Returning from America with great enthusiasm and knowledge, Ilona and Peter were soon struck by the Hungarian reality.
Peter was greeted at work with the words, "Comrade, forget everything you learnt in America. This is not America."
Although this attitude at home did not dampen his renewed enthusiasm.
Roy was already one year old when he went to nursery and Ilona was able to continue her career at HungarHotels, where she became the head of press and advertising department during the spring of 1978. As she recalls "I was thriving here because I had a lot of ideas."
In 1981 the reform communists were already spreading their wings in Budapest. They were trying, as they said at the time, to bring a little private initiative into the economy and let the people assert themselves.
Peter thought that they were working so hard that they could open their own coffee shop with that kind of energy and strength.
The big question was the right location.
As an interesting twist of faith a foreign help came along.
Ilona met the friendly Austrian couple, Uncles Heisi (as Roy always calls them), at the InterContinental. The couple lived in Graz but also had shops in Salzburg. When the idea of searching for a place to start a family business came up in Ilona's mind, they first thought of the 2nd district, because that's where they lived.
They mentioned this to Uncle Heisi, who advised them that if they wanted to open anything, they should only look for a place in Buda Castle.
"Now, when I think back, I realise that he gave me the initial impetus for the first step of where to open the place." - Ilona recalls.
And that's how the family came to Buda Castle, how everything started 40 years ago.
