in port – spoke to some Aussies from Brisbane who were on it….they cruise from port to port along the Danube and then do cycling tours each day – coming back to the ship at night – bet they don’t have any troubles finding their way to their hotel!

The ferry was large and there were only 4 of us on it – us and a couple of English guys who were very chatty so it mad e for a fun trip. The views were fabulous.

On arriving at Visegrad we found our hotel was a further 5km up the road (note to self always check the scale of the map). With now cooled down muscles it was hard going, but we were ecstatic on arrival to find our hotel was on thermal springs! We donned our togs (luckily we had packed them, although I have heard that you can hire them here -ERK) and rushed down to the pools – picked the hottest one and sat there until we looked like prunes – BLISS!!!