Left my picture postcard town this morning in favour of pastures, green or otherwise. I literally did an eeny meeny minie moe dance to cap my decision. How liberating not to be tied to an agenda or a map route! So the fates had me spend most of the day strolling through the quiet Austrian countryside. When the mood struck, I switched allegiances and walked on the Hungarian side then back again. Why? I`m thinking "because I can" is good enough reason.
While the countryside may be interchangeable, the rest is markedly different. Road conditions and signage are vastly better on the Austrian side and Austria`s villages radiate a much greater degree of individual affluence. While Hungary has been a member of the EU for a few years now, they have yet to migrate their currency from the colourful Forint to the Euro because their weaker economy has not permitted them to meet the EU`s GDP requirements...and it shows as I compare both countries in the course of a day.
In this neck of the woods, Hungary and Austria are heavily invested in the culture of the grape. So I anchored down in a lovely little pension on the Hungarian side of the border then sauntered 300m down the road to the Austrian wine mecca of Lutzmannburg for the requisite tastings. Bucket spitting notwithstanding, I was thoroughly pickled by 4 pm and everybody was my new best friend. Funny how my German improves when all inhibitions are lost...or perhaps I was mistakenly telling everyone I`d buy them a free round?! To put a nice finishing touch to a fine day, I ordered some wiener schnitzel in honour of the mere 100 km separating me from Vienna.
While the countryside may be interchangeable, the rest is markedly different. Road conditions and signage are vastly better on the Austrian side and Austria`s villages radiate a much greater degree of individual affluence. While Hungary has been a member of the EU for a few years now, they have yet to migrate their currency from the colourful Forint to the Euro because their weaker economy has not permitted them to meet the EU`s GDP requirements...and it shows as I compare both countries in the course of a day.
In this neck of the woods, Hungary and Austria are heavily invested in the culture of the grape. So I anchored down in a lovely little pension on the Hungarian side of the border then sauntered 300m down the road to the Austrian wine mecca of Lutzmannburg for the requisite tastings. Bucket spitting notwithstanding, I was thoroughly pickled by 4 pm and everybody was my new best friend. Funny how my German improves when all inhibitions are lost...or perhaps I was mistakenly telling everyone I`d buy them a free round?! To put a nice finishing touch to a fine day, I ordered some wiener schnitzel in honour of the mere 100 km separating me from Vienna.
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