Counting with souvenirs from Budapest

In early April, when my flight landed at Ferenc Liszt International Airport, László Borsos was waiting for me at the arrivals gate. I had not seen this man for 28 years. I scanned the crowd and found him standing with a wild smile on his face, his glasses dangling elegantly over a white collared shirt.
After an embrace quick, and with a wave of his hand, he beckoned me to hurry; it was parked just behind the sliding glass doors. And so, feeling myself slipping back into an old habit, I threw my gym bag over my shoulder, shook my head in disbelief, and did what for four years as a child had been part of my daily routine: I followed him outside for a ride via Budapest.
Image< img alt="Budapest's Castle District in the distance, framed through a stained glass window of the Parliament Building." class="css-r3fift" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022 /05/11/travel/travel-budapest-037/travel-budapest-37-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" srcset="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/05/ 11/travel/travel-budapest-037/travel-budapest-37-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp600w, https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/05/11/travel/travel-budapest -037/travel-budapest-37-jumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp1024w,https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/05/11/travel/travel-budapest-037/tr avel-budapest-37-superJumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp 2048w" sizes="((min-width: 600px) and (max -width: 1004px)) 84vw, (min-width: 1005px) 80vw, 100vw" decoding="async" width="600" height="400"/>The Castle District of Budapest, in the distance, framed by a stained glass window of the Parliament building.
ImageA college student browses the selection at a small bookstore near the Metropolitan Ervin Szabo L ibrary.
ImageSt. St. Stephen's Basilica, named after the first king of Hungary.
It would be almost impossible to overstate how drastically the course of my life changed when my family moved to Hungary in the early 1990s. Both of my parents grew up in Ohio - my mother in a poor part of Youngstown and my father in a middle-class neighborhood...

World Aug 15, 2022 0 86 Add to Reading List

In early April, when my flight landed at Ferenc Liszt International Airport, László Borsos was waiting for me at the arrivals gate. I had not seen this man for 28 years. I scanned the crowd and found him standing with a wild smile on his face, his glasses dangling elegantly over a white collared shirt.

After an embrace quick, and with a wave of his hand, he beckoned me to hurry; it was parked just behind the sliding glass doors. And so, feeling myself slipping back into an old habit, I threw my gym bag over my shoulder, shook my head in disbelief, and did what for four years as a child had been part of my daily routine: I followed him outside for a ride via Budapest.

Image< img alt="Budapest's Castle District in the distance, framed through a stained glass window of the Parliament Building." class="css-r3fift" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022 /05/11/travel/travel-budapest-037/travel-budapest-37-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" srcset="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/05/ 11/travel/travel-budapest-037/travel-budapest-37-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp600w, https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/05/11/travel/travel-budapest -037/travel-budapest-37-jumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp1024w,https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/05/11/travel/travel-budapest-037/tr avel-budapest-37-superJumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp 2048w" sizes="((min-width: 600px) and (max -width: 1004px)) 84vw, (min-width: 1005px) 80vw, 100vw" decoding="async" width="600" height="400"/>The Castle District of Budapest, in the distance, framed by a stained glass window of the Parliament building.

ImageA college student browses the selection at a small bookstore near the Metropolitan Ervin Szabo L ibrary.

ImageSt. St. Stephen's Basilica, named after the first king of Hungary.

It would be almost impossible to overstate how drastically the course of my life changed when my family moved to Hungary in the early 1990s. Both of my parents grew up in Ohio - my mother in a poor part of Youngstown and my father in a middle-class neighborhood...