Its hard to read in Hungarian!

Lizz,

So first things first…

Blogger is now in Hungarian and I have yet to find the button to switch it back into English so It's become quite difficult to get to the edit/new post screen. I also can’t use spell check because everything is spelt wrong – good news if I right click I learn the Hungarian word for whatever I’m trying to say.

Now I’m going to give you a tour of Budapest!

This is Central European University. Well this is the main entrance, building 9 on Nador street. It’s called monument building because when you walk inside you’re in a circular room of statues. I don’t have a picture of them yet, but I’m pretty sure that they’re the muses. The school actuall goes on for half a city block, but it looks, from the outside at least, much the same as this first building.

This is the St. Steven’s Basilica.

To get to the top and see the view you can take the elevator or you can walk up 302 stairs which I thought sounded like not so many – it is, many.

But this is the view so, in the end, it was way worth it!

Budapest is separated by the river Danube. The hilly region is Buda, the flat industrial side is Pest (pronounced pesht).

I live in Pest in district VII. No pictures yet of the house, but it’s not so intricate as something like this –

Which is actually my favorite piece of architecture to come across a la Atlas.

This is the view from the highest point in Budapest which if I’m not completely mistakes used to be called o’Buda, but is now part of Buda itself. The left side is Buda, right pest.

On the Buda side you can see overpowering buildings. This is the castle district. Last weekend I went to wine festival here and it was amazing over 200 vendors in this majestic setting. I watched traditional folk dancing and picked which wines to taste by how pretty the label was. My camera’s not awesome in the dark, but here are a few pictures of the castle walls.

This is Parliament.

You can see it towards the back of the panoramic view on the Pest side. I quite like the outside of the building… I haven’t toured inside yet, but based on the gorgeous exterior I’m likely to be disappointed.

In the next addition of Budapest through Ashley’s eyes I’ll show you the opera, the synagogue which is the second largest in Europe and literally a few blocks from my apartment (which incidentally I’ve started calling a flat because EVERYBODY here does), and more pictures of the castle district in daylight!

I start classes tomorrow so I’ll be sure to give you an update soonish that is if I have time with the zillion classes I’m taking this term…

Now to you!

You have a great relationship with Ben and I‘m super glad that the only thing you have to complain about is his being a bit bad at time – although it’s not the first time I’ve heard it so you should probably take your mom’s advice and set the clocks ahead :p

How was the dancing and the concert? Did you find anything fun at the festival? I hope you come to Italy while I’m still here and I can see you and Italy at the same time – it would be perfect :)

~Ashley

P.S. It’s getting colder at night here so pretty soon I’m gonna have a chance to break out my new grey hat!!