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Vienna, Budapest, and the Traveler's Reward
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20354 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
6 / 1992 |
2,292 Words |
| Author
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David H. Ehrlich
David H. Ehrlich, an avid theatergoer, is an independent
writer based in Washington, D.C. He has previously written
numerous essays for The World & I. |
"What's the best way to get from Vienna to Budapest?" I asked the travel agent. "Sir, you can fly it in less than an hour or drive it less that two. But would you really want to go from the West to the East so abruptly?"
Then he proposed a far gentler means of crossing from one world to the other. "Take a boat down the Danube--specifically, and far more comfortably, a hydrofoil. The journey takes four and a half hours, but it will prepare you far better to leave Vienna and concentrate on where you're going. You will find the transition natural and the reward superb."
The beginning of that transition is to be found in a building in Vienna called the Schiffahrtszentrum (boat terminal). The Schiffahrtszentrum is in a rather sullen quarter of Vienna that stands in contrast to the beauty of the rest of the city. Here it is evident that the Danube is not, Johan Strauss to the contrary, beautiful and blue. The Danube is a dark, muddy brown river, and always was.
Vienna is a proud city today, even though it no longer commands a vast empire. It has prospered mightily since the end of World War II and is chic, glittering, and very expensive. But the chic of Vienna somehow passed the Schiffahrtszentrum by. It's as if travelers bound for the East are shown the back door.
Our hydrofoil is the sleek Solyom II, one of six operated by the large Hungarian shipping company Mahart (an acronym for Magyrharozasirt). Built in the Soviet Union, Solyom II seats 104 passengers in several compartments separated by an open deck. It skims the surface of the water at a speed of approximately thirty-five knots, augmented on the downstream trip by the river's swift five-knot current. (The opposite voyage takes an extra hour for this reason.)
Adieux to Vienna
The bell rings at 2:30 P.M., and the boat casts off. It makes a wide U-turn and heads downstream. My wife and I have already bid our adieux to Vienna, so our attention is directed forward. Soon, we pass a series of summer cottages that are built on six-foot-high stilts close to the water's edge; those whose business or property can be affected by rising waters take no chances on being flooded.
Solyom II is operated by an oversize crew--twelve men plus a hostess--and, upon reflection, this is our first reminder that
...
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