the coriolis effect

"It was a good weekend, but not a good weekend socially"

That, from a friend, pretty much summed up Budapest. Awesome city: I arrived starry-eyed with things to do, and of course ran myself and two others ragged in the futile quest to do them all. I was borrowing money from a friend, and then the bank put a stop on his debit card (luckily not my credit card...) and another friend had to bail us both out...and in the end we were not only breaking even but had 60 bucks worth of forents left- and the very next minute a transportation cop yanked us off the tram and fined us 30 bucks for traveling without stamped tickets (its an honor system...the other group rode free a bunch of times w. no problems...and we'd bought tickets every time but this one plus one, and it was because we didn't have any small change. whimper whimper whine. )

It had its moments, though. Around the corner from the hostel we (meaning three of us, a complete and utter silently acrimonious divorce, for the best but not without frustration, with the other 4. New rule: stick to groups of 3) - we happened on two kids in the act of adding some graffiti to a wall; when they moved on I took a photo. They saw me though, and came back saying something in Hungarian. I scampered off into our hostel, figuring I'd get shot in the back (not even knowing what the graffiti said) but hoping the other two would head them off. They followed us into the hostel and up the stairs and when we stopped and let the artiste speak he just asked: "Are you policemen?" And of course we say no and then he breaks out into a goofy grin, and raised his fingers in a V : "Peace, peace"- bobbed his head and was gone.

Sunset over Castle Hill from the Chain Bridge. The Terror Haza, and a look at the type of torture cells I've been studying for years. The Ludwig Contemporary Art Museum or bust, and though it wrecked havoc on the schedule, it yielded this: "Words are not the termination of the universe but its common cement. Words are to make something possible that was impossible before"- Tibor Hajas according to Laszlo Behe.

Szechenyi Baths. An 80 degree sauna, a pool with lavender, jumping from hot to cold to hot, a rectangular pool with jets that turned it into a whirlpool, around and around. And a peppermint sauna, billows and billows in foggy air, a bit of mentholated heaven.

guilt for the breakneck speed (new cities overwhelm me, and thrill me), hoping its all ok...
In other news, I switch host families today.