DONAUSCHLINGE AT SCHLOGEN

 A Mouth Full

            After I learned how to pronounce it, I thought it rather lyrical. Broken down Donau is German for Danube, schlinge means turn and Schlogen is the name of the village. The river takes a 180-degree turn at the village located at the tip of a peninsular jutting out into the river.

            On this day we woke to rain so delayed our departure from Passau about an hour. It wasn’t long before we were at the border where we stopped to have our passports stamped. Late morning we crossed the Danube by ferry to the German side. The rain remained relentless all day. The restaurant earmarked for lunch was closed because of the weather so we continued to bike on to some locks.

            Later in the day we crossed the Austrian border again at a place that led us directly to a nice rest stop/café where we enjoyed a hot drink. In spite of the rain it was a very scenic day. We biked through dense forest, mountain foothills, and peddled through many small picturesque villages.

            At the end of the day another ferry marked Donauschlinge at Schlogen took us across the river to our hotel. By the end of the day everyone was soaking wet, no matter how expensive or what kind of rain gear they were wearing. The new modern hotel had a hair dryer in each room that came in handy for drying shoes and   other gear.

While my roommate was in the shower, I opened the fridge in the room and retrieved a small bottle of wine and  was drinking it when she emerged from the bathroom.

“Where did you find the wine?” she asked.

“In the refrigerator.”

“Do you know how much the stuff cost out of room refrigerators?”

“Yes, but right now, I really don’t care.”

After drying out and a good dinner I was ready to retire early. I slept well and woke the next day to cloudy skies but no rain. Another forty-mile day of biking lay ahead of us.

BUDAPEST ZOO

      A Fun Afternoon

You already know Jan is an L A Zoo docent so we've visited lots of zoos as we've traveled. By our last afternoon in Budapest we decided we’d had enough museums and shopping, so decided to visit the second oldest zoo in the world. (Tiergarten at Schonbrunn is the oldest.)

This was on my first visit to Budapest when we found very few people spoke English. The subway ride down town presented no problem, as we’d been using it most of the week.

Of course the zoo map was in Hungarian, and no one around seemed to speak English. However, we were able to successfully follow the map. Twice we sort of wondered where we were, but both times I spotted a young fellow and sure enough both of them were able to confirm in English where we were.

This zoo, opened in 1866, houses some 500 mammals, nearly 700 birds, and 1500 reptiles, fish, and arthropods. The combined botanical garden has 1500 species of plants. The zoo, covering nearly 11 hectares, includes 69 buildings. The elephant house, built in 1908, resembles a Turkish Mosque. It is very elaborate and is really a very beautiful building.

We enjoyed a delightful afternoon. I saw several animals I’d not seen before and Jan is always able to explain about them.

On my next visit to Budapest I chose to see and do other things. But on this recent visit we found everyone speaking English and only once found someone who could not communicate with us or answer questions. What a difference ten years makes! So, I can only guess that now there are many at the zoo who speak English and can help one out.