moving as quickly as possible -- anne and i found a cute very american coffeetype shop w/ a computer. not too american: lattes are $1.20. everything's like that in budapest: cheap; most things are also, we've discovered, bland. our landlady is the exception. the guidebooks advertise her as charming. that doesn't begin. the accomodations are something else. our room, a white highceilinged room with a melange of awful furniture with a whopping 14 different floral patterns, is at least in the center of town, more or less. we're coming from a turkish bath experience and moving towards, along the blue danube, the castle with its vast underground maze. the parliament is gorgeous; especially interesting juxtaposed with the run-down post-communist buildings that compose much of the city. here and there other structures, churches and synagogues, take your breath away but largely this is closer to warsaw than prague.
all the same, we're having a great time. i'll write more when i have the chance. (this is like a postcard!) oh, and it's so bizarre to be in a place where literally almost no one speaks english. but we're adjusting, slowly, slowly.