Mama Bochicchio Does Budapest

Operation Make-Mama-Bochicchio-Like-Budapest-So-She-Is-Less-Worried-That-I’m-Living-Here commenced at 23:00 on Wednesday night. The operation did not have a fortuitous beginning although I guess I should feel lucky that the cop didn’t issue me a ticket when he pulled me over on the way to the airport, and there could have been three – not two - airports in Budapest with the same name.

Things improved from there. I had to work the next day, so I gave my mom a strict, non-Internet accessible itinerary to ensure she didn’t stay in the apartment and work all day. I think the highlight of her day was the Danube boat cruise. Apparently, the cruise commentary centered on two characters, a girl “Pest” and a boy “Buda” arguing over which side of the city was better. While originally this may have been a clever conceit, Mama Bochicchio recounted that the dialogue fell flat, wavering between idiotic and comical.

Pest: “Oh, Buda, I am so much better than you because I am home to Parliament.” [Pest gestures dramatically at the Parliament building on the right bank of the river.]

Buda: “Oh, Pest. You are so silly. I am home to the statue of St. Margaret, so I am better than you.” [Buda gestures towards a statue of a nun on the left side of the river.]

Pest: “Oh, Buda. I think you like the statue of St. Margaret just a little too much.” [Pest giggles and winks at the audience.]

It does explain why the cruise served two rounds of drinks during the one-hour excursion.

The beautiful weather continued into Friday. Mama Bochicchio and I saw the mummified hand of St. Stephen and climbed to the top of the dome of the Basilica. We then wandered around the Central Hall Market and bought food for a yummy picnic on Gellert Hill. After lunch, we climbed Gellert Hill and were a little embarrassed about how tired we were until we realized the group of senior citizen tourists swarming the citadel actually took a tour bus up the hill. We had dinner and drinks on a boat on the Danube with gorgeous views of the Buda Castle and Chain Bridge.






Worrying that the Gellert Hill hike was slightly reminiscent of my dad’s “death march” family vacations - when we walked around a new city, usually on the hottest day of the year, with no breaks for water, food, or the bathroom - my mom and I decided to relax on Saturday by visiting the famous thermal baths at Hotel Gellert. The biggest challenge of was actually finding the baths (is the maze designed purposely to mess with tourists?), and we started out in the co-ed thermal bath, aka the “foreplay bath.” Luckily, we soon found the women-only baths, which were largely devoid of couples making out. There was less nudity than I expected but perhaps I am confusing the Hungarian baths with my high school Latin class knowledge of the Roman baths. And unfortunately there were no slaves with palm leaves to fan us. I would have taken pictures to post, but I am pretty sure that would have been illegal, and I am through with police interactions for the weekend.

After a quick dinner from my favorite Hare Krishna restaurant, mom and I walked to the Budapest Opera House to see Mendelssohn’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The production was spectacular and so long that we accidentally almost left after the second intermission. One of my favorite parts of the performance was when the dancer playing a snail heaved herself across the stage - she moved exactly like a snail! After the ballet, I introduced my mom to my friends, Susan and Jackie, and we had a great time over drinks at Callas, named for the famous opera soprano and Aristotle Onassis’s mistress, Maria Callas. And despite my mom’s heckling, I was not swayed from my order from a fruity, sugary cocktail.



I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend with Mama Bochicchio, and I hope she had as much fun as I did! And Pops, I promise we will have an amazing time too when you visit in the fall.