“I forgot…I forgot how to ride a bike.”
And there it was: the shocking truth I delivered to my new husband on our honeymoon in Budapest. His wife had forgotten how to ride a bike. But, there was no getting out of this as the teen manning the bike rental booth was egging me on, saying: “just ride the freaking bike, already!”
I guess I had no choice.
Earlier that day, we decided to forgo the baths in Budapest. For some reason, the baths–which are extremely popular natural hot springs–just did not seem to appeal to us. It was also 100 degrees outside.
So, skipping the baths is what led us to Margaret Island in the middle of the Danube River, which is what led to the bike-riding, which is what led to me almost running over a kid learning how to ride a bike and me saying: “sorry, kid, I’m also learning!” and then led us to the most serene park we’ve ever seen.
The Bikes
The bikes were beach cruisers and were relatively inexpensive to rent.
CruisingThe Park
The Island was super busy with families enjoying their August evening. If there’s one thing we noticed about summertime in Europe, it’s that people enjoy it. Summers are meant for celebrating the long summer evenings. In Los Angeles, it always feels like summer, so we take long evenings for granted.
Margaret Island is so beautiful. The scenery and the way the sun hits the island at 8:00 in the evening is so pretty.
The sun in the evening The scenery is greenery. A park within the parkThe Kid
Here’s the deal: I first learned how to ride a bike when I was six years old. I was a hemmin’ and hawin’ kind of kid, who found things like going fast, climbing up heights and not being in charge of my own movement to be rather scary. The one-and-only time I decided to conquer the heights, I ended up falling off monkey bars. I was three and woke up with a massive bruise on my noggin and a fat lip. To top it off, my mom instilled a lot of fear in me saying things like: “if you eat anything salty with your fat lip, you’ll blow up.” I think she just didn’t want to share her pretzels. But, no kid wants to blow up–or bloat up–with a little salt, so needless to say, I was unnecessarily frightened of things.
So, yes, I was six years old and learning how to ride a bike. I acquired the skill rather quickly, but there was this one damn curve on my school’s track that seemed to be my nemesis. Every time I took it, I fell off my bike. Every. single. time. There was also that one time I was riding my bike down a steep hill and I crashed right into a wall, causing me to black out.
Then there was the kid on Margaret Island, who was learning how to ride his bike for the first time. He was all over the place, as is expected from a first-timer. My husband whipped right past him. I, however, could not get past him so easily. The kid teetered on his bike. I tottered. He fell sideways. I ran into a bush.
Serenity Now
No amount of plowing into a bush could keep us from finding a little piece of serenity: a super beautiful rose garden.
The most beautiful rose garden.So, riding our bikes may have ended up with me plowing into a bush and my husband seriously reconsidering what he got himself into–I mean, come on, what if our kids are born with my lack of coordination and the ability to blow up from eating salt. Can you imagine??? But, who needs baths when you have this amazing honeymoon memory instead.
(Let me clarify: “hot spring” baths. Who needs “hot spring” baths. We take baths, I swear. We’re very hygienic people.)
Now it’s Your Turn
Margaret Island is located in the Danube River between Margit Hid and Arpad Hid (two separate bridges). We rode our bikes right around sunset and it took about an hour to get around the island, including stopping to see the sights and running over little kids.
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