Munich to Budapest

I woke up late at 9.10am but three others were fast asleep from their 75km ride their day before. Suddenly remembering we had a 10am checkout as this was a hostel, I roused the team and everyone got ready and we loaded our bikes.

Matsu Cafe was run by a pair of friends who married Japanese husbands! The execution of their food and drinks was excellent. If I had to be picky their coffee beans were not roasted recently enough but everything was very good. Talia walloped her onigiri and Ethan ate a whole curry chicken for breakfast!

We headed off on the bike lanes of Bratislava.

Crossing the same lovely bridge that brought us into town.

Soon we hit some long distance bike lanes. These were like bike highways that led to another city.

I only took photos when there were no other cyclists nearby but there were actually quite a few. With the road surface not well maintained, and quite a few cyclists with unsafe etiquette, I had to be very watchful and aware with leading the kids.

The other cyclists thinned out as we rode along. I was explaining to Talia how and why we trim the front derailleur when we ride as kids only use their rear derailleur since most lack the strength and reach to change the FD on a road bike’s shifters. However suddenly Talia managed to shift the FD! See the pic above, not only Talia’s strong legs but she’s on the big chainring! I whooped congratulations for Talia as her first FD change is in Slovakia and she will remember this!

She was grinning ear to ear! As we went along all four of us had a wonderful family chat about all sorts of things, with the kids asking us to tell them stories of when they were younger and when we knew each other before we got married!

I kept my eye on my digital map as the Hungarian border approached.

It was sooo fun and amazing to be crossing borders and entering other countries! This time an X on the road marked the border to Talia stood in Hungary and Ethan remained in Slovakia for this photo!

The food, language and currency changed! We found this great little restaurant and had some very tasty chicken and chips!

The price of drinks plummeted! We had to figure out Hungarian Florints. I had thought they used Euros, but nope!

Talia’s gums started bleeding again from where her tooth had fallen out during lunch. She bit down on a tissue and when I asked her if she could keep riding while biting on the tissue she nodded! Grinning, with the tissue sticking out from her bleeding gums I was very proud of my daughter and told her she was cute and tuff – cuff!! She laughed through clenched gums, gave a smile and a cute pose! Later she would give me a blood and saliva soaked tissue too!

Golden harvest fields lined the paths.

I coaxed Talia into trying a split on a bike, which she did only after I assured her I would show her and would use it only if it looked good!

Behind us, Ethan was doing Tali impressions which I couldn’t see! It made mum ohh so hard that she had to stop and not fall off her bike!

Nearing town we saw this very cool water pump which gushed out tons of drinking water.

Mosonmagyaróvár was a small but beautiful town!

We stopped for a drink in the centre of the shops. It was 5om on Saturday so most were closed but beautiful flower beds decorated by kids were on display.

We found our guest house, which I knew had a garden and a playground. However I didn’t know the owner had a rabbit hutch full of rabbits!

They had chickens, and an apple and cherry tree that we picked from and ate!

Of course there was a playground too! The kids played for an hour while I washed up and then went out to get dinner. The plan was to bring food back as our garden was so fun and we had our own studio apartment.

Instead of buying kebabs, I popped into a grocery store that was still open and picked up food to cook. Ethan and Talia have been loving it whenever I cook stuff, and we end up having much more conversation and laughs than eating at a restaurant. Though it saves money and is more work, it adds to the memories and they love it!