Finally a day without a tight schedule, we spent gentle time with this lovely city. In our bike tour yesterday, Hero Square with the gates leading to the beautiful City Park was particularly interesting to us. This morning we found a bus that took us from our front door directly to the square. With far fewer people visiting today on a Monday, we were able to spend quality time looking at the columned gates and the statues that it holds. The focal point is...

My impression of Budapest has changed. Changed! I think I am falling in love with this sweet, sweet city. The more I learn my attraction to this place grows more intense. We took a bike tour of Budapest today. Given flat terrain and fair weather, bike tours are without a single doubt the very best way to see a city, learn about its history and get up close to important aspects of the area. Certainly more territory can be covered in a short amount of tim...

Aside from being flat but very pretty, the rural route from Vienna to Budapest is fairly indistinct. There are green fields with tall tree breaks and occasional hamlets of fewer than 20 houses in the community. Not all residents are farmers; we passed large heavily populated commuter parking lots at several of the small town train stations. The trip via train from Vienna to Budapest took roughly two hours. I must say, train travel is such a civilized way to...