Hotel Corner Komarom

... of Pozsony although I had no idea that they were the same city. I check Student Agency which I have used twice before. Bingo. Gyor to Budapest. Takes 50 minutes direct and only costs E5. Only 2 buses per day so we leave at 6 PM.

The abbey's church is quiet impressive. Significant parts of it do go back to 1000 AD. The monastery is still active and the views from the top of the hill are excellent. Well worth the day trip.

Surprisingly to me ...

... of buildings from the 1700s plus and a river that sits at its walls. Nothing remarkable but a decent place to chill for a day or 2. Very few people makes it a little dreary. Since we can't find any nightlife, we go to a very nice restaurant (no English menu) then call it a night. Sharon is filling queasy so it is probably the right move. We are staying at a nice hotel which makes for a nice change.

... Basilica on the top of a big hill, in what seemed to be a small town. We decided to take a break from driving and stop to take a walk up to the basilica. Eszertagom was the name of the town and after a steep climb up the hill we came to a beautiful Basilica with gardens and a small forest. At the back of the Basilica there was a lookout over the river into Slovakia. After enjoying a break from driving and stretching out our legs we hopped back in the car to Budapest!

... as a trade route because it sat right between Prague and Vienna. There was a beautiful palace there, and our hotel was right on the picturesque city square. I should say 'village,' because it was such a small town. Most of the towns we passed on the first couple days were very small - three or four houses. These were then surrounded by fields and small forests.

There's a lot of farming here, so we see trucks and tractors rambling down the road and pass fenced in ...

... got good and soggy and left feeling refreshed.

I wanted to see how Hungarians celebrate their national day so we went down to the park at Tatabanya. There were food booths, carnival rides, and vendors, but not a single Hungarian flag in sight. After seeing the plethora of Canadiana at our Canada Day celebrations, it was a little surreal to see all these Hungarians celebrating... what? A day ...

... is located a vast underground bunker system and fortress, first built by the Austrians, but later used by the Nazis to house people on route to the concentration camps, and later still by the Russians in their occupation of the region. The complex was cast, and we could explore virtually any any we wanted... but the rooms were all completely empty. It has the potential to be a wonderful museum, but as it stands ...

... of Trabants and other cars sitting on blocks in front of this stone house, it looks like the guy is running a tire shop out of his house. Capitalist. OK, here we are, in a large conference room at Faceless Corporation, ready to make some changes. I've come halfway around the world to work with these people. I start off with the usual introductions and wondered how to make this all work. I speak American, understand some German. The Finns speak ...

... buddies, gather up my stuff and drag it over the high pedestrian bridge toward the unknown. Not much better over here, only one car in sight, very few street lights. Several blocks away I see faster moving traffic, three or more cars, could be a main street. So I shoulder my load and drag my bags up the dark street. The buildings look abandoned but there are people in them, I can hear them fighting. The sidewalks are ruined, but there's not much traffic so I move my act over to the ...

... d, and yet again south before Vác. From Vác, it flows more or less directly south, through Budapest and down toward the country's Serbian and Croatian borders. This beautiful land, the center of medieval Hungary, still has an abundance of historical artifacts and monuments. Ethnic groups, who settled here during the centuries were able to maintain their traditions and enrich and ...

... Dinsdag 22 juli We zijn al redelijk vroeg op. Na het ontbijt trekken we het stadje in. T heeft toen we opstonden aan de wolken kunnen zien dat het vandaag gaat regenen. Volgens W is dat grotelijkse onzin. Parapluutjes hoeven dus ook niet te worden meegenomen. We beklimmen de heuvel waarop de basiliek staat. Een monsterlijk groot ding uit het midden van de negentiende eeuw. We vangen de uitleg van een Spaanse gids op. En inderdaad er is niet veel aan. Via een steil trappetje komen we ...