We have spent the last five days biking from Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, to Budapest, the capital of Hungary. Compared to the neatness and manicured presicion of Germany and Austria, rural Hungary feels raw and rough around the edges. The roads and trails are certainly rough with patches of pavement missing, more dirt trails, and rougher areas everywhere. The bike trail signs are not so plentiful and finding the route is sometimes a challenge. And even though Hungary is officially using the Euro, many vendors only take Forints, the old currency, and give a very unfavorable exchange rate if they do accept Euros. But the people we have met are warm and welcoming and we have managed to communicate with English and a few words of German. For most of this leg, all the way ... read more

OK, so maybe the Holy Roman Empire WAS somewhat holy, Roman and an empire. At least that's what the emperors thought, and, after all the HRE did rule a huge part of Europe for quite a few centuries, no small accomplishment. The legacy of the emperors is here in Vienna, in the amazing display of crown jewels and garments worn by the emperors as they fulfilled their roles as kings of Hungary, Bohemia, Venice, and so forth, in the churches they built in gratitude for not being assasinated or avoiding various plagues, and in many statues and monuments to their past glory. Much of the ostentatious display of the Hofburg, or royal palace, dates from after the HRE, when the empire was reduced to Austria-Hungary only by Napoleon, who allowed Franz I to retain the title ... read more

We are continuing down the wonderful Donauradweg (Danube bike path), enjoying the beautiful Treppelweg (tow path) right by the river or on top of the dike, or on back roads through villages and towns in the valley. As we move downriver the hills are closer to the river, and the scenery is prettier. Along with the scenery, the weather has been improving as we go, steady rain giving way to showers, then just cloudy with sprinkles, then it's warm enough to wear the short sleeved shirts, and finally a day warm enough for bike shorts and a sunny Friday afternoon in the quaint town of Grein where we rested fro our ride at an outdoor cafe by the river watching the passing scene of cyclists, motorcyclists, and sports car afficiandos. On the way we passed through, ... read more

Our 2014 Central Europe adventure began when Kathy and I arrived at our hostel on the castle side of the Charles Bridge in Prague late Wednesday afternoon. We were both weary after our separate, but equally sleepless, transatlantic flights from Boston. The plan for the next six weeks is to go to Regensburg by train after a few days' rest in Prague, cycle down the Danube to Budapest with a several days' stop in Vienna, spend some time in Budapest and environs, train back to the southeastern Czech Republic, and cycle back to Prague on the Vienna-Prague Greenway. We'll be back by the Vltava River in early October and after a few more days in Prague head back to Seattle and home. As usual, it will be interesting to see how closely the reality matches the ... read more

In the Orkney Islands off of the northern Scottish Coast they use "Mainland" to designate the principal island of the archipelago. We have just finished a wonderful six-day R&R in Stromness, Mainland, Orkney. This was meant to be a rest, for sure, from our End-to-End push, but it also provided good times, adventure, fellowship, and wonder. We even did a little bit of cycling. This use of "mainland" is only one of many differences that the Orcadian way of speaking has from ours. The language is influenced by the many years that the islands were ruled by the Norwegians. For one thousand years Orcadians spoke Norn, a variant of Old Norse. Today they speak their own brand of Scottish English, with a large number of words derived from those old Viking days. They use "peedie," for ... read more