Other Crap

Moves to save the Brown Danube

I lived within a few hundred yards of the Danube twice: once in Vienna, once in Budapest. Upstream from Vienna, as near as Melk, it was still pretty clean in the early 90s and you might see people swimming and wading in it, but by the time the river reached Budapest, after trips through Vienna and Bratislava, it was heart-breaking to see it and smell it. I hope the Europeans figure this out, because it was a beautiful river, and could be again. I used to love the drive from Vienna to Linz in summertime. I had hoped to take a bike to Linz on the train and pedal it back to Vienna to enjoy at all close-up, but I left before I had a chance.