This is in Styria, an interesting corner of Austria I’d love to revisit, but I’m sure it would feel much different 30 years later. I’m pretty sure they’re just haystacks, piled onto tripods.

I have nothing from then other than these words and the photos, but this is Saint Mary Magdalene Church, built from the 13th to 15th centuries. And yes, it’s had a difficult history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Mary_Magdalene,_Budapest.

This was a very difficult day. I sure wish I could have had today’s camera back then!

That looks quite forbidding and daunting.

Interesting structures. I wonder why they're done, and how.

The odd and irregular mix of stone and brick suggests a major repair after some sort of catastrophe. I suppose that story is lost to you?

It’s always a shock, isn’t it? I was 46 at the time and Rachael 34. Have you been following the Show Your Bike Forum post? It’s full of startling photos like this.

My gosh, the two of you look like babies. How the years have flown.

Hi, Jeremy. Thanks for reading, and I’m glad you found it of interest. I wish there were more photographs and better ones, but this was my state of the art 20 years ago. I wish there were more interactions worth mentioning too. The language barrier was a big thing, especially in Hungary; but it really says more about us back then than about the folks we encountered along the way. We’re both a bit introverted, and when we were younger we were in too much of a hurry, covered too much distance, and we’re not particularly seeking out conversations. Like the photography, there was a lot of room for improvement on our approach to travel. We’re still working on it.

It's an interesting ride and the photos are great, I didn't really expect to see images like that. I would have liked to have heard more about the interaction with locals but perhaps none of them spoke English.