Austian Laidahosen and Hungarian Hospitality...

Into Austria and OMG! Had a hair raising journey to Zell am See. 

There's snow on them there hills!

Sat nav took us up a mountain pass road it being the quickest route.  About 6km in, foot to the floor and gears in low there was absolutely nowhere to turn.  Thankfully, half way up, the road closed and we were able to turn around at an also closed restaurant car park.  Back down again (brakes and gears being tested) and we decided to try and go around the mountain in the hope that the sat nav woman would recalculate but for miles she wanted us to turn around.  We did the old fashioned thing and followed the signs for Zell am See and after going through the same tunnel three times, going the wrong way and the sat nav lady taking us to two different bridges that were too low, arrived at the site in the dark, got hooked up and checked in.  We decided to stay 2 nights to let both GJ & Kevin have a rest.  At this point, our Go Box,

The Go Box (licence to print money)

...which is the toll system we had to have for our size of vehicle, had not made a bleeping sound which it is supposed to when it goes through a toll camera. Because of this, we knew that we still had 75 euros in credit.  We showered (spotless Austrian conveniences), I made a simple meal and the next day we planned the rest of our route to Bulgaria with the next stop being in Graz, still in Austria.

Kevin at Graz (pictures not quite running with the story...but keep up!)
 That night we had a typical Austrian meal at the hotel that was part of the camping complex.  I had Liver in a piquant sauce with rice - very nice.

  GJ had steak cooked in a red wine sauce with spetzell noodles.  Equally good considering we used a pin to choose what to have.

Both looked very similar but tasted completely different.

Nice little table decoration it being pumpkin and conker time.  

On to Graz next day again arriving quite late in the day so I cooked some meatballs and spaghetti and we watched a film.  The tolls started to register on the Go Box and by the end of the day it was bleeping twice.  This meant we were paying the tolls but that we should get it topped up as we only  had 30 euros left.

That damn go box

The next day we decided to make a run for it.  We only had 50 kms to go in Austria and if we had topped up the Go Box it would have been another 75 euros minimum.  So we plodded along counting the double bleeps and made it into Slovenia. We hadn't intended to go into Slovenia but the road signs were a bit confusing and the sat nav woman didn't tell us we were approaching a border area.  At least we got through Austria with only 75 euros of tolls.  We had another 2 tolls to pay in Slovenia and then we were into Hungary and had a 10 day vignette.  The campsite we picked mentioned Bucharest but I didn't think we would be travelling straight through the centre. 

OMG! GJ was having palpitations but Kevin coped admirably.  We found our spot which was up a kind of track and into an old disused tram station. 

The people who ran this old tram station were very proud of it and when we arrived, they asked us to park up and join them for a welcome drink so they could tell us all about it.  Elizabeth also gave us a map of the town centre and a bus route map etc.  She insisted we had a beer.  The old station is converted into a restaurant but for some reason it was like walking into their house.  We left promising to have dinner there later.  We walked over at about 7.15 after a 15 minute look around for GJs reading glasses (I'm going to get him a chain) and we were offered another drink and the menu.  Of the 5 things on the menu, I picked the pork chop (gypsy style) and GJ picked the beef stew and dumplings (similar to stroganoff).  10 minutes later and its arrived. GJs dumplings were actually spetzell again and my pork chop was actually a fried pork steak with dried herbs and uncooked garlic on top.  Both were served with chunky potatoes boiled with herbs and tossed in some fat or other.  It was all very Hungarian but very nice.  It took us 10 minutes to eat and we were back at the Kevin to watch a film.  As we were the only people in the restaurant and there was no background music it was a quick eat and run (hence no pictures).  The price included breakfast so we duly re-entered the empty restaurant again the next morning to find a big spread of sweet and savoury goodies.  They seem to specialize in pancakes because two mountains of them came in so we had to oblige.  I must admit I am missing fruit and veg.  When GJ went to pay he was given a bottle of local wine.  They are so nice the Hungarians. 

Kevin in the Tram Station

Unfortunately the sat nav lady, who is not as nice, took s back through Budapest town centre again even though we had tried to confuse her into taking us around the outskirts.  It’s amazing that every road had either some road works, a diversion or a police blockage on it.

OMG!

 

We ventured on to Romania…

Miles travelled?  Forgot to check again.

H, GJ & Bracs (and Kevin the Kontiki)