The Irony Of Travel

+Ok so I want to talk about irony and travel - why not when else would I have the time or the inclination but first I want to talk about drifting down the Danube.

We decided we wanted to get out of the city and what better way than to take a three hour cruise down that most famous of rivers. There was piped in music on a loop - I think it was pan pipes like Zamfir plays. Thank goodness it was soft unlike the piped in head phone music on the bus tour which kept playing one piece of Mozart again and again... Still it was so calming to sit there sipping white wine as the pewter coloured river slipped by. I don#t know where the blue is supposed to come in. I spent a lot of time abserving our fellow passengers. The most gorgeous young girl dressed very provocatively accompanied by a much older man. I don#t think it was a May December romance. She like everyone else was smoking. It is surely the most shocking part of travel in Europe the smoke is everywhere. How can these highlycultured, modern people not know that smoking kills!

There are two locks on the canal that leads to the river. All very mechanicallz impressive. It takes twenty minutes for the water to fill up to let us pass. As we pass along the river bank there are tiný little houses. Perhaps they are summer homes? They have intricate fishing nets strung out that look like hammocks. They also have satellite dishes and solar panels. All very old/new.

The sky was stunning the whole trip. Big banks of clouds bunched up against each other and the sun fighting for supremacy.

As the boat turned out of the canal and we headed up the river against the current there was a great grunting of gears and churning against the tide. All very man against nature.
The tour was divided in two parts and you could get off half way. We stayed on the real tourists arrived. The narration began "Notice the thingee on the right and the thingee on the left." etc..
We took pictures of everything. Some culling will be in order.

So that was a day in our lives. And now about the irony.

Before I travelled I had all these visions of what it would be like, what I would see, how things might be. Ireland was the beginning of a change in reality. I had imagined green rolling hills and of course there were but there was also so much I hadn't expected and naturally it continues this way through Prauge and now into Vienna where we are currently installed for a week andon into Budapest and beyond.

We travel to see what we think we want to see (what the guide books tell you to expect) only to find our visions erased and replaced. I will never think of these cities ever the same way again. I am sad about the loss of my images and surprised that I am surprised. What this trip so far has shown me is that no matter where you go yout take yourself and your perceptions. They colour and enhance or detract from your imaginings. It is to say the least a growth experience.