Our Last Day in Budapest & we are Home

It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus, you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.”
― Ernest Hemingway 

Zurich to Budapest bike trip summary

Miles ridden: 860

Elevation gain: 16,530 ft.

# of Countries: 5 - Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary

# of people who rode with us - 2 sort of  (we rode with Jan & Gero when we saw them)

# of flat tires: 1

# of times the chain fell off: 20+, usually on a steep hill 

# of bicycle light malfunctions: 0

# of diabetes monitoring device malfunctions: 2 - the sensor failed but Tony got it restarted after some effort, a pump failed but Tony had backups

# of items lost, broken, or left behind: 8 - A water bottle left behind, my seat strap broke, a rubber tip fell off of the kick stand, a universal charger got left behind, Joan's reading glasses broke (Marla will fix it), Joan's cheap sunglasses broke after having to buy some when Tony shipped ours to Budapest with the cases, disc brakes still need more fixing, a panier strap tore off the bag

# of dogs that came running after us: 0

# of people asking us about the tandem, taking our picture, yelling out positive comments: hundreds, maybe thousands this trip

# of people who stopped to offer help when we stopped to check maps or rest: 5+

Blessings to be thankful for on this trip:

• Choice One for rewarding Tony on his 25th anniversary with this amazing trip.
• Andrea, our Budapest Airbnb host, for steady and patient negotiating with Hungarian customs to get our luggage just in time for us. Thank you a million times over!!!
• Riding on dedicated bike trails for the majority of the trip while enjoying amazing scenery
• Getting to meet so many other long distance cyclists, especially Jan & Gero.
• Injury free trip except for some minor scrapes.
• Finding a bike shop that could help with our brakes.
• Farmers in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary growing corn instead of beans. 
• The people that prayed for us before & during our ride.
• Biergartens right on the bike path.
• The thousands of smiles, waves, high-fives, thumbs ups, positive comments from all the great people along the way.
• Marla for critter sitting, house sitting & garden sitting.
• Cara & Nick for transporting us to the airport and keeping our car in their driveway.
• Amazing weather. We only really got rained on while riding once. 
• The faithful readers of this blog that give Tony the incentive to keep doing 1/2 of it even when he really just wants to go to bed.

We spent Monday morning, our last day in Budapest, at the Szechenyi natural hot springs spa. We went in the morning because we heard that it gets really crowded as the day goes on. We got a cabin to change clothes and keep our belongings locked while we were in the pools. There were so many different pools, hot ones, cold ones, indoor, outdoor, and whirlpools. 18 pools in all. We had to ask someone how to get to the outdoor pools. You had to walk through several indoor pool rooms to get to the outside. There was even a suggested routine to follow when you use the saunas. First you shower, then go into the really hot sauna, then take a dip in the ice cold pool, then rinse yourself off with fresh ice. That ice cold pool was a real shocker! Tony probably could have stayed in the sauna longer so he went back in for a picture.

My favorite pool with the swirly water.

The ice water pool and a constant flow of fresh ice to enjoy after that even. If you can see Tony's face in the pool, he is in shock. 😱

We felt refreshed walking back the 2 miles to our room. We walked through Heroes square and took another picture there.

Back at the room, Tony finished packing the tandem into the black cases, and we did some duffel bag packing. We got a short nap and I was able to talk Tony into doing a little shopping before we bought our bus tickets for tomorrow. I found this cute little shop in an alley. I tried on a dress that I liked and told her I may need to go to the ATM to buy it because we are low on forints. She starting bringing me a bunch more clothes once she realized I was buying something. She was so cute.

We walked over to the park by the ferris wheel and sat on a bench to pray our rosary for the day. I went into another store and Tony found an Irish Pub to hang out at. We looked around for a dinner spot tonight, but decided to eat at a nearby gyro place. 

Looking forward to seeing these two little stars real soon.











Tuesday Time for our flight

We started off leaving our airbnb by carrying 4 heavy bags down 3 full flights of stairs. Then, we rolled them to the nearest bus stop with a direct shuttle to the airport. It was only 900 Forint per person. I think the driver and his assistant felt sorry for me, or must have heard me breathing heavy. They lifted my one bag onto the bus.

The flight was smooth, our ride picked us up, and we are home! Look at the beautiful greeting party (Nick drove our car & was helping load bags)!