Ilona always wanted to be a teacher. She applied for a degree in mathematics and physics at the Kossuth Lajos University of Debrecen. In the meantime, she studied cookery at the Kossuth Lajos Secondary Grammar School in Miskolc, where she studied polytechnics.
The general manager, who also ran a restaurant, wanted Ilona to continue her studies at the Hospitality College with a scholarship from the company. She started the college out of a sense of fairness, because, as she confessed, she didn't really feel like she was likely to become a teacher.
The years spent in Budapest were so defining in Ilona's life that she never returned to Miskolc: she got a job at the InterContinental Hotel, which opened at the same time she graduated from college.
She met Péter Zsidai at the InterContinental, who was then the assistant manager of one of the hotel's restaurants.
Ilona was looking for an apartment to rent and, as Péter was going to Vienna to work for a year, he rented out his apartment - at a bargain price, as Ilona remembers.
Peter left for Vienna at the end of '72. They kept in touch by talking on the phone for a year, then he came home and they got married in '74.
Ilona always wanted to be a teacher. She applied for a degree in mathematics and physics at the Kossuth Lajos University of Debrecen. In the meantime, she studied cookery at the Kossuth Lajos Secondary Grammar School in Miskolc, where she studied polytechnics.
The general manager, who also ran a restaurant, wanted Ilona to continue her studies at the Hospitality College with a scholarship from the company. She started the college out of a sense of fairness, because, as she confessed, she didn't really feel like she was likely to become a teacher.
The years spent in Budapest were so defining in Ilona's life that she never returned to Miskolc: she got a job at the InterContinental Hotel, which opened at the same time she graduated from college.
She met Péter Zsidai at the InterContinental, who was then the assistant manager of one of the hotel's restaurants.
Ilona was looking for an apartment to rent and, as Péter was going to Vienna to work for a year, he rented out his apartment - at a bargain price, as Ilona remembers.
Peter left for Vienna at the end of '72. They kept in touch by talking on the phone for a year, then he came home and they got married in '74.