Rain fell all night which made for wonderful sleeping. This morning , outside is wet and now snow is falling. The bright spot is we don't see any wind. Regardless of the weather, we must get out, get something to eat and plan our day. Looks like a good day for museums. Zurich is said to be capital for art. We bulked up in our many layers and headed out on the streets today in search of solid food for breakfast/lunch and some stuff to have on hand in the...

Train through the Austrian Alps! There are no words. It was so beautiful. We headed out of Budapest on a train track that we have traveled before. To get to Zurich from Budapest via train one must travel once again through Wien (Vienna). So we have seen a bit of our route but from the opposite direction. From this angle the landscape looks a bit different than before, plus four additional days of spring make the colors more brilliant too, The first s...

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...