Weekend fun

Well, August is over, and the summer weather seems to have gone with it.  Sigh!
Luckily, I had 2 great weekends in a row, with fun outdoor activities, so I don't feel like I wasted nice weather.

A couple of weeks ago, Ludo, Owen and I decided to go for a bike ride in the countryside.  We went to Neusiedler See (Lake Neusiedl), the biggest lake in the area, straddling the Austro-Hungarian border.  It's a very strange lake, really.  On average, it's less than 2 metres deep; it actually disappeared on a few occasions in history!  Most of the lake is surrounded by reeds. Not just a few, I'm talking vast expanses here!

OK, so I met Ludo and Owen at their place, and watched - patiently - as they figured out how to set up their new bike rack on their car.  About 45 minutes late, we were on our way! I gotta say, for all that is was a BMW brand rack (to fit with their BMW car), it felt like the bikes were not that secure. But all was well, me made it safely to our destination, a cute town called Rust.

Rust is wonderful!  Very charming little town, old and colourful, with a pretty church and lovely sights. The best thing, though, is that it is the "city of storks". There are storks everywhere, real ones.  It made my day to see that they really do make nests on top of chimneys, it's the kind of thing I've only ever seen in drawings in books, not even in photographs!

Upon arrival, and after I made like a tourist and took a zillion pictures, we decided that we had already expended enough energy, and found a little restaurant to have lunch. Much yumminess, and great local wine too.

Once we were re-energised, I rented  bicycle and Ludo and Owen took theirs off the car.  We set off towards the next town on the lake.  I'm told the path went along the lake. I myself wouldn't know, as the reeds were over 2 metres high and many many metres deep, so I never saw the actual lake!  It was a beautiful ride, just perfect weather with sun and mild temperature.  We rode about 10 kilometres, and then we got to the border. We stopped to go up onto a lookout of sorts, where I had a view of fields on one side, and on the other... reeds, with little sailboats in the distance.  I couldn't see water, so it looked like the boates were floating on the reeds.  Our cycling path then took us a little ways along the border. In this picture, Hungary is on the left of the road, and Austria on the right.

We went up a short but very steep hill, and got to an old border crossing, which we crossed.  We got off our bikes and considered which way to go.  Looking into Hungary, we saw hills - going up; back the other way was nice, flat Austria. Guess which way we went? 

On the way back, we detoured to a summer beach-like area to have popsicles.  This was a tropical summer fun spot: you must pay to enter, and line up for things like the snack bar etc.  And hundreds of people everywhere. Not appealing, no matter how hot it could get, but the Austrians seem to like it.

We got back on our bikes and rode some more.  The area is really gorgeous.  It's full of vineyards, producing yummy (mostly white) wines. 

When we got back to Rust, we packed he bikes up and started for home, driving on nice smaller roads rather than the highway.  On the way, we at a wine dealer, tasted half a dozen wines in 10 minutes, bought a few, and drove on.

What a lovely Sunday afternoon! Thanks guys!

Ludo and me at the lookout (Hungary behind us):

Owen and Ludo at the lookout (Austria behind them, Hungary on the right)