On a glorious morning in the merry month of May, after saying good-bye to Erzebet and Gaspar, the long-distance travelers left Westendstrasse. They headed for the Nordend to pick up Irene. Irene did not let go of her friends readily; she simply went with them. Irene came down from the third floor, accompanied by her backpack and Gerhard, who wanted to say good-bye. Walter and Hilde had agreed that she would come along on vacation as long as she wanted.
The threesome left Frankfurt, heading south toward Bavaria, crossed the border to Austria behind Passau, and arrived in the early evening in Vienna, where they consumed a hearty dinner in a new wine restaurant. They slept very well during their first night on the road, in the yellow travel-mobile parked at the sidewalk.
Departing east on major highways, Walter navigated the bus all the way to Budapest. Here they found the address where Gaspar’s mother lived. On the fourth floor of an old apartment building, a very friendly woman dressed in black greeted them with love. Sign language and Hilde’s ability with Romance languages, combined with some English, helped them understand her. Gaspar’s mother told them how much she loved and missed her son and what a wonderful person he was. As evidence, they looked at many black-and-white pictures. The Germans took a couple of days to explore the old city with the Danube running through it and then continued the trip toward a small place in the country named Satoraljaujhely, where Erzebet’s father lived.
On a sunny day, Hilde, Irene, and Walter slowly entered the large front yard of an extended one-story building. It had been painted in yellow ocher. In combination with the weathered greenish window shutters, the place appeared enchanting. Fully-grown grapevine branches intertwined on the house’s walls. A small man opened the front door, painted the same color as the window shutters, smiled, and extended his arms toward the still-moving camper. His black hair was combed straight back, held in place by hair cream, and a thick black mustache ruled the area above his upper lip. The visitors exited the vehicle, and Mr. Alla hugged everybody while talking in his native tongue.
He invited everybody to a restaurant in town that featured authentic gypsy music and exceptional local food. Menu items were rabbit, lamb, and carp. Waiters served assorted wines and spirits while everybody awaited the food. The gypsy band played songs that almost everybody in the restaurant sang along with passion. When someone did not participate in the singing, the band assembled around that person and played one song after the other while looking at the guest. In the event they detected an emotional weak spot in that individual, their play intensified until they saw tears flowing down the cheeks of the guest, who sang along admirably. Hilde, Irene, and Walter crooned as well, and the next day they departed with a lot of heart-felt affection for Mr. Alla, Hungarian food, drink, and gypsy bands.
Because their voyage had taken them to northeastern Hungary and its neighboring Romania possessed a mysterious attraction for everybody, they crossed the border into this country. Everybody loved the never-ending two-lane parkways with trees flanking both sides of the road. At some juncture in the mountains, they reached a spot where the asphalt suddenly ended and a bumpy, dusty gravel road started. Hilde consulted a detailed map of the area, and they decided to continue. It became an endurance test for the Volkswagen and Walter because the road quickly turned into a washboard for more than twenty miles. Hilde steered the Volkswagen over a very high bridge crossing the Vardar River at the border with Yugoslavia. They had no intention of stopping before they reached the city of Split at the Adriatic Sea.
Walter, Hilde and Irene reached the day’s destination early in the evening and found a spot in a camping site outside the city. A favorite European tourist attraction, the city was packed, and the camping site, on the main road, did not invite them to stay a second night. Back in the camper, the journey continued, going along the coast for a whole day and then inland to reach the border crossing into Greece and the highway that proceeded first to Thessaloniki and then to Athens.