TRY THE PUNCH

Word stress is the only kind of stress you will need while in Budapest. It will get your ears close to Hungarians trying to tell you stuff and their brains close to what's coming out of your mouth. Hopefully, good communication will get you to the heart of Budapest faster.

Hungarian words don't have Latin or Saxon roots so all words are stressed or intoned on the first syllable, even those borrowed from other languages later. Contra intuitively, the long and short sounds don't affect word stress.
The words KÚT (a well), KU-tya (a dog), KU-ta-tás (research) all start with a punch and the rest of the sounds bounce to the end like a ball when pronounced. In conversation, it sounds a bit like a horse galloping (perhaps across the Crimean plains?) For poets, that means no iambs, spondees, anapests! In my visual shorthand, these are the nonos: aSLEEP, WELL-COOKt, iNEbriAtion.

This isn't as technical as it sounds. In fact, it's quite useful since you always know when one word finishes and another starts. Just keep it in the back of your mind, you will recognize it when you need it. In 1990, I learned stress from name of the main avenue of the city, then still marked "The Avenue of the People's Republic" - I walked past its shop windows on my way to teach, sat in its cafes and restaurants and there on the side of the buildings was that sign "NÉPköztársaság ÚTja", reminding me to stress the first syllable. Thankfully, it soon got its turn of the century name back: ANdrássy ÚT.

EXCEPTIONAL ANDRÁSSY

Pronounced (AUN-drash-she) Yes, this y is a vowel, and an exception to my pronunciation rules but it's the name of a noble family which couldn't be 'corrected' after the language was modernized.

Mark this locale down as a stress-reducing landmark. Often referred to as the Champs-Élysées of Budapest, Andrássy is not nearly as monumental, a much more lively avenue than it's Parisian cousin, and just a few blocks away on both sides, you can find some of the best parts of the city. At the intersection called Oktogon, it crosses the 4/6 tramline on the NAGYkörút (big ringroad) - your lifeline to the conference center. The M1 Földalatti (the oldest still-running underground train on the continent) runs the length of it and leads you to all the way out to the city park. Andrássy is a great jumping point to explore from. If you miss this, you've missed Pest. 

TO HAJOS UTCA

From the center of town, going outwards on Andrássy, past a number of high-end designer name brand shops, you'll find the MA-gyar ÁL-lami O-peraház. For opera fans, I don't think you can slip the septuagenarian ushers a large coin for the unoccupied balcony seats anymore, but it is reputed to be extremely cheap and good quality compared to other opera houses in Europe. This is my 'gateway' to Hajós utca, (Ship St.) a cool little pedestrian zone, with cafes and a few boutiques. A new smoky jazz joint opened down here called 'Most' (which means "Now") on Zichy Jenő utca where you might accidentally find a contemporary gypsy jazz jam in the back room any night of the week.

OR TO NAGYMEZŐ UTCA

Two blocks from the opera is Nagymező utca, a half-pedestrian zone (?) famed for its' theater. The Mai Mano cafe in front of the Photography Museum is nice for a coffee, tea, beer or wine. There's very cheap traditional eats next door at the Főzelék Faló, which serves hot 'stews' of a number of vegetables with thick slabs of spongy white bread and your choice of sides. Across Andrássy in the other direction is the Ernst Museum and the Két Szerecsen (Two Saracens) - a high-end but nice salad-with-your-lunch kind of place.

OR TO LISZT FERENC TÉR

Continue up Andrássy a little more and you'll come to Liszt Ferenc tér (Franz Liszt Square). The Irók Boltja (Shop of Writers) is a famous bookstore on the corner. Past it is a row of upscale, touristy cafes and restaurants whose main attraction is sitting beneath the huge plane trees running down the middle in spring and fall, watching the passing tourists run into the wait staff. As It looks like we got no fall this year, it's too cold there for me, in all senses of the word, but if you need a fancy dinner at western prices, check it out. Some cafes are cocktail lounges at night, popular with the Scandinavian vet students and German med students, so you're bound to find English-speakers here.

Walk to the end of the tér and you'll come to the gorgeous, gold-inlaid Liszt Academy. If the classical music doesn't draw you in, a glimpse into the foyer at the hand-made inlaid ceramics and marble might be a great excuse to warm your fingers and see one of Budapest's wonders. They used to give tours of the building and concerts are world-class and cheap.

OR TO KIRÁLY UTCA

Look back toward the center of town from there and you're on Király utca (King street), a funky street of bars, boutiques and restaurants sprouting from the remains of what was literally the Budapest Ghetto. The extremes of architecture in this area are astounding - Some buildings renovated into contemporary art galleries or hotels stand in stark contrast beside forgotten szoc-reál style police stations, Austro-Hungarian facades, neo-classicist colonnades. Király utca itself was renovated hardly ten years ago in a typically eccentric Budapest style from the 90s that you might find in a labyrinthine video game. Residents were glad to see it finished at least, until the cement mixers from nearby development projects crushed the corners off the sidewalks and rutted the new cobblestones and paving trying to navigate medieval width streets. Lots of little bars and cafes around pumping the cheap beer and food until big money figures out a way to renovate their crumbling buildings. (Notables: Sirály, Kuplung, Ellátó, Kőleves, Mumus, Szóda and the collegiate institution Szimpla Kéet). Wander farther into the district over to Dob utca and Wesselényi utca past the hidden entrances to a number of synagogues striving to fill themselves after the Holocaust. Since the city is radial, all these streets funnel down, past the Dohány Street Synagogue to Deák tér, the metro center crossing point for all three lines. 

 OR TO THE END

The best place to go on or near Andrássy to relieve stress or practice it, is the Városliget (City Park). Facing the monumental Hősök Tere (Square of Heroes) are the Szépművészeti Múzeum (Fine Arts Museum) and the Műcsarnok (Arts Hall, or Kunsthalle). Behind the Műcsarnok across the lake/icerink is what's known as the OTHER Vajdahunyadi Vár. Behind the Szépművészeti Múzeum is the Széchenyi Fűrdő, a spa and bath house worth seeing even if you don't need a swim, dry sauna, wet sauna, hot tub or massage.