Hungary #1of2

Except Budapest

We left downtown Vienna, headed for Budapest in mid-morning, but at the edge of the city we found a garage with a “Dodge” sign, so stopped for some needed work on the brakes. The cost was $353, just for linings. As we left Austria we presented the bill for the brake job to the Austrian border control people, and received a refund of the 18% sales tax.

The Hungarian border people checked the Visas that had been stamped into our passports. We showed him Emmy’s diary with a list of the items we bought in Italy and other places, and he assured us there would be no problem when we left the country. Hungarian Customs asked if we had gold, silver, guns, liquor or tobacco. He looked at the covers of the books we were reading, and that was all. We cashed a $100 Travelers Check (for Hungarian money), and were on our way.

We saw a lot of farmland with wheat, barley, corn and lots of weeds, compared with other countries. The corn fields had some tall corn, and some not so tall, very spotty. Some fields were being irrigated. In general the countryside looks poorer than in countries in Western Europe. Apartment buildings were not fancy, many houses looked old and in need of paint, and many people were riding bicycles.

We stopped in a market in a little Hungarian town, but the store didn’t have much of anything to sell. When we bought some rye bread, they cut a piece off the loaf, and weighed it for us. We also stopped at a roadside fruit market. In a supermarket in Gyor, Emmy wanted to buy some eggs and was having a problem presenting her request. I heard a familiar voice crowing like a rooster, but she should have “cackled like a hen.” She did get her eggs, and some laughter.

At this point the Autobahn was a two lane road with the right-away and bridges prepared, so they can easily put in the other lanes whenever needed. There were rest stops every few miles. Near the little towns we saw big garden plots, with garden houses, and there are TV antennas on most houses.

About seven miles outside Budapest the Autobahn became six lanes wide, a very good road, but, but the freeway stopped long before it got downtown. These European cities are old, with beautiful old buildings, so they won’t tear them down just to put in a freeway, and we like that idea.