Sounds like a great trip, and glad to see that you really got around the country. I've only been in Budapest and on the trains. You probably learned that they had the first continental subway system (and aren't some of the trains OLD?). One does tend to develop your own pronounciation of the language--I think the closest language is Norwegian (I think?). You are so right on about the contrasts there. (My background is also part Austro-Hungarian)