Being a (Buda)Pest

Some of you may recall the story of how I accidentally robbed a bakery in the Jewish ghetto in Rome. When I handed the cashier a 20 to pay for two Euros worth of pastries, she asked if I had anything smaller. I dug around my change purse, managed to gather together enough coins, and handed her the money. Then I asked for my 20 back, since I didn't see the money in my wallet. When the woman refused to give it to me, we proceeded to banter back and forth in broken Italian (I speak decent Italian, except when I need to argue -- ah well!) She finally handed me 10 Euros and screamed at me to get out of her store. I left in tears, convinced that the clerk had stolen my money and angry about the fact that the historical bakery in the Jewish ghetto seemed to be nothing more than just another tourist trap in a city famed for its pickpockets. 

Ten minutes later, I took out my change purse to by a ticket for the metro. Lo and behold, there was my 20 -- I had put it amongst my coins instead of in my billfold! This meant that I was in possession of 10 Euros that did not belong to me, thereby making ME the thief! I thought about going back to the bakery to return the money, but my friends and I were running short on time. That's when I got the idea to put the money in the mail, using the address for the bakery that I had from my guidebook. I wrote a note of apology in broken Italian and sent my letter on it's merry way. I never did get a reply -- but at least my conscience knows that I tried to give the money back! I still remember the haiku that Jodi wrote in commemoration of my ditziness: 

In Jewish ghetto

Thought lady stole my money

Oops, sent it all back! 

Well, my friends, I can't believe that I just admitted this story on my blog. However, I think it helps give a little context to the fact that I can now add Budapest to the list of cities where I've caused trouble at Jewish tourist sites...

Rachel and I began our Hungarian adventure at the beautiful Dohany Street Synagogue, one of the largest shuls in all of Europe. Here are some pix:

      

We had some time to kill before taking a tour, so we wandered around the sanctuary and began snapping photos. Lots of famous synagogues have the bima roped off to visitors. Since there didn't seem to be any barriers here, the dorky future cantor in me decided it would be cute to get a photo of me standing up there. As Rachel took the picture (see below), the guard came running down the aisle and started yelling at us -- "not correct, not correct!" I immediately stepped down and apologized profusely, but the man continued to scream "not correct, not correct!" Apparently those were the only words of English he spoke. He proceeded to shoo us out of the sanctuary and slammed the door behind us. We weren't clear on whether he was angry for me being up on the bima as a tourist, or angry that I was up there as a woman. When we went back into the synagogue for our tour and saw a man pose for the very same photo without fanfare, I had my answer...

The offending photo 

That's right, we were eventually welcomed back into the synagogue -- though I made a conscious effort to avoid Mr. Not Correct!  We were joined by a couple from Oslo who travelled to Budapest to visit the dentist. Apparently healthcare is so expensive in Norway that it makes more sense for them to travel elsewhere in Europe a few times each year. When Rachel and I told our (Jewish) tour guide that we were studying in Israel, she was all excited that we were "family from Abraham and Sarah." While much of the tour consisted of a lesson on basic Jewish history and customs, I managed to learn a few new things. I was most interested in hearing about a sect of Judaism that I had never heard of called the Neologs. Neolog Jews are unique to Hungary, and their ideology lies somewhere between Reform Judaism and Orthodoxy. It's sort of like an Eastern European version of Conservative Judaism, but a little more to the right. From what I understand, the Dohany Street Synagogue offers mixed seating during the High Holidays. However, the regular Shabbat crowd of about 250 people prays at an Orthodox synagogue down the street, where men and women sit separately. Either way, they would never fathom the concept of a female cantor!

Our wonderful tour almost made up for the fact that I was still a bit peeved from being thrown off the bima. However, our day gradually deteriorated from there. We attempted to visit the Hungarian Parliament, but the tours were sold out for the afternoon. Then we tried to take a tour of the Opera House, but it was closed for the entire duration of our visit for the annual gala Opera Ball. At the Hungarian National Museum, we got yelled at for wearing our coats inside despite the fact that we were freeeeeeezing. We encountered the very same problem almost everywhere we went -- apparently coat check is mandatory in Hungary. Then we tried to go to Central Market Hall (the Hungarian shuk), but it had already closed for the evening. Finally, we ate dinner at an Azerbaijani restaurant recommended by our guidebook. The ambiance was unique and the food was...well, interesting -- but the waiter added all sorts of "extras" onto the bill that made the meal cost way more than we had expected. Fortunately, food is so cheap in Hungary that getting "ripped off" only amounted to about $30 for each of us, including wine and dessert. The best part was when I asked for extra paprika (supposedly the national spice of Hungary). Instead of bringing me spices, the waiter brought a whole fresh pepper to the table - and then proceeded to charge me for it!! I should also mention that apparently Hungary used to have a huge problem with restaurant waiters stealing tourists' credit card numbers. Our guidebook warned us of this problem and told us to always follow waiter and to monitor his every move when ringing up the bill. However, apparently now the new trend is for restaurants to have their waiters carry around a little portable machine with them so that they can actually swipe the credit card at the table, and that's how we wound up paying at every single restaurant we went to (oh, except when they didn't take credit cards, which also happened quite often...)

But even though our day could best be described as a "balagan" (that's Hebrew for "mess,") we were happy to come out with so many great stories!

Thankfully, our second day in Budapest went a lot more smoothly. We got up wicked early to ensure a spot on the Parliament tour, which was well worth the wait. Then we met up with Bori, a Budapest native who is friends with Rachel's Israeli friend Maya. Bori took us up a random chair lift in the Buda Hills that doesn't actually go anywhere in particular -- it's mainly there to provide pretty views. The path leading up to the very top was so slippery that skis or ice skates probably would have been useful -- especially since I'm by far more graceful on skates than I am in shoes! Check out the pictures below:

  

Once we made it down the mountain, we took a break at a little ski chalet snack bar for Hungarian delicacies like langosh, which Bori described to us as an unsweetened version of funnel cake with melted cheese and sour cream. The highlight was most definitely the hot wine, which Rachel and I made a point of sampling all over Budapest. What a brilliant way to keep warm! 

From the ski lift, we rushed like madwomen towards the Operetta Theater (not to be confused with the closed Opera House), where we saw the world's first klezmer opera. My parents had seen it and loved it it, but I wasn't such a fan. Rachel probably hated it even more than I did. It was definitely uniquely Hungarian, though -- some of the music kind of reminded me of Rosalinda's pseudo-Hungarian aria from Die Fledermaus.

Other Hungarian highlights included exploring a cheesy series of labyrinths underneath the Buda Castle, thermal baths and massages at the famous Gellert Hotel, racing through the Hungarian National Gallery, a peek at the outside of Liszt's house, our adorable ikea-decorated hotel (with internet!), lots of Hungarian goulash, and donuts stuffed with chicken (see below):

We arrived back in Jerusalem at 5am on Monday morning, at which point I had to go through a full week of classes on no sleep. Despite my exhaustion, I was able to get some vindication for getting kicked off the bima in Budapest by participating in a special "Women of the Wall" service at the Kotel last Wednesday. Stay tuned for more details on that...